Lagg Kilmory Edition
Lagg distillery opened in 2019 on the Isle of Arran, at the site of a former distillery near the village of Lagg that had closed in 1837. Located on the southern tip of the Isle due east of Campbeltown, Lagg is owned by Isle of Arran Distillers Ltd, the same company that owns Lochranza Distillery, situated on the northern tip. The distillery’s purpose was to produce more peated whisky using peat from Aberdeenshire, as the Arran brand is generally unpeated. The first whiskies were released in 2022 and reached the US market in 2024. The Lagg Kilmory Edition is one of these first two releases, matured in ex-bourbon casks.
Kinsey Zinfandel Cask Finish
Some of the early iconic American whiskies were in fact ryes out of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Kinsey Whiskey was a well-known brand from the the late 19th Century that, despite surviving Prohibition, finally went by the wayside in the 1970s. That was, at least, until the Millstone Spirits Group built the New Liberty Distillery, which offers three iconic brands of whiskey: New Liberty, Maryland Heritage Series and a revived Kinsey in 2015. There are now several Kinsey offerings available, some of which are distilled at New Liberty and others sourced from elsewhere. The Kinsey Zinfandel Cask Finish is what the brand calls “American Whiskey” – supposedly 99% corn and 1% barley that is 10 years old – sourced from Indiana (the label says “blended and bottled by Kinsey”) and finished for 15 months in ex-Zinfandel casks from Chateau Montelena in California.
Abasolo Ancestral Corn
Abasolo Distillery was built in 2019 in the town of Jilotepec de Abasolo. Why this place, situated at 7,800 feet, for the first whisky distillery in Mexico, a country more popularly known for tequila and mezcal? Because the town is known as the birthplace of corn (also known as maize), and corn is what this whisky is all about. Abasolo uses 100% cacahuazintle, a Mexican heritage corn, through an ancient cooking technique called nixtamalization, which is often used in food preparation for corn in Mexico but has not been used before in the distilling process. The Abasolo Ancestral Corn is the inaugural offering.