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InchDairnie

SCOTCH SINGLE MALT WHISKIES > I

INCHDAIRNIE DISTILLERY OPENS ITS DOORS
2016
Inchdairnie distillery – one of Scotland’s best-kept secrets, despite starting to make spirit late last year – was unveiled for the first time yesterday.

Italian job: Inchdairnie, overseen by Ian Palmer, has a pair of Italian-made pot stills
The Fife-based enterprise, set to produce 2m litres of spirit in its first year, is headed by whisky industry veteran Ian Palmer, who said: ‘We didn't want it to be just another distillery, but we wanted it to be different.’

Distillery manager Scott Sneddon added: ‘We set out to push the boundaries to give maximum flexibility of spirit styles.’

Inchdairnie, on the outskirts of Kinglassie, is equipped with a mash filter, rather than the customary mash tun, which gives high levels of extract and is able to process both spring and winter barley, a deviation from the usual use of exclusively spring barley in whisky making.

The distillery will also work with higher than normal gravities in fermentation, which it claims will give a more ‘flavoursome’ spirit.

It has a pair of Italian-made pot stills and a rare Lomond still. ‘We will sometimes use it for triple distillation and, if we used it instead of the conventional spirit still, it would give much more reflux and a lighter spirit,’ said Sneddon.

The pot stills, which have double condensers, employ thermal re-compression, with external heat exchangers, which creates claimed energy savings of 40-50%.

Different yeast strains are also part of the distillery's programme of experimentation, while a variety of cask types will be used in future, though to date all spirit has been filled into ex-Bourbon barrels.

The Inchdairnie house style is described as ‘full-bodied and complex… with a slightly sweet edge, in contrast to the traditional Lowland style’.

The first single malt bottling may appear in 2029, although only a small amount will be bottled as such.

The bulk will go for reciprocal trading and to Inchdairnie's strategic partner Macduff International, for use in its Grand Macnish, Lauders and Islay Mist brands.

‘We are fortunate not to be under any commercial pressure to release our whisky, so we will wait until the whisky is at its absolute best, which could be in 10, 12 or 15 years’ time; only time will tell,’ said Palmer.

INCHDAIRNIE DISTILS FIRST SCOTCH OAT WHISKY
June 2019 b
Fife-based distillery InchDairnie has distilled what is claimed to be the ‘first’ oat whisky to be made in Scotland for over a century.

InchDairnie MD Ian Palmer wants to ‘push the boundaries of flavour’
The distillery mashed its first batch of oats over the weekend, and has today (10 June) begun distillation of its first spirit.

The oat whisky follows on from the distiller’s work with rye in 2017, and will become the first iteration in its PrinLaws Collection, which will feature flavour-led, small-batch distillates.

Oats have been used in Scotch and Irish whisky mashbills in the past, with evidence in the 1908-09 Royal Commission Report of their use.

In more recent times, oats have been distilled by a number of US-based distillers, as well as Blackwater in Ireland.

It’s a project InchDairnie has been working on for two years.

Ian Palmer, managing director of InchDairnie owner John Fergus & Co., said: ‘[Oat whisky] is one of many experimental ideas we had in mind when we built the distillery [in 2016] and one of the reasons we chose to install specific equipment such as the hammer mill, the mash filter, and Lomond still.’

Palmer added that the first hurdle in distilling oats was sourcing the correct varieties, which are ‘not the ones you use for porridge’, and then finding someone to malt them.

For both elements, Palmer turned to 200-year-old maltster Thomas Fawcett in Castleford, West Yorkshire, which floor-malted Mascani oats grown in Shropshire and Yorkshire.

‘Malting the oats makes it easier to process and it also helps to add some viscosity,’ Palmer said.

The oats were then blended with distilling malt, as oats are low in the enzymes needed to convert starch into sugar.

Palmer’s intention was always to have oats as the predominant cereal, and they account for 51% of the mashbill.

Initial trials took place at brewing expert Meura in Belgium, then at research and technology specialist Campden BRI in Redhill, Surrey, where the mash was fermented with a yeast selected by Mauri specifically for the purpose.

