Uile-bheist Distillery has launched a special limited release of quarter casks to celebrate the revival of malt whisky distilling in Inverness after the Highland capital saw the closure of its trinity of distilleries in the 1980’s – Millburn, Glen Mhor and Glen Albyn – making Uile-bheist’s malts the first to be produced in the city for over 40 years.
The company’s Head Distiller, Drew Shearer, says the new malt offerings, matured in charred, peated and un-peated casks, offer buyers a choice of layered, balanced and characterful whiskies – as well as a piece of history with several modern twists.
Like former distilleries, Uile-bheist uses local malting barley grains, from Bairds Malt in the city, and its production methods are amongst the most sustainable in the whisky world.
A Sustainability Centre uses water from shallow water wells in the River Ness for production, assisted by solar PV installations. Stills technology from German coppersmiths, Kaspar Schulz, makes for high precision distilling, and brewer’s yeast is used in the fermentation to develop crisp, estery flavours. With a minimum fermentation time of 96 hours, it produces a creamy, banana-forward flavour profile to the Uile-bheist Highland Single Malt, now in year two of production.
Whilst developing its new cask programme, the Uile-bheist team has also been working with historian Jason Julier, to piece together the remarkable stories of the lost city distilleries.
At one time, novelist Neil Gunn was exciseman at Glen Mhor whilst 3 bottles of Mackinlay’s malt, from the same distillery, were salvaged from the ice under Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Cape Royds Antarctic expedition hut in 2010.
Honouring these traditions, Uile-bheist hope to incorporate some of the rare artefacts and images of the past for Tour visitors to its distillery on Ness Bank.
“We are proud to bring these limited quarter casks to the market, the first chapter in the Inverness whisky revival,” said Head Distiller, Drew Shearer.
“So much detail and precision goes into our new-make spirit and we select the casks very carefully to produce the high quality we want; quality that the city was always known for.”
He added, “Our charred quarter casks will give rich vanilla notes to the whisky. When charring, lignin in the wood is broken down to produce vanillin. That will provide a fresh, vibrant flavour with layers of sweetness and depth.
“The un-peated quarter casks will provide a more mellow, delicate flavour and a little flora in the maturation which will deliver a subtle, refined flavour.
“With the peated quarter casks, you will pick up some of the distinctive smoky, seaweed character from the Islay malt whisky previously matured in those casks.”
Picture: Uile-bheist Head Distiller Drew Shearer and Assistant Distiller Nicole Hendry
