Aberfeldy 12 Year
Aberfeldy was founded in 1896 by the famed John Dewar & Sons on the eastern edge of the town bearing the name, almost directly in the center of Scotland. The distillery currently has two wash stills and two spirit stills. Apart from the distillery shutting down during both world wars due to grain shortages, it has otherwise operated nearly continously. Though ownership eventually passed to the spirits conglomerate now known as Diageo in 1997, Aberfeldy remains the largest malt whisky component of Dewar’s Blended whiskies. The Aberfeldy 12 Year debuted in 1999, not long after the Diageo acquisition, and remains the foundational age statement of the core portfolio, along with a 15 Year and 18 Year. Along with the blended and age statement offerings, Aberfeldy malts are also featured in independent bottler releases.
Kilchoman Casado
Kilchoman was founded in 2005 by Anthony Wills in the northwest corner of Islay, near Machir Bay. It sources its barley from Rockside Farm along with Port Ellen maltings. Interestingly, the Port Ellen maltings are peated to 50ppm, whereas the maltings done at the distillery are closer to 20ppm. From 2005 to 2023, the distillery sourced its barrels from Buffalo Trace but since 2023, the barrels come from Breckenridge Distillery in Colorado. The distillery frequently uses sherry and other ex-wine casks to finishing or full maturation, both in their core and more limited offerings. The Kilchoman Casado is a limited edition offering that debuted in 2022. The name Casado is Portuguese for marriage and the whisky is matured in first fill-bourbon barrels for 6 years before 38 casks were blended for 2 years in two 6,000 liter Portuguese red wine vats.
Copper Cane IslaCalifa 5 Year Cherrywood
Joe Wagner and Kyle Stroud founded Copper Cane Spirits in 2014. Joe Wagner is a fifth-generation winemaker from Nappa Valley, and Copper Cane began by distilling apple brandy before expanding into whiskies. They pay particular attention to the local grains selected for their offerings, wanting to lean into what the state of California has to offer, much like the terroir-driven ethos often found in wine making. The IslaCalifa is a 5 year single malt named after Califa, the ficitional queen of an island found in the popular 16th cenutry novel Las Sergas de Esplandian. When the first Spanish explorers first reached the Baja penninusula of California, they wondered if they’d reached the same paradise and thus named it after the fictional queen. IslaCalifa is grown using Northern California two-row barley that is smoked using cherry wood, and aged in a mix of French and American oak barrels before being finished for 1 month in Forté wine barrels.