Father’s Day gift guide 2021: Whisky gifts for the dram-loving dad

Father’s Day is coming up, and if you’re looking for the perfect gift for your whisky-loving Dad we do have some ideas for you.

Here’s a friendly reminder – Father’s Day is always celebrated on the third Sunday of every June, which means this year it falls on 20 June. Since trying to arrange dinner at a fancy restaurant for Dad that day can be a little dicey considering the current epidemic, so it looks like it’s going to be a nice home-cooked meal or one that’s delivered to your home.

And it’s also going to be down to that nice gift you got for Dad. You did remember to get one, didn’t you? Sigh. If you haven’t yet picked one out, we have some ideas for you if your Dad is into whisky.

Here’s our Father’s Day whisky gift guide:

• Talisker Father’s Day Whisky Tasting Sets
• The Balvenie x Royal Selangor Gift Pack
• GlenDronach and BenRiach Single Cask Bottlings
• Lothaire Tourbe Fume Single Malt French Whisky
• Douglas Laing The Epicurean Blended Lowland Malt Gift Pack
• Lower East Side Blended Malt
• Maker’s Mark Bourbon with Personalised Labels
• Mr. Bucket x Glenfiddich Whisky Bon Bons

Talisker Father’s Day Whisky Tasting Sets

It can be particularly difficult to pick out a whisky for a Dad who’s a bona fide premium whisky connoisseur or collector. After all, what can you possibly buy him that he hasn’t tried or already possess?

An invaluable whisky experience, that’s what you can get him. Diageo Rare and Exceptional has put together a special virtual whisky tasting experience – a couple of them, really – where Diageo’s Global Malts Ambassador Ewan Gunn brings you around on a sensory journey around different distilleries in Scotland.

There’s the Talisker 8 Set, comprising of the Talisker 8 Year Old, Cardhu 11 Year Old, and the Singleton of Duffton 17 Year Old from the Diageo Rare and Exceptional’s Special Releases 2020 ‘Rare by Nature’ collection. The other is the Talisker 25 Set, which is made up of the Talisker 25 Year Old and the Pittyvaich 28 Year Old, a pair of iconic smoky expressions. Each of these two sets comes with a different virtual whisky tasting session on Saturday 19 June 2021 led by Gunn, who will share more about the different liquids and the distilleries.

You can purchase the Talisker Father’s Day tasting sets – and access to the virtual tasting sessions – at diageorareandexceptional.com.

The Balvenie x Royal Selangor Gift Pack

If Dad prefers his Speyside single malts, go no further than trusty Balvenie. We’ve always appreciated The Balvenie’s earnest approach to whisky making with its five “rare” crafts – their home-grown barley, the use of their own malting floor, having their own coppersmiths to maintain their stills, the expertise of in-house coopers to maintain their stock of precious casks, and the wizardry and experience of its malt master David Stewart.

To celebrate that kind of craftsmanship, The Balvenie earlier this year tied up with pewter makers to create special pewter whisky glasses for exclusive whisky gift sets. There are three different gift sets, each of which contain a bottle of The Balvenie whisky – 12 Year Old DoubleWood, 14 Year Old Caribbean Cask, or 17 Year Old DoubleWood – as well as an exclusive handcrafted pewter-based whisky rocks glass. The glass comes with a beautiful pewter design on its base, and will accord Dad a modicum of class as he sips on his Balvenie whisky.

The Balvenie x Royal Selangor gift packs are available from the William Grant & Sons flagship store on LazMall. Alternatively, if you prefer just to buy the whisky – you cheap b@st@rd – you can get them at 1855 The Bottle Shop and Alcohol Delivery.

GlenDronach and BenRiach Single Cask Bottlings

For the Dad who’s more of a whisky collector, single cask whiskies – that is, whiskies that come from just one cask and is not vatted with whiskies from other casks – are infinitely more collectible. They do come up a little pricier than the usual core range expressions, however, but what’s that compared to a father’s love?

If you’re looking for single cask options, Malt & Wine Asia is currently running a special Father’s Day promotion for its single cask bottlings for The GlenDronach and BenRiach. Most if not all of these one-of-a-kind editions have been specially selected by Master Blender Dr. Rachel Barrie, picked out for their individuality and unique expression of each distillery’s house style. An example is the GlenDronach 1993 25 Year Old #393, which was specifically identified for Southeast Asia. And which means it’s of value to GlenDronach lovers from other parts of the world.

You can check out these single cask GlenDronachs and BenRiachs at maltwineasia.com. Use the promo code <FOR-DAD> upon checkout to enjoy an extra 15% off on non-promotional items; other T&Cs apply.

Lothaire Tourbe Fume Single Malt French Whisky

For a single malt whisky of a different type and provenance, consider the Lothaire Tourbe Fume from Distillerie Grallet-Dupic in northeastern France. That’s right: it may surprise most whisky enthusiasts that France – which is better known for making wine and Cognac – actually drinks the most whisky per capita in the world, and is also growing as a whisky producer.

