Formula One racing star and former British Champion, Jenson Button, has joined forces with the esteemed whisky expert, George Koutsakis, to launch a premium Scotch blended whisky — Coachbuilt. The pair met through friends and after discussion, decided to create their own full-bodied, intricate and well-balanced liquor. This release serves as the brand’s flagship expression, but extremely limited, aged and rare bottlings are in the pipeline too.
Sourced from across Scotland
All five of the iconic whisky-producing regions of Scotland appear in the new blend: Islay, Speyside, Campbeltown, Highlands and Lowlands. Each brings its own signature flavour attributes, together forming a superior blend whose character belies its years. Crafted for notes of summer fruits, subtle spice, toffee, chocolate and a touch of citrus, a sip of Coachbuilt ends with a palate of fruit, toffee and just a hint of smoke. This is achieved by allowing the liquids to age in premium sherry casks for a marrying period.
Jenson Button
The British-born former Formula One World Championship (2009), entrepreneur and Sky Sports presenter, had long been fascinated with motorcars before launching his critically-acclaimed career. And it was during this time that he developed a love for the craft and engineering of luxury coachbuilding; in December 2016, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in engineering from the University of Bath.
Now the Global Brand Ambassador for Coachbuilt, Jenson Button, explains how the idea came about “The timing was brilliant – I was in the middle of launching our coachbuilding company Radford when I got introduced to George as he was on a mission to create the ultimate blended whisky. I’ve always loved my whisky but didn’t know a huge amount about the blending world, however, the more we talked, the parallels between blending and coachbuilding became pretty apparent. He then sent me an early sample of what he was working on and that was that, I asked how I could get involved and 2 years later here we are!”
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George Koutsakis
Greek-born George Koutsakis’ part Scottish heritage has much to do with his love of whisky. A period working in Tokyo for one of Japan’s largest Scotch importers ensured he learned the craft of Japanese whisky-making too, forming the basis for his ensuing career in fine spirits. Nowadays, Koutsakis splits his time between Taiwan and Hong Kong, consulting and working with numerous brands and businesses in the whisky trading and auction space. He’s also a prolific drinks writer for the likes of Forbes, The Financial Times and South China Morning Post, as well as running his own tasting sessions. He says of his new role as Founder and CEO of Coachbuilt:
“Coachbuilt began from a realization that blended Scotch whisky does not receive the praise it deserves worldwide. With our whisky we cast the spotlight on the immense skill required to take components from dozens of distilleries across the country, and piece them together, to create a liquid defined by balance and complexity. From sourcing liquid from each region of Scotch Whisky to the final touch added by the sherry cask finish, craftsmanship is the core of our blend.”
A balanced whisky with rich depth and complexity of flavour, Coachbuilt rivals some of the finest ultra-premium blends on the market. The whisky has a 46% ABV and is available to purchase from www.coachbuiltwhisky.com at an RRP of £42.
