AN independent whisky bottler has launched a new World Cup‑themed single cask celebrating the Tartan Army’s time in Boston, with its co-founder saying it’s part of a deliberate strategy to stay nimble while big whisky brands struggle.
The new bottling from Fib Whisky, limited to 139 bottles, is a single cask Caol Ila matured entirely in Pedro Ximenez sherry and bottled at natural cask strength.
It follows a run of special editions from the Fife‑based independent bottler, including a tongue‑in‑cheek “South Scottish” release and charity tie‑ins with the Tartan Army Sunshine Appeal.
“We like doing a lot of these special releases about things that Andrew and I care about,” co‑founder Iain Mundy shared, referring to his brother Andrew.
“Because the whiskey industry’s been doing so badly in general, all the big distilleries and everyone’s really struggling, we try and be a little bit fun and creative. Instead of just saying, here’s our next releases for the year.”
He added: “Back on St Andrew’s Day, we launched a couple of fun bottles with the Statue of Liberty wearing a cone on her head and stuff like that. It went crazy.
“And then we did a few more World Cup ones. We actually did a 1998 cask, for the Tartan Army Sunshine Appeal.”
Fib also marked Scotland’s opening win with a Haiti result bottling and had planned to complete a trio covering the Brazil and Morocco games – until the football took a turn.
“We were going to then do bottles for the Brazil and Morocco matches, so it was a nice little trio, but then after the two of them we said, 'no, let’s not do that',” Mundy laughed.
“So, we thought we’d do the Boston one just to celebrate how good the Tartan Army had been, just like it was during the Euros last time. They became cult heroes and, you know, Cologne even has its own Tartan Army now."
When asked how difficult it is, given how Fib have differentiated themselves in a crowded market, Mundy said: “It’s not very difficult at all. It’s, it’s very easy, to be honest. We love doing it."
With space for only about 36 casks in their Kirkcaldy warehouse, each release is chosen from a carefully managed stock with the pair having the freedom to choose what they would like.
“When we decide to do a bottle, we just kind of have a look through what we’ve got and find what we think best fits,” Mundy explained.
“Caol Ila is owned by Diagio. A lot of the stuff that the distillery releases is pretty mass produced, not that exciting, watered down, chill filtered. So this is quite nice because we can release a fun Caol Ila that has none of those things,” he shared.
The release has tasting notes of "BBQ sauce, beach bonfires, bacon tasties and full fat coke".
As with earlier Fib labels, the new design is packed with Easter eggs.
“A duck is my favourite animal. So when we saw the duck with the Saltire, I said we have to put the duck on,” Mundy laughed. “You can't really see it on the bottle, but if you look super duper close to the duck's medal, we've made it say Ben-Gannon Duck on it.”
Sales are already around halfway through the out‑turn, with Mundy and his brother handling every order themselves. “We don't have any fulfilment companies either. So when someone orders a bottle on the website, it's just us that ship it out ourselves."
With a home Euros on the horizon and Scotland all but guaranteed a place, the brothers are already eyeing the next bottling.
“Obviously, yes. If something fun's happening, sporting wise or politically or something Scottish and current, we like doing fun things with it,” Mundy said.