So if your Dad is a whisky connoisseur already familiar with his Scotches, Japanese, and Australian whisky, surprise him with this bottle of French single malt. Distillerie Grallet-Dupic’s range of Lothaire whiskies is named after the region it’s distilled in; this swathe of territory – west of the Rhine stretching from the North Sea to the Jura mountains – was known as Regnum Lotharii and later Lotharingia. What’s particularly interesting about the Lothaire Tourbe Fume is that it’s a smoky peated whisky, which is relatively unusual for a whisky from France. But its smokiness is tempered with some lovely fruitiness and wood spice for a most intriguing dram.

You can get the Lothaire Tourbe Fume from EC Wines and Spirits. Quote “FATHERSDAY” at checkout to enjoy 25% off.

Douglas Laing The Epicurean Blended Lowland Malt Gift Pack

And for whisky-loving Dads who are less hung up on single malts? There’s the rather lovely The Epicurean from independent bottlers Douglas Laing, which is a vatted malt whisky that blends together some of the best single malts from Scotland’s Lowland region.

What’s particularly attractive about The Epicurean is that not only does it make a good sipping whisky – expect a melange of citrus sweetness, cut grass, and herbal notes – it lends itself particularly well in a whisky highball. Simply add some of this blended malt into a tall glass of ice, top up with some soda water, and add a wedge of lemon or orange as garnish, and you’ll have a great aperitif for Dad to enjoy before dinner.

To help make that happen, Douglas Laing’s Singapore distributor Le Vigne is offering a special gift pack that puts together a bottle of The Epicurean with two highball glasses – one for Dad, and another for you for that precious father and child time.

The Epicurean 2-Glass Gift Pack can be purchased at Le Vigne’s retail outlet at 72 Namly Place, Singapore 267220 or their online portal www.singaporewines.com.

Lower East Side Blended Malt

Another whisky of the blended malt variety you can consider as a Father’s Day gift is Lower East Side Blended Malt from Borders Distillery. The Borders Distillery is the first whisky distillery to open in the Borders region of Scotland after 181 years, with its first drops of spirit coming off its stills in 2018.

So while the Lower East Side Blended Malt doesn’t contain any spirit from The Borders Distillery – those produced are still too young to be called whisky – the blended malt expression does give an indication of the style that Borders is aiming. This is a vatting of seven different malt whiskies that’s matured in American oak, designed for casual drinking or mixed into a cocktail (it’s particularly good in a Dirty Manhattan).

You may also want to know that Borders Distillery offers a private cask programme that’s open to the general public. So a great forward-looking Father’s Day gift for Dad could be his own private cask of whisky aging in Scotland, and ready to be bottled for a special occasion like when he finally retires. Handing out bottles of whisky to friends and colleagues would give your Dad some serious bragging rights.

You can purchase the Borders Lower East Side Blended Malt from its official Singapore distributor Spirits Castle, which is offering a special storewide discount on its web shop to celebrate its third anniversary. You can enquire about the Borders private cask programme by reaching out to sales @spiritscastle.sg.

Maker’s Mark Bourbon with Personalised Labels

If your Dad leans towards American whiskies, we have you covered as well. Handcrafted straight Kentucky bourbon brand Maker’s Mark is running a special Father’s Day promotion where you can personalise the bottle label just for Dad.

So whether you inscribe his name or your special nickname for Dad, he’ll end up with a custom Father’s Day present that he’s not likely to forget. Chances are he’s going to hold on to this precious gift though, so you may just want to order a second bottle so he has something to drink.

You can purchase your personalised Maker’s Mark bottle(s) from Wines N Spirits.

Mr. Bucket x Glenfiddich Whisky Bon Bons

If Dad loves both his whisky as well as has a penchant for chocolate, Singapore-based chocolatier Mr Bucket Chocolaterie has a seasonal gift set that will certainly delight. For its latest collaboration the artisanal bon bon maker has tied up with award-winning Speyside single malt whisky brand Glenfiddich to create a trio of specialty whisky-infused chocolate bon bons for Father’s Day.

Each of the three bon bons – Honey Oak, Citrus Oak, and Spiced Oak – feature a different chocolate origin sourced from around Asia, and then paired with the 12-, 15-, or 18-Year Old whiskies from Glenfiddich’s core range to bring out their unique flavour profiles.

The limited-edition Father’s Day Mr. Bucket x Glenfiddich bon bons are available in two ways – the Whisky Bon Bon Box featuring six pieces (two of each flavour), or the Chocolate & Whisky Gift Set of six pieces that also come with a Glenfiddich miniature whisky set.

You can order these seasonal Father’s Day Mr. Bucket x Glenfiddich whisky bon bons here. iShopChangi also has an exclusive Father’s Day bundle with a set of bon bons that comes with a 700ml Glenfiddich 15 Year Old, you can check that out at https://tinyurl.com/ishopchangixglenfiddich.

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