So far, so normal in the Scotch whisky world. What happened next is quite unusual. Not one of the experts – with decades of experience and dozens of book credits to their name – could so much as hazard a guess.   The answer to the seemingly simple but dastardly question dumfounded them all. The as-yet-unidentified liquid was a single grain Scotch whisky that had slumbered in a lone Sherry butt for 53 years. Now almost jet-black in colour, the single grain had taken on incredible, rich notes of dried fruits, roasted coffee, and muscovado toffee – and it was indistinguishable from a greatly aged single malt.   The Cask Trials, which is the name given to this highly unusual liquid that left some of the finest palates awestruck and not-so-secretly hoping for a bottle in their gift bag, is just one of the panoply of independently bottled House of Hazelwood releases from the Gordon family’s private Scotch whisky archives.   Somewhat surprisingly, you won’t find a single malt among them. These rare whiskies, which have been amassed over the past 100 years by the owners of Glenfiddich and The Balvenie, were released to the public for the first time in 2022 in two, painfully scarce, collections. The Charles Gordon Collection (all priced above £3,000 per bottle and aged for at least 40 years), and the Legacy Collection (priced between £950 and £2,000 a bottle) are all well-aged blended Scotch, blended grain and blended malt whiskies that have been matured in the most novel ways.   “Bringing old, expensive and unusual blended whiskies to the market is slightly counterintuitive,” House of Hazelwood Director Jonathan Gibson – who was instrumental in creating the range – candidly tells me. “It's not overly common within the industry.”  It’s also not overly common within the industry to bottle liquids of this age and provenance with playful names such as "Blended at Birth", "Sunshine on Speyside" and "The Old Confectioner’s", in understated packaging at these price points.  The liquids are undeniably scarce (once they’re gone, there really is no more) and old (few are under 40 years of age, and the oldest tops 50 years), but they are undeniably unusual and at odds with the highly successful formulaic approach others have followed of encasing precious liquids in highly ornate, priceless vessels that weigh more than a small child.    “They're not concept releases,” Gibson explains. “Everything is driven by the whisky. The packaging is quite straightforward. It's a nice bottle and it's classically engraved but we haven’t collaborated with the hottest designer. The idea is really just to give the whisky room, provide a platform, without overshadowing it,” he adds.   “Over the past 10-15 years – and it's no bad thing at all – you can see a lot more old age-statement single malts coming onto the market,” Gibson says, “And typically they're very straightforward in terms of their naming. It's distillery name, plus age statement equals a certain financial value.  “The naming of these releases is slightly playful, but actually if you look at them one by one, they're very straightforward. It's not quite a Ronseal, ‘it does exactly what it says on the tin’ approach, but it's not too far away from that. If you said ‘Blended at Birth’, it could be seen as quite playful but it's also quite descriptive and the same for ‘The First Drop’ and ‘Sunshine on Speyside’,” he explains.   It's clear Gibson, who has been involved in the project since the start, has genuine affection for the whiskies and the stories each one has to tell. He and the team are custodians of historical artefacts that the Gordon family have not parted with for the best part of a century.  “The First Drop”, for example, is named as such because it is the first liquid to run from the stills at the Gordon family’s Girvan grain distillery on Christmas day in 1964. This is the first and last time it can be purchased. “There's a real emotional tie from the family to these whiskies,” Gibson explains. “For the current family members, it's their dad who laid down these whiskies and he's not around anymore.  “I think it's actually quite difficult for the family to let some of these whiskies go, even though there's a begrudging acceptance that they can't drink such quantities and it was time they cut the cord and let these whiskies go out into the world.”  “There's a general principle that we're following where the whisky is ready to go when it's ready,” Gibson explains, “so we're not chasing down a 60-year-old age statement just so that we can put a big 60 on the bottle.”   