Spring in Kentucky can mean many a splendored thing: out of control allergies, basketball championships (but not this year), Keeneland and the Kentucky Derby. So what better way to kick off spring than the announcement of yet another high-end Beam product? Using the arrival of horse racing season as the kick-off, the ultra limited edition Jim Beam Distiller’s Masterpiece is extra aged (no age statement is given in the press release), finished in PX Sherry Casks, clocks in at 100 proof, and comes packaged in a high end wooden case. It will retail for $199 and will only be available at the Beam American Stillhouse in Clermont, Kentucky. Hopefully a review will be forthcoming shortly. [Added. -Ed.]

Drink your big black cow, and get out of here: a British dairy farmer has perfected the process of turning cow’s milk into vodka. The process involves turning the milk into curds and whey, separating the two and then distilling the whey, which has been fermented into beer. Black Cow’s already winning over plenty of celebrity endorsements, and while it’s currently unavailable stateside, Vermont Spirits Distilling Company has been making something similar using milk sugars for years. [New York Daily News]

Old Forester is now opening up its private barrel program to the public, at a cool cost of $7500 per barrel. For this you’ll get 240 specially crafted bottles with your own insignia on the neck of each bottle. [WHAS]

In business news, the Guardian reports that although Scotch whisky sales have fared well globally, they’ve slumped slightly due to the economic turmoil in the Eurozone, with France getting hit the hardest, with a 25% decrease in imports and sales. [Guardian UK]

While talk of slumping sales of Scotch may be discouraging for some, Diageo is moving forward with a brand new £50m whisky distillery planned for Easter Ross. The BBC is reporting the mega-conglomerate will be building its new site right next to the existing Teaninich distillery and will feature 16 copper stills, with capacity to distill enough for roughly 45 million bottles annually. [BBC]

And finally today, NPR files a piece on the worlds of art, whisky and science colliding with the ongoing project of photographer Ernie Button and his experiment of photographing dried whisky remains on the bottom of glasses. [NPR]

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