The Spirit of Arran – ‘Project North & South’.

Isle of Arran Distillers Ltd has laid the groundwork to create a unique Blended Malt by filling casks with new spirit from both their Lagg and Lochranza distilleries on the Isle of Arran.

The independent Scotch whisky company owns and operates two distilleries on the Isle of Arran; Lochranza Distillery in the north and Lagg Distillery in the south. In March this year both distilleries underwent a period of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The UK has seen the temporary closure of many businesses a lot of which have still not re-opened at the time of this release.

When the distilleries began production again on 11^th May after this short period of closure, the first runs of new spirit from each distillery were vatted together.  This precious mix, combining both heavily-peated and un-peated spirit, was filled into Bourbon Barrels, Sherry Hogsheads and Sherry Butts at their Lochranza Distillery. These unusual casks will now slumber on the island until the time is right for bottling as a future Blended Malt.

This is a particularly interesting project to mark this unique moment in time.  As an island whisky producer, Isle of Arran Distillers is in the rare position of owning a lowland and a highland distillery both based on one island off the west coast of Scotland.  The DNA of the two distilleries is inextricably linked through their island connection and the flavour profile of the future Blended Malt Whisky is bound to create something very special with which to remember this period in history.

Director of Operations & Production for Lagg and Lochranza Distilleries, James MacTaggart said: “This is a first for Isle of Arran.  We are aware of blended malts where the whisky from one distillery is married with that of another, or blended whiskies created by mixing grain with malt whisky, however this is the first time that we know of malt whisky from two sister distilleries being blended at the spirit stage. As the owners of two wonderful distilleries on the Isle of Arran, we felt it was right to join the two sides of our island together and produce a whisky that would always be a marker for this unique period in time.”

Isle of Arran Sales Manager, Andy Bell said “I am proud to have played a part in creating this truly unique blend, and will follow with interest as these casks mature. The experimentation at the heart of this process speaks to the truly independent nature of our company.”

Notes:

Accolades for Isle of Arran Distillery include Winner for:

Drinks Business Best Contribution to Wine and Spirits Tourism (2017)

Best Brewery/Distillery Tour – Scottish Outdoor Leisure Awards (2017)

Best Visitor Experience – Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions (2018)

Product Awards include:

Arran 10 year-old: Gold Medal ‘Best Single Malt 12 Years & Under, World Whiskies Awards (2019) San Francisco World Spirits Competition Double Gold Medal (2018). International Wine & Spirits Competition Gold Medal (2018). Category Winner and Gold Medal ‘Best Scotch Under 12 Years’ Islands Non-Islay at the World Whiskies Awards (2018). International Spirits Challenge Silver Medal (2018). Ultimate Spirits Challenge 91 points (2018). Ultimate Spirits Challenge Cocktail Commendation for the Rob Roy (2018). Double Gold Medal China Wine & Spirits Best Value Awards (2014)

Arran 18 year-old: Gold Medal & Category Winner ‘Best Single Malt 13 – 20 Years, World Whiskies Awards (2020)  Gold Medal ‘Best Single Malt 13 – 20 Years, World Whiskies Awards (2019) International Wine & Spirits Competition Gold Medal (2018) Category Winner & Gold Medal ‘Best Scotch 13-20 Years – Islands (Non- Islay) World Whiskies Awards (2018). International Spirits Challenge Silver Medal (2018) Scottish Field Whisky Challenge – Gold Award for Best Whisky £50-100 (2018)

Quarter Cask ‘The Bothy’: Best Scotch Island Single Malt, World Whiskies Awards (2020 & 2019) Category Winner & Gold Medal ‘No Age Statement Single Malt’ for The Bothy Batch 3 World Whiskies Awards (2018). International Wine & Spirits Competition Silver Outstanding Medal (2018). International Spirits Challenge Silver Medal (2018)

Arran Barrel Reserve:  Silver Medal ‘No Age Statement Single Malt’ World Whiskies Awards (2020)

Mark’s Whisky Ramblings 321: Girvan 12 Year Old 2006 Cadenhead’s

Mark Dermul, Belgian whisky vlogger, tries a (very) high strength grain. Girvan is a relatively young distillery, founded in 1963 by the family William Grant & Sons, which we all know from Glenfiddich and Balvenie, but also from Kininvie and newcomer Ailsa Bay. Girvan was founded to produce the needed quantity of grain for the blends of the company: Grant’s. We’ll try a relatively young cask that was bottle by Cadenheads in 2018. After 12 years of maturation, it still went into the bottle at 60.3% ABV.

https://youtu.be/-EM5JATa6YQ

Come celebrate America’s traditional sips along with a full range of American Whiskey this 4th of July holiday weekend for our special virtual tasting on Sunday, July 5th at 5PM PST.

We will cover a full range of flavor profiles demonstrating American ingenuity. We will cover bourbon, rye and corn whisky.  Why is corn whiskey not bourbon? Taste the difference between rye and malted rye. Discover some other great grains made into whisky and what is ASM.

Each tasting kit contains  0.50 oz. samples of nine whiskeys. Guests will receive a link to join our brand ambassadors for a private, Zoom conference where you can talk amongst yourselves, and describe what you’re seeing, smelling and tasting!

Tasting Kits can be purchased in these cities: San Jose, San Francisco, Pleasanton, and  Oakland. Pre-purchase kits now for pickup starting July 2nd, 

San Jose: Haberdasher  (Available for purchase beginning Monday, June 29.)
San Francisco: Shovels Bar  
Pleasanton: Beer Baron
Oakland: Beer Baron

Pour List Includes
Belle Meade Bourbon
Catoctin Creek Rabble Rouser BIB
Barber Lee Malted Rye
KOVAL Single Grain Oat
KOVAL Four Grain
Balcones Baby Blue
Breckenridge Bourbon PX Sherry
Breckenridge Bourbon Port
Del Bac Whiskey Dorado Mequite Smoked

TyndrumWhisky.com

present

James Eadie

A relatively new indie bottler, however they have some amazing releases with differing cask types. First up is Cambus, a closed distillery, 26 Years Old and from a Sherry Cask. (VERY limited numbers left).

Distilled 5th May 1993.
Bottled 2019.

One of only 617 bottles.

Order Cambus Now

HAPPY CANADA DAY, eh?

Not just a TV show, now a whisky…and a gin, and a rum and moonshine! Made in County Cork, possibly by Midleton? This stuff is genuinely not bad, its not expensive and it’s made to a decent quality. I haven’t seen much of the TV show, so don’t expect the thick accent or a flat cap. Cheers.

https://youtu.be/ds10D9bkDgI