ELIXIR DISTILLERS CONFIRMS NAME OF NEW ISLAY DISTILLERY

Elixir Distillers, has today confirmed the name of their new Islay distillery. The news comes ahead of the 2022 Fèis Ìle; the annual festival of whisky and music on Islay, which will be held in person for the first time since 2019, between May 27th and June 4th.

Located just outside the town of Port Ellen on Islay’s south coast on the way to Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg distilleries, the new Portintruan distillery (pronounced Port-nah-truan) is said to be where the past will meet the future, combining old-style production techniques with modern technology to improve process, quality and sustainability.

Plans of the new Portintruan Distillery

Elixir Distillers will be adding an experimental distillery within the site - so it will be two distilleries in one. This will enable the team to produce not only different Scotch whisky styles but also rum.

Plans for the distillery site also include 14 houses for Islay families working at the distillery, a visitor’s centre, a bar and restaurant, tasting room bothy overlooking the sea and a multi-purpose educational facility which will serve as a base for an apprentice programme to train the next generation of distillers.

Commenting on the news, Sukhinder Singh, Co-Founder of Elixir Distillers, said: “Elixir Distillers has always taken a flavour[1]led approach and this will be the Portintruan philosophy as well. We will be utilising a number of old-style production techniques which we believe will accentuate the depth and character of the spirit. A key part ofthe process will be using malt predominantly from our own floor maltings on-site, and we will be using direct-fired wash stills for the distillation. We plan to work with different phenol levels across the range, which will all have their own specific flavour profiles.”

The new Portintruan distillery, is due to be complete and expected to start distilling in early 2024.

 

Posted by Steve Rush

GORDON & MACPHAIL LAUNCHES NEW MR GEORGE LEGACY BOTTLING

Gordon & MacPhail, has today announced the launch of the second bottling in its Mr George Legacy Series.

Gordon & MacPhail - Mr George Legacy 1957 from Glen Grant Distillery (56.1% ABV) is a 64 Year Old single cask, single malt Scotch whisky, which was distilled in October 1957 and matured in a first-fill Sherry butt.

Gordon & MacPhail - Mr George Legacy 1957 from Glen Grant Distillery

Honouring Mr George Urquhart, a member of the second generation of the company’s owning family and the man who helped bring single malt whisky to the world, this latest bottling is the second expression to be released as part of the brands annual Legacy series.

Gordon & MacPhail - Mr George Legacy 1957 from Glen Grant Distillery, celebrates Mr George’s long-term approach to maturation, where he was guided by the philosophy that whiskies take as long as they need to mature into the perfect dram. Achieving great quality and flavour takes time, and patience and trust in the process is still very much at the heart of Gordon & MacPhail’s ethos today.

This latest release is said to deliver notes of cinnamon, ginger, orange marmalade, dark treacle and beeswax polish on the nose. Followed by notes of morello cherries, dried tobacco, garden mint, red apples, citrus peel and aniseed on the palate.

Commenting on the launch, Stuart Urquhart, Gordon & MacPhail’s Operations Director, said: “In some industry quarters my grandfather was fondly thought of as slightly eccentric due to his relentless focus on maturation, painstakingly selecting the right cask to match with each particular spirit. He was intrigued to know how long the whisky might take to reach its peak and would have known he might not be around when that moment came. That is his legacy to our family and to whisky drinkers who love the rich complexity of the ultra-aged single malts he laid down decades ago.”

He went onto say: “The latest release in the Legacy series comes from Glen Grant distillery, for which my grandfather had a particular affinity. Local to us in Speyside, Glen Grant was the first distillery to use a purifier in distillation which resulted in a lighter spirit. Back in the 1950s, the spirit would have been slightly smoky due to floor maltings and a small level of peat being used – which is a style rarely seen in today’s modern Speyside whiskies – giving this whisky a charred oakiness that is perfectly balanced by long-term maturation in a Sherry cask made of American oak.”

Limited to 298 bottles, Gordon & MacPhail - Mr George Legacy 1957 from Glen Grant Distillery, will be available later this month from specialist retailers, for a RRP of £6,000.

Posted by Steve Rush