Following a period of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, both distilleries returned to production on May 11th. The first runs of new spirit from each distillery were vatted together for the new ‘The Spirit of Arran – Project North & South’.
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Isle or Arran Distillers Director of Operations James MacTaggart
and Sales Manager Andy bell with the first cask
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For this future release, a combination of both heavily-peated and un-peated spirit, were filled into Bourbon barrels, Sherry hogsheads and Sherry butts at their Lochranza Distillery.
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.
Commenting on the news, James MacTaggart, Director of Operations & Production for Lagg and Lochranza Distilleries, 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.”
The casks for ‘The Spirit of Arran – Project North & South’, will now mature on the island until the time is right for bottling as a future blended malt.
Posted by Steve Rush