Strathearn Distillery, Perthshire. Good, bad, or a journey into the unknown?

A wee blog by Paul McLean of MCLEANSCOTLAND & WHISKY TOURS.

I have known Tony for a long time, have visited the distillery from the start, have sent guests there on distilling courses, have had guests buy casks there – aye, we know them, they are a half hour doon the road. Mind last year, they released their first 3 years and a day dram? It sold out, the bottle number one for over £4000 – for an untested brand new dram from a brand new distillery, am unsure whether to say well done, or a numpty bought it??? Anyhow that was last year, now release two is available. Am still unsure, is this a credible whisky or is it a new spirit? The distillery began distilling in 2013, and has a range of whisky styles that vary from batch to batch.

This second batch is comprised of two single cask bottlings from Cask 028 and 044, both of which are small 50-litre octaves. Tony Reeman-Clark, founder of Strathearn distillery, said: ‘Strathearn spirit is all about quality and flavour.’ As the man said, “spirit” – if the whisky differs in every batch, how then will he sustain a whisky that is “their own”? If every batch is different – I am confused, is he the only distiller to be doing this? With 75 bottles of Cask 028 and 70 of Cask 044, both are £145 each for a 50cl bottle. Each batch of whisky released by Strathearn will vary, due to the selection of peated or unpeated malt, and varying cask type used. Can you recall anyone else doing this? Is it a credible whisky? He is more well known for his gin, and now rum. He sells on gin to many other “gin people” used for own label. I think he is just a good ideas man and marketing items very well, expensive to my mind. It will be very interesting when my pal fae Finland bottles his cask at Strathearn, again, a wee cask that will mature faster than large ones, how long mate before you bottle? Do you get samples every year? Well – he is here later this month so I will sit him doon (with a good dram) and quiz him on this.

To end; another local (to me) distillery also tries new ideas, experiments, but – he has the facility to repeat or retain the large cask – Edradour. Making a new idea dram work and can be repeated, not changing every batch so unrecognisable each time. I know if I buy a whisky and think “that was good and I want another”, it is useless if that second bottle/batch is very different. Bring in Old Perth, a really good range, brought back fae the dead and every batch is fab! Over to you …………………..

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