InchDairnie then ran trial distillations at its own pilot plant.

InchDairnie used oats grown in Shropshire and Yorkshire for its whisky

A total of 100 tons of oats were mashed which, when distilled in the standard pot and then the firm’s own-designed Lomond Hills still, will produce around 20,000 litres of new make.

‘It’s of sufficient size to be able to understand the spirit,’ said Palmer. ‘If you are going to do something like this, you have to commit.’

The spirit will be filled into first-fill Bourbon casks, with half going into Portguese Moscatel casks.

Palmer said: ‘I imagine it will be more like a grain whisky, but creamier (the mash is very sweet and creamy), so I thought the flowery Moscatel cask might be a reasonable match.’

InchDairnie’s oat whisky will not be released until it is deemed to be ready.

As there is no separate definition for oat whisky under the Scotch whisky regulations, it will be classed as a single grain Scotch.

Each year the distillery will set aside two weeks to produce a series of one-off, single campaign distillations.

These will form the PrinLaws Collection, the fourth member of the InchDairnie range, along with the seasonally-distilled single malt, rye whisky RyeLaw, and peated KinGlassie.

PrinLaws was the name of a local mill operated by John Fergus in Leslie, Fife.

‘We are pushing the boundaries of flavour,’ said Palmer. ‘In whisky, the biggest risk is not to take a risk.’

Every aspect of InchDairnie's distillery set up has been designed to maximise flavour, which centres around a theme of seasonality. Both winter and spring Fife barley varieties are used alongside four bespoke yeast strains that change with the seasons. Once matured, all four seasons from a particular year will be vatted together, giving a true taste of single vintage.

In order to process its winter barley and extract maximum yield, InchDairnie has installed a hammer mill and mash filter – only the second Scotch whisky distillery to do so (the other being Teaninich). The result is a clearer-than-average wort that contributes grassy, floral aromas to InchDairnie's distillery character.

The operation goes one step further in creating a light, aromatic spirit through its unusual use of double shell and tube condensers, which not only aids energy efficiency but increases copper contact and allows more control over reflux.

A bespoke Lomond still – the only one in a Scotch distillery to contain plates – is sat, ready to be fully plugged in when InchDairnie is ready to begin triple distillation. Plans for the Lomond are yet to be revealed, but already this distillery is proving its capacity for experimentation and innovation.

InchDairnie's single malt will be ‘a walk in a garden throughout the year’: full of floral aromas, cut grass, fruits and a hint of spice from some Sherry and wine cask maturation. Its first whisky release is 10-12 years away, so in the meantime the distillery is also making a different style of newmake for strategic partner, Macduff International.

After spending 40 years in the Scotch whisky industry (Invergordon, Glen Turner, Glen Moray, Starlaw), Ian Palmer foresaw significant growth in single malt leading to issues for blenders and brand owners looking for more security over their whisky supply. He saw a gap in the market for a distillery that could produce bulk single malt for these third party brands.

His vision for a £10 million, technologically advanced and energy efficient distillery that focuses on extracting maximum flavour, was soon backed by a private family investment group. A government grant of £1.7m plus an injection from Palmer’s own pocket got the project off the ground swiftly, and rather silently in industry terms.

In 2011, Palmer and his anonymous investors established John Fergus & Co as the holding company, and work began to build InchDairnie in 2014. Stills were ordered from Italian coppersmith, Frilli, and the entire project was complete in just 18 months. Distilling began at the site in December 2015, although its official launch was unveiled in May 2016.

Until its own single malt has matured for at least a decade, InchDairnie will provide fillings for Macduff International’s blends, which include Grand Macnish, Lauder’s and Islay Mist.

Palmer’s designs for the distillery include plans to expand at a later stage, in line with an anticipated growth in demand for single malt and blends, so InchDairnie can accommodate demand for fillings, as well as its own whisky.