It has been a pleasant surprise for all those involved to witness the reception the House of Hazelwood whiskies have received from an occasionally prickly and vocal audience.    “Sunshine on Speyside had an amazing response and it's one of the least expensive whiskies within our range,” Gibson says delightedly.   “It was selected because of its character and its flavour, and named because it has this amazing mango/ pineapple popsicle fruit character that transports you to sunshine and the Caribbean. It's one of those ones where everyone instantly agreed that it had to go into the first collection.   “I thought that everyone would be drawn to the oldest whisky at tastings but actually, this whisky captured the imagination of a lot of the writers and the trade.”   It’s hard to emphasise quite how unusual these whiskies are, as most releases – old or new – are described in hyperbolic terms.   “Blended at Birth”, which was released as part of the first collection, is a blend of malt and grain whisky that was married and matured as new-make spirit. Today, it is against the Scotch Whisky Regulations’ technical file to produce a whisky in this way, as you now have to age the malt and grain whisky components for a minimum of three years separately before blending them, so any liquids of this ilk on the market are painfully scarce.   “Unusual” and “esoteric” aren’t always necessarily loaded with positive connotations – you might take a sip of said liquid, politely smile and then return to something slightly less unusual and more palatable – but these whiskies have incredible balance and depth of flavour, in part because they are blends and not single malt whiskies.    “These old grains in particular are just unbelievable in terms of the flavour,” Gibson says with unfettered joy. “At a younger age, grain whisky is quite neutral in character but once you're past 30 years, if it's aged well, grain whisky has a luscious, delicious quality which adds so much to the final profile of the Scotch.    “The variation in style is enormous,” he continues. “I thought I understood old grain whisky but on exploring the inventory further you see these amazing grains that you didn't really know you could get.”   These whiskies wouldn’t have existed if it wasn’t for the foresight of the Gordon family  – and two brothers, in particular, who changed the company’s stars during the mid-20th century. The young Charles and Sandy Gordon brought much-needed vim and vigour to what could be a bit of a staid industry in the late 1950s. The pair famously refused to kowtow to demands from their grain whisky supplier – instead pulling the contract and setting up their own grain distillery, Girvan, in the 1960s. Charles – or Charlie as he was known – even forwent the comfort of his own home and instead lived in a caravan on-site during the build, riding a bicycle to stealthily check on the workers’ progress. His unconventional methods clearly paid off as the sizeable distillery (which still stands today) was built in a record nine-month period.  During their tenure, the duo also interrogated every aspect of whisky-making from distillation to maturation, resulting in the bold decision to employ an on-site coppersmith and cooper – which are still in situ at many of the William Grant distilleries today – to give the family more control. They were a formidable pair and the business arguably wouldn’t have survived some of the challenging periods in Scotch whisky’s history had it not been for their fortitude.     “There's something about family ownership that means you have a bit more luxury to maybe indulge some of your creative whims,” Gibson says with a wry smile. “This independence enabled them to explore ideas that might have been hard for others to justify to their board of shareholders.”  When other producers would have been forced to make very difficult decisions in order to survive those darker years, the larger, independent William Grant would have been slightly more insulated. Out of curiosity alone, they would have been able to hold on to barrels of maturing liquid and see how they developed over time.  These are the barrels that the House of Hazelwood team – and by extension us – now have access to. Each one has an incredible story – and an even better depth of flavour. With eight releases each year as a minimum – and the suggestion of some partnership releases to come as well – there is an audience, who count the great and the good among their numbers, desperate to venture into this unexplored and curious realm of blended Scotch whisky.  Read more Editorial and browse all whisky 

