The Fino Sherry previously stored in these casks is from Valdespino, one of the oldest sherry houses in Spain and renowned the world over as a producer of the highest quality.

These Fino Sherry Casks are made of the finest American oak and have added a wonderfully fresh, nutty dimension to the Arran house style.

McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt Whiskey is of the Islay tradition of Scotch whisky. Of well-known single malts from Scotland, it resembles the Lagavulin whisky. It is very peat-y. Made from peat-malted barley brought in from Scotland, their whiskey would be a single malt Scotch if Oregon were Scotland. Widmer Brothers ferments the peat-malted barley into a “wash” or unhopped beer. Using the unfinished wash allows them to get all the flavor and character of the malt when they distill. They distill in Holstein pot stills using one pass distillation, but make a small “heads” cut and a fairly large “tails” cut and put about 4 liters of tails into the next still run. The proof at time of distillation is about 150 (75%). Then they reduce in proof and barrel-age the rough distillate in old sherry casks. All the Oregon Single Malt now spends some time in barrels made from air-dried Oregon Oak. The present bottling is only 3 years old but we think it is remarkably smooth for such a young whiskey. The result is a smooth, peat-y whiskey with a surprisingly clean finish. Production is very limited because what we put in the barrel doesn’t come out for years.

McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt Whiskey received attention from its early days in the 1990’s because American Single Malt was a novelty. In 2000, Gary Regan and Mardee Haidin Ragen noted in the Malt Advocate (March, 2000, p. 24) that in the world of American whiskey.

McCarthy’s started to receive significant acclaim in 2004, when Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible gave McCarthy’s its Best Small Batch Whiskey in the world award and a score of 94. That same year Michael Jackson put McCarthy’s in his list of The Ten Best American Whiskeys, published in both the Men’s Journal (December 2004) and The Malt Advocate ( First Quarter 2005). In his 2006 edition of The Whiskey Bible, Jim Murray wrote, “McCarthy’s has earned a place among the world’s elite whiskeys.” His 2008 edition of The Whiskey Bible gave McCarthy’s a phenomenal score of 96.

Voted to the ‘BEST BLENDED IRISH WHISKEY IN THE WORLD 2007′

Nose: Baked apples and spicy malt. A pleasingly mature character to it.
Palate: Big bodied, slightly oily, with nutmeg and red wine. Sophisticated and assured.
Finish: Notably long, drying with dark syrup and liquorice notes.
Comment: A confident whiskey that feels as though it has some age to it.
Tasting Notes by Gavin Smith

Ownership

Springbank is one of the few remaining family owned distilleries. Perhaps it is for this reason that nearly all of its whisky is sold as a single malt, with little of it finding its way into blends. Most blends are produced by larger conglomerates who tend to use the single malts from the distilleries that they own in their blends. Springbank produces two of its own blends, 5 year old Campbeltown Loch, and Mitchell’s 12 year old.

Brands

Springbank Single Malt is the most popular variety. Its standard bottling is a 10 year old, distilled two and a half times, and is not chill-filtered, nor does it have colour added. Distilling whisky two and a half times is quite unusual, as it means that during the distillation process some of the low wines are collected before the second distillation, and then mixed back into the feints for another distillation. This means that some parts of the spirit has been through distillation twice and some parts three times. The spirit is then aged in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, although Springbank is experimenting with rum casks as well. The standard 10 year old bottling is available at 46% volume, but a 100° proof bottling (at 57% volume) is also available. They also produce a somewhat darker 15 year old. A 21 year old variety of Springbank exists, but is increasingly rare.

Longrow Single Malt is a highly peaty whisky. The standard Longrow is also a ten year old, matured in ex-bourbon casks, while a Sherrywood 10 year old is also available. There is also an experimental tokaji-cask edition available.

Hazelburn Single Malt, the newest variety, was first distilled in 1997 and since bottled as an 8-year-old. Hazelburn is a triple distilled, non-peated whisky, named for another now-defunct Campbeltown distillery.

History

Glenkinchie lies, as the name might suggest, in a glen of the Kinchie Burn near the village of Pencaitland, East Lothian. It is situated about 15 miles from Edinburgh. The distillery is set in farmland. The name ‘Kinchie’ is a corruption of ‘De Quincy’, the original owners of the land. Its origins date back to around 1825 when it was founded by brothers John and George Rate. The original name was Milton Distillery. The brothers probably renamed it in about 1837. In 1969 the distillery stopped malting its own grain and the malting floors were turned into a museum of malt whisky.

The Glenkinchie label was relatively little known until 1989, when United Distillers started marketing it under their Classic Malts brand.

The Whisky

The standard 10 year old Glenkinchie is a fairly typical lowland whisky in that it is fresh and light in character, with notes of lemon and cut grass. A sweet nose and a hint of peat make this a good introduction to the world of single malts.

The 14 year old Distiller’s Edition is double-matured in Amontillado sherry casks. The sherry flavour competes slightly with the freshness but does not overpower it.

The standard Lagavulin single malt is 16 years old (43%), though they regularly release a 12-year-old cask strength variety, Distiller’s edition, finished in Pedro Ximénez casks as well as 25 and 30 year-old varieties. A recent 21-year-old bottling, matured solely in first fill sherry casks has been extremely well received by enthusiasts.

Lagavulin is produced by White Horse Distillers which is owned by United Distillers & Vintners which in turn is owned by Diageo plc. It is marketed under their Classic Malts brand.

The name of Lagavulin is an anglicization of the Gaelic lag a’mhuilin, meaning “hollow by the mill”.

History

The distillery of Lagavulin officially dates from 1816, when John Jonston and Archibald Campbell constructed two distilleries on the site. One of them became Lagavulin, taking over the other — which one is not exactly known. Records show illicit distillation in a least ten illegal distilleries on the site as far back as 1742, however. In the 19th century several legal battles ensued with their neighbour Laphroaig, brought about after the distiller at Lagavulin, Sir Peter Mackie, leased the Laphroaig distillery. It is said that Mackie attempted to copy Laphroaig’s style. Since the water and peat at Lagavulin’s premises was different from that at Laphroaig’s, the result was different. The Lagavulin distillery is located in the town of the same name.

History

The distillery began production in June 2005, was the first to be built on the island of Islay in 124 years. The distillery uses barley grown on site at Rockside Farm and malted at the distillery, as well as malt from the mothballed Port Ellen Distillery maltings and intends to release separate bottlings depending on the source of the grain.

The distillery first filled casks on December 15, 2005 and the distillery will begin to bottle 5 Year old single malt in the summer of 2011. Kilchoman also intends to release 8, 10 and 12 Year old bottlings. The whisky will primarily age in bourbon casks, though sherry casks will also be employed.