Did You Know There's a Truly Unique Video Game Whisky?

Whisky and video games often go hand in hand. At times, you'll come across a video game featuring whisky or even a game about whisky, and at other times, a whisky based on a video game. This Whisky Trail Videogame whisky is quite old, bearing the same distinction as the gaming era it represents! And there's something quite unique about this beverage...

Indie bottler Elixir Distillers regularly produces special bottlings. This time, the distillery has released several whiskies for their Whisky Trail Videogames series in 2020, featuring labels that impeccably capture the style of a Nintendo Entertainment System video game.

The graphical presentation doesn't feature fancy lettering with curls and gold elements, but rather raw, pixelated blocks. The label showcases a character wandering through a distillery while collecting coins, a cheeky nod to Super Mario Nintendo games. In these, you're tasked with guiding the jovial Italian plumber on a quest to save the princess. You navigate through eight worlds filled with coins and assorted hazards.

The label consistently features a character hunting for coins, although whether he's seeking a princess isn't revealed on the label. He doesn't wander around in a fantasy world but rather an 8-bit portrayal of the distillery from which the drink originates. The label is also designed like an NES controllers from the '80s. Everything fits, except for the descriptions next to the buttons, where the whisky takes over to tell you about the drink you are holding.

The extraordinary whisky we're discussing in this "Did you know?" section isn't the oldest in the series, but it is certainly the most unique. This bottle originates from a closed distillery: the Cambus distillery in the Lowlands. The establishment closed its doors in 1993, yet a product from Elixir Distillers has emerged even after the closure. The label provides an 8-bit pixelated tribute to the now-closed distillery.

The whisky had a 29-year stint in a single hogshead before being bottled in 2020. It's pretty special to see a video game whisky like those in the Whisky Trail Video Game series, originating from a closed distillery. And the whisky also boasts impressive tasting notes:

Nose: Fresh grass aromas, buttery biscuits, white chocolate, spices, and oak
Palate: Candy apples, hazelnuts, crystallised pineapple, milk chocolate, honeycomb, and camomile tea.

If you wish to purchase the Whisky Videogame Trail whisky by Elixir Distillers, you're in for a challenge. The drink is nearly sold out everywhere. As the Cambus distillery is closed, there won't be any new bottles of this Videogame Trail whisky. This is quite a rare gem collector's love to get their hand on.

Elixir Distillers has launched a few other Whisky Trail Videogame whiskies. In 2020 alone, Elixir Distillers released four bottles in this series, to our knowledge. One was bottled at 54.3 percent ABV after entering a cask in 1996. This whisky comes from the Ben Nevis distillery, making it 23 years old.

There's also a ten-year-old Ardmore in the Whisky Trail Videogame series. It matured in an ex-Laphroaig cask for ten years and was bottled at 59 percent ABV. The fourth bottle in the series is a 32-year-old Invergordon, the oldest of all. The single grain whisky was casked in 1987 and eventually bottled at an ABV of 52.7 percent.