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until we catch this Kelpie!
We’re planning to catch this kelpie’s ill-gotten gains in 2023. He was last seen entering the water on the north-western coast of the Islay sea loch in 2012.
Witnesses say the cask had “Chateau Moreau – Bordeaux” written on it, so we can surmise that it’s a Bordeaux, red wine, hogshead made with French Oak.
Coming from Bordeaux, of course, the cask uses French Oak. Most Scotch whisky uses American Oak from bourbon casks, so that alone makes this whisky more unique. French oak is renowned for adding beautiful intricate ‘buttery’ qualities to whiskey.
There is a catch to the use of French barrels… and that’s the evaporation. American oak is denser and less prone to the spirit escaping, but with French oak, all the buttery loveliness comes at the price of less whisky for us to drink.
The cask is what is called “first fill”. When whisky if produced it’s added to casks, three or even four times, each time the effects of the wood and the previous contents (in this case, red wine) are reduced until it has no effect at all. Using “first fill” means we get the most from that exquisite, butyraceous oak and the velvety, berry fruit-filled red wine.
Bordeaux red wine tends to be quite “full-bodied” with strong bold aromas of blackcurrant, plum and blackberry on an earthy, mineral base. Using predominantly Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, the balance between the two is determined by which bank of the Gironde estuary the winery is located. In our case, the cask is from the “left bank” whose blends tend to be higher in tannins, alcohol and acidity. They are rich, powerful wines that tend to age a bit better than wines from the “right bank”. This is also the bank that made the region famous.
Normally whisky is just “finished” in a red wine cask to add a fruity, warm, spicy note. However, this whisky has spent its whole life in the wine cask, leading to an explosion of rich, raisiny mixes of sweet and bitter flavours from dark chocolate and pepper through to plums, blackcurrant and blackberry.
The spirit is “unpeated”, which for an Islay whisky is quite unusual, but the effect is to add more sweet, sugary, honey flavours to complement the berries of the wine and the vanilla of the oak.
Hopefully, you can appreciate that this is a remarkable, quirky and distinctive whisky. We will have only one cask available and we will be selling 35cl bottles, limited to less than 500, in numbered bottles at “cask strength”