Grain whisky is produced using a column still from grains like wheat, oats, and corn with a small component of barley. Just like the single malts the grain whisky has to be aged for 3 years and 1 day in oak casks.
Most grain whiskies are used as a component in blended whisky, as their more neutral flavour is a perfect canvas for creating incredible blends.
Patent stills or column stills are at the heart of grain whisky production. Continuous distillation allows for larger production volumes and more efficiency. Two men responsible for modern column stills are Robert Stein and Aeneas Coffey. Stein created the continuous still, while Coffey improved on the invention. The first continuous still of Stein’s design was implemented in Cameronbridge Distillery in 1830.
Try Single Grain Whiskies
Girvan 25 Year Old Copper & Oak Series II
A cask strength single grain from Girvan Distillery. Born in the Lowlands across from Ailsa Craig a quarter of a century ago, this whisky spent it’s entire life in a refill bourbon hogshead. A beautifully delicate dram with soft buttery shortbread notes. Just 107 Bottles have been produced
TASTING NOTES
NOSE: Delicate, understated nose, with fruity feints.
PALATE: Hints of sweet Scottish tablet, followed by creamy, buttery notes in the centre.
FINISH: A sweet and gentle char rounds out the finish.
£77.00
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Girvan 26 Year Old Permutations Series II
A cask strength single grain from Girvan Distillery. Born in the Lowlands across from Ailsa Craig over a quarter of a century ago, this whisky spent 25 year in a bourbon hogshead, before a 9 month finish in a Pedro Ximénez hogshead that had previously held Caol Ila. An intriguing dram balancing soft buttery shortbread notes with smoky sultana tones. Only 140 Bottles have been produced.
TASTING NOTES
NOSE: Fresh peated barley
PALATE: Sweet smoke balances with buttery biscuit base notes.
FINISH: Scottish tablet and shortbread are just as prevalent as the smoky, dried sultana tones.
£83.00
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North British 34 Years Old
North British distillery is of great significance to the Thomson family, as Finn’s grandfather and great-grandfather’s company, Peter Thomson Ltd, once had a stake in the distillery and used the grain base for their popular Golden Beneagles blend. At almost 60% ABV, there’s no doubt this is a strong whisky, but there’s a real elegance about it. Aged single grains are often overlooked gems of the whisky industry and this is no exception with the sweet toffee and caramel notes coming through the strongest. Distilled on the 17th June 1988 and aged for 34 years in a Hogshead before being bottled on the 17th July 2022 at natural cask strength of 58.1%ABV, without chill filtration. Only 199 Bottles have been produced.
£180.00
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North British 35 Years Old
Distilled in 1988, a magnificent 35 years of ageing have created a cornucopia of sweet tropical fruit notes reminiscent of a well-aged Caribbean rum. North British Distillery has played a fundamental role in the Thomson family’s journey through the whisky industry. Its younger whiskies were the core component of Finn’s grandfather’s blend, Beneagles, where their sweet and buttery character was expertly blended with the richness of Macallan and other hand-selected Speyside malts. After three and a half decades, this cask has developed a new richness all of its own. Old grain whiskies in particular have the ability to absorb sweetness from the cask and, combined with the oily mouthfeel of the spirit, this exquisite whisky tastes like rum and raisin ice cream in a glass. Single grain whiskies continue to be under-appreciated but this single cask release proves that, with time and patience, single grain whisky has every right to be regarded as highly as the finest single malts. Only 194 bottles were produced.
£168.00
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Dumbarton 26 Years Old Infrequent Flyers
This single grain whisky was distilled in 1997 at Dumbarton Distillery, which once was a powerhouse of Scottish single-grain distilling, but was shut down and mostly demolished in 2002. It was aged for 26 years in a single Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon and was bottled at natural cask strength, without chill filtration or artificial colouring by Alistair Walker for his Infrequent Flyers Collection. Only 677 bottles were produced.
TASTING NOTES
NOSE
This has the classically sweet and solventy aldehydic notes typical of mature grain – coconut ice cream, Battenberg cake and fresh cinema popcorn, combined with heavy sherry aromas, predominantly stewed fruits.
PALATE
Velvety and indulgent. Intense dark chocolate, weighty raisin and sultanas, morello cherries and espresso, with underlying frutta martorana and almond muffins. A rare bottling from the iconic and sadly lost Dumbarton distillery.
£136.99
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