Kilchoman Am Bùrach
Mistakes happen. In many professions, you have to sweep whatever the results were under the proverbial rug and start over. At Kilchoman distillery, unnamed employee mistakenly combined a three year old run of their flagship Machir Bay with a fresh ex-port matured expression in 2014. Instead of washing it down the drain or drinking it immediately, they stuck it in an ex-bourbon barrel to see if time would provide any hope before finishing the strange marriage off in an ex-ruby port cask. The beginning and the maturation process were, as the general manager called it, “am bùrach”, or “a mess”. The Kilchoman Am Bùrach is a unique mistake in many ways, not lease of which is that it survived and thrived long enough to be bottled. The ultimate hope of any young spirit.
Talisker Distillers Edition
Talisker is the oldest distillery on the Isle of Skye and for many years was the only one. Looking out over Loch Harport, the distillery was founded in 1830 by the MacAskill brothers and has been producing whisky for almost the entirety of the past two centuries. Now owned by Diageo, the distillery is able to rely on the resources such a corporate conglomerate is able to provide, like access to a host of casks to use in finishing. The Distillers Edition series is a program run by Diageo where standard offerings of a distillery are then further aged in ex-sherry or ex-wine casks. The Talisker Distillers Edition is a Talisker 10 year aged a further 12 months in ex-amoroso sherry casks. Amoroso is a blend out of Jerez, Spain where bodego workers would add a touch of Pedro Ximenez sherry to their bottles of Oloroso sherry, to make it more loveable, or “amoroso,” for their wives. This is similar to a cream sherry.
Colkegan Single Malt
Santa Fe Spirits was founded in 2010 by Englishman Colin Keegan. An architect by trade, Colin and his family built their home on an old apple orchard in the American Southwest in the early 90s. Colin decided to look at the Recession of 2008/09 as an opportunity and founded Santa Fe Spirits. After a decade and more in production, Santa Fe Spirits offer vodka, gin, apple brandy (from the orchards) and liqueurs. Their flagship product, however, is the Colkegan Single Malt. A portmanteau of the distillery’s founder, the Colkegan line uses local mesquite wood to dry a portion of the barley used in the whiskey, with other versions using various proofage and cask finishes.