Costco Is Selling A Limited Kirkland Scotch Whisky For Lunar New Year
Those out for a bit more New Year merriment have no further to look than their local Costco. The big box, membership-based retailer has debuted a special Kirkland Scotch whisky bottle that celebrates the turn of the Lunar New Year on February 10. An apt gesture for the fire-breathing avatar of the upcoming Lunar New Year, Costco's Year of the Dragon bottle contains its 88-proof 8-year-old blended Scotch whisky derived from handpicked barrels. The bottle itself is rectangular with a large red wooden cap and a traditional Chinese dragon encircling the glass, and it comes packaged in a similarly designed red box. The Scotch retails for just under $50 per one-liter bottle in the U.S.
The flavor, which should be familiar to fans of Costco's Scotch selection, is rife with spice, fruit, and notes of wood that extend across the palate warmly with a background of distant smoke. While no word has been released on the exact provenance of the contents of the Year of the Dragon bottle, Costco has long worked with bottler Alexander Murray & Co. to procure its Scotch whisky offerings. Blends in the past have been comprised of spirits hailing from the Speyside, Highlands, and Islay Scotch distilling regions.
Not the first limited release
Reviews for the only recently released whisky are sparse. A customer writing on the r/Costco_alcohol subreddit gave the bottle a positive review for both the unique design and flavor, though they mentioned that they home-blended it further with Costco's Islay Scotch whisky to their preferred taste and ABV. The base flavor, the reviewer noted, is predominately spicy with a good touch of characteristic peat but was ever-so-slightly lacking in the smoke department.
This isn't the first time Costco has released a limited-edition bottle of Scotch under its in-house Kirkland label. In 2023, the retailer debuted a 15-year-old single malt Scotch that was finished in sherry casks. In 2022, Costco offered both a 19- and 20-year-old single malt Speyside Scotch that was also aged in sherry casks; Oloroso to be specific. Those looking for a sampling could opt for the Kirkland Signature Tour of Scotland set, which brings together four Scotches of different ages from different regions.