Aberfeldy 15 Year
Aberfeldy was founded in 1896 by John Dewar & Sons and has long been a major staple of Dewar’s Blended Whiskies. Along with occasional releases of casks to the independent bottling market, the distillery offers a range of aged statement single malts. The Aberfeldy 15 is a series of limited edition releases, each featuring a different cask finish. The Aberfeldy 15 featured in this review was released in late 2023 and features finishing in Sémillon wine casks, a sweet white wine from the Cadillac region of France, where a lot of Bordeauxs are found. Other editions have showcased finishing in Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and Bolgheri Red Wine Casks.
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.
Bowmore 12 Year
Bowmore distillery was founded in 1779 by John P. Simson before ownership passed to the Mutter family, who held it until the distillery closed in 1915 for ten years, before being purchased and passing through various hands during the 20th Century before falling under a subsidiary of the current owner, Bean Suntory. This conglomorate has a vast spirits portfolio that includes, just in Scotland, the Ardmore, Auchentoshan, Bowmore, Glen Garioch, and Laphroaig distilleries, along with producing the McClelland’s single malt range. It has an annual production capacity of two million liters and the waste heat from the distillation process heats a nearby public swimming pool built in a former warehouse. Through a combination of longevity of operations and careful management, Bowmore currently houses the oldest and most diverse set of whiskies on Islay. The Bowmore 12 is the benchmark of the distillery’s core range, and features maturation in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks.