GILLIAN FURMAGE

Tennent's beer aged with whisky oak is a new creation from Scotland's oldest brewery.

Historical and thoroughly Scottish, the marriage of national favourites whisky and beer has been dreamt up by a Glasgow team, led by head brewer Keith Lugton.

The new recipe is made from three types of locally sourced Scottish malt, a blend of four hop varieties and water from Loch Katrine.

The fermentation process takes a minimum of three weeks and involves the warm maturation and ageing of the beer in single malt whisky infused oak chips

The end result is a product infused with notes of single malt whisky and toasted oak. It has a rich and fruity aroma, is the colour of honey and boasts a smoky vanilla flavour.

The beer is from Tennent Caledonian, which has been based at the historic Wellpark site in the East End of Glasgow since 1556

Paul Condron, Tennent's Marketing Director, commented: "Tennent's beer aged with whisky oak has been an exciting project for us all at the Wellpark brewery. Tennent's may be synonymous with lager, but Tennent's historically was the most successful ale brewer in Scotland.

As the oldest and largest brewery in Scotland we feel we are in a great position to combine our beer heritage with the nation's other favourite drink, whisky. Reaction to the beer has been extremely positive both at home and in international markets".

The drink will be mainly available at luxury tourist spots such as Gleneagles, the host of the 2014 Ryder Cup.  It will be more widely available either online or in-store via The Whisky Shop.