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.
Minglewood Winter Rye
Mark and Andrew Morrison began distilling in 2016 in a building that used to house the Minglewood Coal and Ice Company, a company that lasted nearly a century providing ice and coal to Wayne County until its closure in the 1950s. Located in Wayne Country, Ohio, the distillery has been seeking to make a name in the region, banking on word-of-mouth to fuel their growth instead of overextending and sacrificing quality. Their portfolio has white spirits like vodka and gin but they have a much larger variety of whiskies, ranging from bottled-in-bond bourbon and rye to a few flavored whiskies. The Minglewood Winter Rye is distilled from local winter rye, the plant being especially useful by lasting through the winters so it would grow rapidly after the snows left for early spring foraging.
Jura 10 Year
Jura distillery is a seeming cat of a distillery, founded in 1810 and possessed of nine lives, or at least a timeline of eight owners. The last major rebuild of the distillery was in 1963, from whence it has been producing a variety of single malts. The island of Jura is very difficult to reach, with the distillery being one of the few actual businesses on it (one road, one pub, one distillery). With approximately 200 Diurachs – the Gaelic name for the inhabitants – living on the island, most everyone there knows someone who works at Jura. In 2018, the complete core line of Jura was retired as the distillery decided to move in a new flavor direction. The Jura 10 is the cornerstone of that relaunch, aging in ex-bourbon barrels before being finished for an undisclosed time in ex-Oloroso sherry casks.