The Society’s latest small-batch ‘Heresy’ bottling Batch 41: Incognito is unique example of what can happen when the Whisky Team go from cask custodians to trying their hand at distilling, says Julien Willems.
Some of you may remember fondly our bottling G16 Dark ‘n’ Stormy Crème Brûlée, a Festivals special from 2023 that was the result of a custom distillation we carried out at distillery 156 back in April 2016. That bottling was from a special project to distil our own bourbon-style mashbill, and was greeted rapturously by members at the time.
Here’s the good news – our new small-batch ‘Heresy’ release, Batch 41: Incognito, comes from the very same batch of casks produced from that distillation.
Like its predecessor, Incognito is a grain whisky inspired by the US but with its feet firmly planted in Scotland. The mashbill, or in layman’s terms the cereal mix that went into the mash used to create this whisky, takes a page from the US whiskey distillers’ book. Firstly, its dominant ingredient is corn, at a 58 per cent ratio, supplying smooth and rounded flavours to the spirit. The inspiration here is the bourbon mashbill, which must by US law contain at least 51 per cent corn. Add to this 21 per cent of malted barley, which we all know and love for its fruity potential in whisky. And finally, 21 per cent un-malted rye, providing a spicy backbone and hints of rosewater.
“We took a bit of trans-Atlantic inspiration for this one,” says head of whisky, Euan Campbell. “We used some different grains to create our mashbill and carried out a custom distillation in a pot still, which is unusual for a grain whisky! It was also matured in heavily charred 24-month air-seasoned new oak barrels from Kelvin Cooperage in the US, with toasted heads added to the casks to create even more flavour.”
These are our very last casks from this experiment, which makes me a little sad as I would have loved to see those mature and evolve further for many more years. But upon control tasting them at 9-years-old, the Whisky Team were blown away by the flavours we found in each cask and the level of consistency on display for our noses and palates. So, we made a batch out of our four remaining casks and submitted it to the same scrutiny as all our whiskies.
Unsurprisingly, the Tasting Panel was in unanimous and vocal agreement with us: too good not to be bottled. So, while this certainly marks the end of this project, what an end it is!