Jul. 31: Drammers Chicago -w- Nc'Nean's Head of Commercial......
Hello Chicago Drammers!
On Wednesday, July 31st starting at 6:30pm, we’re excited to welcome back our friends from the Nc’Nean Distillery. We’ll be meeting at the Birch Road Clubhouse in Lincoln Park (address: 1113 West Armitage Ave, 60614).
You may recall that last October we welcomed their founder Annabel Thomas. This time we’re going to welcome their head of sales, or “Head of Commercial” as they call him — Phil Nickson. We’ll get a chance to try a few special new releases that have come up since we hosted them last October. We’ll be trying 7 expressions in total, which you can read about below. We’ll also have on hand some of the recent barrel picks and other fun new bottles we’ve been touring around the club, which you can try before or after the main event with Nc’Nean. Check out our lineup:
The Huntress: Orchard Cobbler. Here’s what the distillery has to say about this: The third release in our boundary-pushing and experimental Huntress series. Truly a one-of-a-kind limited edition whisky, in that the spirit used is only produced once a year when the distillers cross over from one distillation recipe to another. We find we can taste delicious flavours of Cherry Bakewell, apricot marmalade and vanilla custard, with a side of peppermint tea. Unlike most distilleries, we run two different spirit runs each year, one for whisky set to be released at a younger age, and one set to be released after ten plus years. The spirit matured for Huntress Orchard Cobbler comes from the distillation in the week after this spirit recipe is switched over - a time where cut points are changed and unusually high fruity compounds flood into the spirit. So fruity, that the whisky is named after one of the team’s favourite desserts. 6,153 bottles / 48.5% abv / 70cl.
Quiet Rebels: Gordon. This is the 2024 edition of their annual Autumn release, designed to celebrate a member of their team. This batch was composed of 74% STR red wine casks, 19% ex-sherry, 7% ex-Rivesaltes (a type of fortified wine). We know the youngest whisky in the mix was filled July 2019 (they can’t disclose the oldest per Scotch whisky regulations). Bottled: August - September 2023. Barley: 100% organic Scottish. Yeasts: Anchor and Fermentis. Bottled at 48.5%
Nc’Nean Single Cask - Aon - Ex Bourbon. Cask #18-642. Cask Strength, 700ml, 60.4% abv. The single cask only yielded 244 bottles, which were spread out across the US, though we were actually able to bring a few bottles of it into our retail site www.DRINQY.com. Here’s what the distillery has to say about it: To celebrate our official launch into the US, we are releasing a deliciously creamy ex-Bourbon cask filled in 2018 during our second year of distilling. Bottled at cask strength, it brings flavours reminiscent of a classic afternoon tea. We find we can taste clotted cream, apricot jam, and candied lemons, alongside freshly baked cinnamon rolls. Tasting notes: Clotted cream, apricot jam, candied lemons. Technical details: Cask filled: December 2018, Bottled: February 2024, Barley: 100% organic Scottish, yeasts: Anchor and Fermentis, bottled at 60.4% (cask strength).
Plus 4 more: The tasting will also include their flagship Nc’Nean single malt, and we’ll separately try the three component barrel types that they use to make their flagship whisky.
We hope you can join us! We’ll order in some light food (likely pizza) to try to make sure nobody is drinking on an empty stomach, and as always, we highly recommend arranging a ride home! Please feel free to reach out with any questions.
Cheers,
Drammers Club