Few Scotch whisky releases have incited as much fervour and intrigue as the House of Hazelwood’s independent bottlings from the Grant family’s private cask library. Holly Motion caught up with Jonathan Gibson to discover why this emporium of curiosities is so tantalisingly unusual

Exploring the success of the independent bottlings from the Gordon family’s extraordinary private collection

The story behind the House of Hazelwood

House of Hazelwood: selling the family jewels

Historically peat was used as a fuel source. In recent history, it has been a source of great fervour and one-upmanship as whisky producers clambered to create the peatiest whisky on the market.  For the most part, this narrative and competition has played out on the remote and beguiling Hebridean isle of Islay and its nine malt distilleries. One even deciding the prefix “super” was required on the label because “heavily-peated” was no longer sufficient. But this could all be about to change as Seattle-based Westland Distillery finetunes an industry first: locally-peated American single malt whiskey.   “We are not trying to make it taste like Islay,” Co-Founder and Managing Director Matthew Hofmann says. “We want Solum to exhibit its own terroir and its own flavour influence so long as it tastes good.”   In the 10 years since it was founded, Westland has sought to challenge every stage of whisk(e)y-making convention from barley, casks and now peat. For the past five years the team has been encountering setbacks while they navigated the uncharted territory of producing peated malt in the United States. The first was the discovery that a peat malting company didn’t exist in America, despite Washington State boasting 50,000 acres of peat.   While Hofmann worked on options closer to home, Westland turned to the historic Glasgow-based malt producer Baird’s. But he knew he had struck on something and eventually started working with a start-up malting company, Skagit Valley Malting, to produce what the company believes is the first commercially produced batch of peated malts in America.   Pioneering a locally-peated whiskey created all sorts of headaches – or as Hofmann calls them “interesting challenges” – for the team. In one of the first blind tastings, peat flavour notes were entirely absent.   “When you are trying something new like this, there is an inherent amount of risk,” Hofmann says. “It’s very much an ongoing process and we are far from being finished. It’s more accurate to say we have barely begun on this project.”   Westland uses approximately two cubic yards of peat from a local 30-acre bog which equates to a month’s production and roughly 100 casks of whiskey a year. Whereas others typically cut and drain peat – which has a negative impact on carbon dioxide and methane release, and damages the ecology of the area – Westland uses a different process with a backhoe which keeps the bog intact apart from the small amount of peat they use.   “The stuff we have got out here is wild,” Hofmann says with unfettered excitement. “There’s 11 different species of stagnant mosses. There’s wild cranberries. There’s wild crab-apples. There’s a lot more woody materials – cedar – that end up making it into the bog itself because the area is still heavily wooded as well. So, the result on the peat and aroma is very different.”   Hofmann said Westland will release Solum – Latin for “soil” – in winter 2023 but admits he doesn’t know what the product will taste like yet. He says there is a Mezcal profile at this stage, with vegetal smokiness and spice, but cask impact factors are currently unknown.   “This has been one of the most difficult things we have worked on here at Westland,” he says. “Which is saying something because we have a habit of diving headfirst into things we know very little about.”  One of the main challenges, Hofmann says, is the lack of industry and by extension experts in the country. “Nobody understands the impact of peat and how to use it,” he explains. “That can be quite interesting because when you’re learning it from scratch and you have zero base line knowledge, you tend to approach things in a different way.”   This has led to further innovation in production with engineers at the helm of the project and meant sustainability has been high on the agenda in the notoriously eco-cognisant region.   “We don’t quite know yet what the path is with Solum,” he adds. “Is it going to be about the different areas of the bog and peat flavours you might get from that – kind of like Colere is with barley? Or is it going to be about a general Washington State peat flavour?”  The exact destination may be unknown, but it’s guaranteed to be an entirely new take on a very old tradition.   Browse all current whisky listings or read more Editorial 

It’s one of the oldest styles of whisky in the world and has been known to unite as much as it divides. So why is a Pacific Northwest distillery moving heaven and earth to produce the first batch of American peated malts? Holly Motion digs into it 

Digging into why Pacific Northwest distillery Westland is moving heaven and earth to produce the first batch of American peated malts. 

