Fettercairn Distillery Launch Their First Small Batch Series

Fettercairn Distillery have launched their first ever collection of small batch single malt whiskies. The Warehouse Collection pays tribute to the places where Fettercairn comes of age, the 14 dunnage warehouses which look after Fettercairn’s maturing stock. The first release in this new collection is Warehouse 2 Batch No.001.

Fettercairn Distillery

Located in the picturesque village of Fettercairn at the foothills of Scotland’s Cairngorm Mountains, Fettercairn Distillery is found among some of the most fertile farming land in the North East of Scotland. With the purest of mountain water as an ingredient, it was an obvious location for a distillery when Fettercairn was founded by Sir Alexander Ramsay in 1824.

In the mid-1950s, the whisky-makers at Fettercairn experimented, seeking ways to create a purer expression of their spirit. They found that pouring water down the still cooled the copper, increasing condensation inside so only the lightest vapours could rise for collection. With this knowledge they fashioned a unique copper cooling ring around the neck of the stills drenching them with crystal clear mountain water - a clever yet practical solution to creating their exceptional whisky, a technique which remains unique in Scotch whisky-making to this day.

Fettercairn Warehouse 2 Batch No.001 

Limited to 3,600 bottles, the first in the Collection, Warehouse 2 Batch No.001 brings together five different cask styles all filled back in 2010 and matured in Warehouse 2, where high humidity combined with a relatively cool and temperate environment makes it mark on the maturing spirit. Each cask has been carefully selected by the Fettercairn Distillery team, who have looked for the very best whisky casks the distillery has available to bottle.

Fettercairn have been keen to ensure complete transparency on the details of Warehouse 2 Batch No.001, so that whisky lovers can share in the discovery process. Fettercairn’s Whisky Maker, Gregg Glass said: “For some time, I’ve wanted to share the secrets and treasures which lie within our unique dunnage warehouses at Fettercairn. We've had the opportunity to create something quite special with this new collection that celebrates the treasure trove of beautiful casks we have at Fettercairn. I’m looking forward to whisky drinkers discovering these for themselves. The collection means we can also continue to build on the long history of experimentation and exploration at Fettercairn, which sits firmly at the heart of the series, whilst also starting to reveal what might come next from the distillery.”

Bottled at 49.7% ABV, Fettercairn Warehouse 2 Batch No. 001 has been made using hand selected first fill American and European oak casks; filled with spirit distilled in 2010, making use of Fettercairn’s distinctive copper cooling ring distillation process, and then matured in Fettercairn Warehouse 2. These casks each impart their own influence on the spirit and include unseasoned casks and sherry seasoned butts from Vasyma, sherry barrels from Tevasa, ex-bourbon barrels and Port Pipes. 

Fettercairn Warehouse 2 Batch No.001 official tasting notes

Nose: Light, elegant and truly refined as enticing floral notes of fleshy honey dew melon, Doyenne du Comice pear, cape gooseberries and freshly baked brioche covered in Scottish heather honey. In the background ginger spice, creamy caramel, Madagascan vanilla pod and poached peaches.

Taste: The alluring aromas are immediately transferred onto the palate as creamy coffee latte, tangy grapefruit segments, spicy apple tart laced with cinnamon and Turkish Delight take centre stage. However with a small edition of cool still water this helps to release another layer of exuberance with warming flavours of Devonshire fudge, vanilla cake, maple syrup and fresh clementines.  

If you’d like to try Fettercairn Warehouse 2, Batch No.001 then it will initially launch in the UK via The Whisky Shop from 1st March, at an RRP of £55.  It’ll then be available more broadly in the UK distribution from mid-March as well as the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and France.