Oban Little Bay
While Oban has been distilling for over two hundred years, their geographic restraints have kept them from growing into a truly giant place of production. For many years, their single malts were relegated to the 14 Year and Distillers Edition. Therefore it was a welcome surprise when they introduced a new No Age Statement offering to their lineup in 2015, the Oban Little Bay. The Scottish Gaelic name for the town, An t-Òban, means “little bay”. The single malt is blended in 200 liter ex-bourbon barrels, the smallest barrels available at the distillery. This was at one point their travel retail exclusive.
Bain’s Cape Mountain Whisky
While not known for whisky on the international stage, South Africa has been the home of wine, gin, and beer for a great many years. The James Sedgwick distillery was founded in 1853 in Wellington but didn’t start to gain more attention until former English cricketer Andy Watts was made Master Distiller in 1991. Having trained at distilleries in Scotland, he saw the potential to further develop the distillery’s existing brand, Three Ships, throughout the 90s and early 2000’s. He launched Bain’s Cape Mountain in 2009, a single grain whisky made from South African maize. Named after Andrew Geddes Bain, Andy helped introduce South African whisky to the wider world. Thanks Andy!
Caol Ila 17 Year Unpeated
One of the great things about the whisky surge over the past couple of decades has been the freedom of experimentation. With more volume moving off the shelf, distilleries need a way to stand out. Scotch, having stricter regulations than whisky in many other parts of the world, has to arguably work a little harder to be unique without alienating consumers. The Caol Ila 17 is an example of this deviation, by the simple act of not peat-drying the barley and bottling the whisky at cask strength.