CAPACITY (MLPA) i
2.000.000 Ltrs
CONDENSER TYPE i
Two shell and tube condensers per still.
FERMENTATION TIME i
60 hours
GRIST WEIGHT (T) i
4
HEAT SOURCE i
Steam
MALT SPECIFICATION i
Unpeated
MASH TUN TYPE i
Mash conversion vessel and mash filter
NEW-MAKE STRENGTH i
63.5
SPIRIT STILL SIZE (L) i
11,000
STILLS i
2
WAREHOUSING i
Palleted
WASH STILL SIZE (L) i
18,000
WASHBACK CHARGE (L) i
60,000
WASHBACK SIZE (L) i
80,000
WASHBACK TYPE i
Stainless steel
WASHBACKS i
4
WATER SOURCE i
Flowers of May and Goathill springs
WORT CLARITY i
Clear

John Fergus & Co.
2011 - date



InchDairnie announce first Scottish Pot Still whisky in a century
24 August, 2023

Fife distillery InchDairnie, has announced the release of a Scottish Pot Still whisky as the latest edition to its experimental PrinLaws Collection.

The new whisky will draw on the Irish tradition of Pot Still whiskey-making and follow the Irish definition by using 60% distillers’ malt with 35% unmalted barley and 5% malted rye in the mash bill.

As far as the company is aware, it’s the first time this century that a distiller in Scotland has announced the production of a Pot Still whisky.

“While this style of whisky was once commonly produced in Scotland centuries ago, it has fallen out of favour in recent times, which is a real shame as there are some fascinating flavour characteristics to come from working with malted and unmalted grains of various types,” said InchDairnie distillery founder, Ian Palmer.

“We’ve bridged the traditions between Scotch and Irish whisky to create a truly innovative whisky that I’m sure will delight drinkers in the years to come.”

While Irish Pot Still whiskey is typically triple distilled, the InchDairnie liquid has been distilled just twice before being laid down in first-fill Bourbon barrels for maturation.

“Our three ‘Ms’ philosophy – materials, method and maturation – is deeply rooted in this latest experimentation,” said distillery manager, Scott Sneddon.

“We’ve kept to a double distillation as is tradition in Scotland, and we can’t use enzymes to improve sugar conversion, unlike in Ireland.  While we need to wait for the results of years of maturation in our ex-Bourbon casks, we anticipate a more complex, spicy oily whisky than what you’d expect in an Irish Pot Still Whiskey.”

The distillery’s experimental PrinLaws Collection has seen the distillations of a wheated whisky in 2022 and a sour mash bill in 2021.  As with the others, no release date has been set and the final products will only be released when they’re ready


InchDairnie announce first Scottish Pot Still whisky in a century
24 August, 2023
Fife distillery InchDairnie, has announced the release of a Scottish Pot Still whisky as the latest edition to its experimental PrinLaws Collection.

The new whisky will draw on the Irish tradition of Pot Still whiskey-making and follow the Irish definition by using 60% distillers’ malt with 35% unmalted barley and 5% malted rye in the mash bill.

As far as the company is aware, it’s the first time this century that a distiller in Scotland has announced the production of a Pot Still whisky.

“While this style of whisky was once commonly produced in Scotland centuries ago, it has fallen out of favour in recent times, which is a real shame as there are some fascinating flavour characteristics to come from working with malted and unmalted grains of various types,” said InchDairnie distillery founder, Ian Palmer.

“We’ve bridged the traditions between Scotch and Irish whisky to create a truly innovative whisky that I’m sure will delight drinkers in the years to come.”

While Irish Pot Still whiskey is typically triple distilled, the InchDairnie liquid has been distilled just twice before being laid down in first-fill Bourbon barrels for maturation.

“Our three ‘Ms’ philosophy – materials, method and maturation – is deeply rooted in this latest experimentation,” said distillery manager, Scott Sneddon.

“We’ve kept to a double distillation as is tradition in Scotland, and we can’t use enzymes to improve sugar conversion, unlike in Ireland.  While we need to wait for the results of years of maturation in our ex-Bourbon casks, we anticipate a more complex, spicy oily whisky than what you’d expect in an Irish Pot Still Whiskey.”

The distillery’s experimental PrinLaws Collection has seen the distillations of a wheated whisky in 2022 and a sour mash bill in 2021.  As with the others, no release date has been set and the final products will only be released when they’re ready.  


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