Selecting our Grain

1966 was, on balance, not the best year for the Scots; however, it saw the creation of one of our favourite barley varieties: Maris Otter.

 

This grain variety went through a massive boom and bust, and by the late ‘80s had almost completely been replaced by more efficient, higher-yielding barley varieties. 

 

However, it lived on, gaining a cult-like following from real ale enthusiasts. The full bodied, croissant-esque sweetness is really unlike anything else available. We simply had to use it.

 

Mashing

Mashing is the first stage of whisky production that occurs within our distillery.

 

Our mashman, Louis, takes our grain and mixes it with hot water to produce a mash of 63.5°C.  This allows the naturally occurring enzymes in the grain to break down its own starch into fermentable sugar.  Once he’s drained the liquid from this first run, he does this again at 74°C.

 

The mashing process produces 2000L of wort: a non alcoholic, rich, sweet liquid, not too dissimilar to something like ovaltine. 

 

Fermentation

Most distilleries measure their fermentation time in hours.  We measure in days.

 

Rather than using generic distiller’s yeast, which is high in yield but low in flavour, we ferment using brewer’s yeast.  The yeast strain that we use is known as Kveik; this is a Norwegian farmhouse strain known for its delicious tropical fruit characteristics. 

 

We ferment for a minimum for 7 days in wooden washbacks, which maximises fruit and ester characteristics.  The wooden washbacks allow the natural elements of our coastal surroundings to influence our wash – the distiller’s beer that fermentation creates – as it bubbles and foams over this 7 day period. The resulting wash has an ABV of around 9%: nowhere near where we need it to be and that’s where distillation comes in.

 

Distillation

It’s a common misconception that distillation creates alcohol.  That’s not the case. What distillation does is separate the alcohol from the residual water. We then collect this concentrated alcohol. 

 

Our first distillation, known as the wash distillation, takes our 9% ABV wash and concentrates it to a 25% ABV liquid called low wines.  This takes place in our 2000L copper pot still, Nettie, named after our distiller Greg’s Gran.

 

These low wines are collected and put in our 1000 litre spirit still, Gertie, named after Struan’s Gran. Here the distillation is run low and slow.  This gentle distillation allows the vapour to recondense inside the still many times before travelling along the lyne arm and condensing in our shell and tube condenser.  This high amount of reflux results in a spirit that is clean, easy drinking and fruit-forward. 

 

We’re also super tight with our cut points, choosing to sacrifice efficiency in order to only capture the purest heart of the spirit run, resulting in a New Make Spirit that is bursting with tropical esters – think pineapple and tinned peaches – and backed up by a full bodied baked-goods sweetness. 

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Casking

After the final distillation is complete, our New Make Spirit is added to a holding vessel where subsequent batches are added to it and blended together. Once the spirit has been diluted slightly, we begin the casking process.

 

113L, 200L bourbon barrels and 250L sherry casks have been hand-chosen by our team to house our New Make Spirit while it ages. These two barrels will add their own influences to our spirit over time, such as toffee and vanilla from the bourbon barrels, and a sweet fruitiness from the sherry casks. 

 

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Ageing

Once the barrels are filled, they’re moved to our warehouse where they will rest for years to come. Throughout this maturation process, our team will collect samples from each cask periodically, testing the spirit and making note of its progress and development.

 

After a minimum of three years, New Make Spirit officially becomes Scotch Whisky. 

 

While we believe our New Make would be an exceptional 3 year old Whisky, we expect to release our first bottling of Dalclagie Single Malt Scotch Whisky in 2028 – but as every Whisky lover knows: it’s ready when it’s ready, so this is not written in stone.

 

After our Head Distiller has given the okay, both barrel types will be blended together to create our very first Single Malt Whisky expression. 

 

With this being years in the future, we can’t tell you much more. In all honesty, we won’t know more until we open the casks.