Digging into American peated malts

Breaking new ground

Alongside Macallan, Dalmore is leading the luxury end of the Scotch whisky revival, with its top-designated aged whiskies now reaching astronomical prices. We explore this historic distillery following its refurbishment and highlight F+R’s top picks from the range. The refurbishments were born from a simple problem: the whisky distilleries back home in Scotland can’t keep up with guests’ expectations. Those who have visited some of the many whisky distilleries in Scotland know that the setup is usually very basic, and simple. Men and women from the area work in old sites, mossy warehouses, tight fermentation rooms, and sterile still rooms.  Few sites have visitor centres and those that do keep the experience simple. A Scotch distillery is a piece of Scottish history and the luxurious and high-end image many brands now enjoy in markets across the globe doesn’t match the old, cosy distilleries back in Scotland. However, this is changing. As the value of certain releases skyrockets on the secondary market and huge investors and collectors emerge in Asia and the U.S., these distilleries need to fit the role of a huge, luxury brand. Visitors to Scotland for whisky tours fluctuate each year and, put simply, if a Chinese buyer pays £1 million for a single bottle of Macallan, the distillery needs to be up to par
when said buyer decides to visit. The new, state-of-the-art Macallan distillery came to be for a reason.  Now, the Dalmore has followed suit and upgraded their facilities. Unlike the Macallan, they have held on to some of the old structures and areas that make the Dalmore what it is; the character must remain. However, the team has renovated the visitor's centre, added a kitchen and chef team, a private dining room and bar, all the areas to make guests feel truly welcome. The still room has been opened up for a more ‘majestic’ view of the massive stills and the maturation warehouses have been organized for guests to see some of the rarest Dalmore casks in existence upon entering.  Over a night at the distillery with Richard Paterson, we were taken through the distillery and the renovated areas. The tasting room features bottlings of the famed Dalmore 64 and 62. These were, most likely, replicas but the Dalmore team (with a smile) nor confirmed nor denied this.   Bottles of Sherry, Port, and Bourbon from the producers the brand receives their casks from, were present as were educational materials to study up on the distillery and whisky in general. The secret dining room is perfect for small and mid-sized groups, and the chef does an amazing job of using Scotland’s finest ingredients for a fun and colourful menu.  Dalmore bottlings and casks have been rising steadily, especially in China, Taiwan, and the rest of Asia. Just recently, the brand launched the new Dalmore 51 Year Old. And with Richard Paterson set to retire this year, many other commemorative bottlings are expected to follow. Let’s look at the one-of-a-kind Dalmore 60-Year-Old. According to Paterson, ‘the spirit was distilled on June 7th, 1951, and the two ex-sherry casks used to create this expression are the
last of the Mackenzie era, the family that ran the distillery for over three generations.’ The project was led by Paterson, who carefully married the two casks to create the new 60 year-old.  The new release is close in age to the series of Dalmore 62 Year Old bottles, each one commemorating a milestone in the Dalmore's history, from the start of the distillery in 1839. Most recently, the brand collaborated with famed Italian chef, Massimo Botura, to create the
one-of-a-kind 49 Year Old Dalmore L'Anima, which sold at auction for £108,900. Since the launch, the new Dalmore 60 Year Old has been sent on a journey around the world, to launch in China, the US, Taiwan, and other markets. Once it returns to the UK it will be sold to the highest bidder, but we do not yet know which auction or retailer will be used. As whisky becomes more of a luxury product many distilleries have begun to upgrade their facilities. However, we’re hoping that the traditions, timeless structures, and old practices remain as those are what make Scotch whisky such a loved spirits category steeped in rich history. The Dalmore has managed to maintain both, so if you haven’t yet, now’s a great time
to visit. Dalmore 35 Year Old Released in 2016, the Dalmore 35 Year Old will see 1,000 bottles released a year until 2021. With this in mind, it’s a great time to stock up as a possible discontinuation may be on the horizon. The whisky within has been aged in a combination of casks- a Matusalem sherry, a bourbon barrel and a colheita port pipe. This brings forth an amazing balance in the whisky,
with depth that only over three decades spent in oak could bring. To remain on par with the liquid, a hand-blown crystal decanter crafted by French crystal house Baccarat was produced for the release.  Tasting note: The nose is delightfully bursting with juicy fruit, mangoes, bananas, pineapple, and some passionfruit. Vibrant for a whisky of this age. The tropical fruit continues on to the palate now joined by some spice, gingerbread and some roasted coffee with honey. The finish is long and smooth. Dalmore 45 Year Old As if the 35-year-old wasn’t old and rare enough, the Dalmore brought us a 45-year-old expression in 2018. Unlike the 35, only 500 bottles of the Dalmore 45 Year Old were released worldwide. The liquid matured in ex-Bourbon casks and was then moved into two different Graham’s Port Colheita pipes from the 1961 and 1963. The liquid was finally married together
in first-fill ex-Bourbon casks. Again encased in Barracat crystal decanters, this is one of the most sought-after Dalmores in the world. Tasting note: Incredible complexity here, with soft berries leading to rich honey on the nose. The palate delivers dark chocolate and Manuka honey, followed by toffee-covered apples and roasted chestnuts. A complex yet balanced expression, with a liveliness one wouldn’t expect from a whisky aged for almost half a century.  Browse all current Dalmore listings or read more Editorial 

We were one of just eight lucky guests invited to visit The Dalmore’s refurbished distillery as the team launched its 60-year-old bottling commemorating the distillery’s 180th anniversary.

Notes from our visit to The Dalmore’s refurbished distillery as the team launched its 60-year-old bottling commemorating the distillery’s 180th anniversary.

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