Morven-based organic distillery Nc’nean are set to release two new spirits under its Quiet Rebels series for the first time since the collection launched in 2020. The releases – Quiet Rebels Simon and Quiet Rebels Sarah – mark the first time the series has featured two team members in one year, and the first time a product other than whisky has been included.
The Quiet Rebels series, introduced in 2020, celebrates individual members of the Nc’nean team through limited edition bottlings shaped by their personal tastes and backgrounds. This year, husband and wife Simon and Sarah Hewitt have each developed a separate release.
Simon, one of the distillery’s longest-serving distillers and a self-proclaimed beer fanatic, has produced Quiet Rebels Simon, a single malt whisky matured in stout casks from Scottish brewery Innis & Gunn. The spirit was initially aged in shaved, toasted and re-charred (STR) red wine casks before being transferred to stout casks that had previously held Nc’nean whisky. The resulting profile is described as rich and rounded, with notes of chocolate brioche, baking spices, coffee fudge cake and cherry jam.
Sarah, who leads the distillery’s bottling operations and who has never been a fan of neat whisky, has created Quiet Rebels Sarah, a whisky-based cream liqueur using organic oats in place of dairy. The product is Nc’nean’s first liqueur and the first non-whisky to appear in the Quiet Rebels line. It combines the distillery’s organic single malt with oat-based creaminess and, according to the distillery, the result is “a velvety, rich and creamy whisky liqueur… with tasting notes of crème brûlée, spiced honeycomb, and chocolate mousse with the complexity and character of Nc’nean’s single malt Scotch.”
Quiet Rebels Simon and Quiet Rebels Sarah will be available in the UK from 2 October. The whisky will also be rolled out internationally shortly after, with the liqueur set to launch in Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland later in the autumn.
Picture: Simon and Sarah Hewitt