What an amazing month we have just had: the 1494 has been bottled and we have our very own official Single Malt Scotch Whisky!
It was a new challenge to most of the team as we learned how to re-gauge, disgorge, blend, reduce and then finally bottle the 1494 bottles of Single Malt and the 1494 bottles of miniatures that went along with the bigger bottle in the hope that our 1494’ers would open it and enjoy our first ever release.
It really is a beautiful dram and one I am certainly proud of, as should all the members of the team past and present who helped get it from barley to bottle. Let me take this moment to personally thank you; it has been a privilege and an honour.
So, what is next? More of the same if truth be told. We are looking at a very sizeable bottling run which will take us several weeks of non-stop bottling to complete; but at the end of it we should have our first pallets of cased goods going to all corners of the world.
The Distillery
In the distillery, it’s business as usual. High quality spirit is coming off the stills and we have ramped back up to a five-mash week. Going from three to five mashes does not sound like a lot, but it’s an extra 12 barrels per week being filled.
Soon the weather will get warmer, and the water temperature will rise; but this time for the summer months we have a new yeast that can run just that little bit hotter. We have trialled it and like the character profile. It’s very similar to the current character but there are a few nuances that just differentiate it so we can also have a seasonal style of whisky.
The organic malt? Well, things are just taking a little bit longer, but ‘All great achievements require time,’ and our good friends at the Crafty Maltsters are having to show an abundance of patience and virtue as they work the barley into malt. Early indications are that although this organic malt will yield less spirit per ton (it was never about quantity!) its quality and sweetness will deliver an intriguing single malt!
Remember my love/hate relationship with the Toro Albala casks? Well, it continues, as we shelter them from the harsh Scottish climate and try to stem the small tears that drop from them. They have certainly made their presence known in the warehouse, you can smell their richness and age permeating the air.
Slàinte
Gary Haggart
Distillery Manager
