Jura 18 Year
The island of Jura may only have one pub and one road, but it also has one distillery. Founded in 1810, Jura has held on amidst the tides of time to survive into the present, indelibly stamped on the island landscape and community. While the island is difficult to reach even today, the distillery continues to take the waters from Market Loch and feed it into some of the tallest stills in Scotland. The height and width enable greater contact with copper during distillation. The core range relaunched in 2018 and now composes a 12, 14 and this 18 year scotch. The Jura 18 is matured in American ex-bourbon casks before being finished in Grand Cru Classé Bordeaux red wine barriques from Southern France.
Redbreast Tawny Port Edition
The Redbreast brand has long been fans of using cask maturation as part of their whiskey’s identity, such almost always utilizing some component of ex-sherry casks of some sort in their core offerings and many of their limited editions. The Redbreast Tawny Port Edition was launched in 2023 as the third release in the brand’s Iberian Series, which looks to pair whiskey with esteemed wine producers from the Iberian penninsula. It is a single pot still whiskies aged in ex-bourbon and ex-Oloroso sherry casks, then transferred to ex-tawny port casks before being married and matured in freshly seasoned tawny port hogsheads for 14-25 months, resulting in layers of influence.
Ardbeg Anthology: The Harpy’s Tail
Ardbeg launched the Anthology series in 2023, inspired by tales of unbelievable encounters. The distillery’s marketing department has long loved to connect their releases with stories digging into the legends around Islay and of Ardbeg, and the Anthology opens with just such panache. The Harpy’s Tail is a 13 year scotch that is partially matured in ex-bourbon casks and partially matured in ex-Sauternes casks, then combined much in the same way that a Balvenie 12 year Doublewood would be. The actual tail of the harpy in question is told on the box and involves some highjinks around the distillery, even if it involves a creature out of Greek and Roman legends rather than Scottish, it is a creature still said to control storms, something the Scots on Islay would be long familiar with.