Dec. 4: Dornoch Distillery with the Thompson Bros....
Fellow Drammers!
We’re thrilled to announce this special online event with Dornoch Distillery, where we’ll get a chance to try some of their own distillate! Phil and Simon Thompson are the team behind Dornoch Distillery, which sits literally on the roof of the historical Dornoch Castle up in the highlands of Scotland, not far from Glenmorangie and Dalmore. We visited them at their distillery last week and recorded a short video talking with Phil which is up under the Video Library tab here at Drammers.com. For this tasting, we’ll be tasting their own Dornoch Distillery whisky together with the 20yo single malt scotch barrel we picked with them last year, four other expressions from their independent bottling line (details below), and a special unreleased octave of 15yo single malt scotch that Phil picked out specially just for us to try. Details on those below, but first a little background on Phil and Simon…
Their story is impressive — they started out building up the bar at Dornoch Distillery into such a powerhouse whisky bar that it is at least in the running for best whisky bar in Scotland (some say it is the best). They parlayed their love of whisky into launching what is now a very well regarded independent bottling company, under their Thompson Bros. name, and you’ll recall we did an excellent barrel pick with them of a 20yo single malt Scotch “distilled in Sutherland” (ahem). After building a great reputation for having the nose and palates to select great barrels, they set their sights on building a distillery. I don’t know if they’d say cost was no object, but they decided to do everything the old school way as much as possible, avoiding taking any shortcuts for increased yield/efficiency, which of course got the whisky community buzzing. They finally released their first whisky at the end of last year after it had a little over 3 years (bottled Nov. 2020) in an Oloroso sherry butt made of American oak, bottled at 59.4% abv. It has gotten rave reviews. Here’s a snippet from a great review at malt-review.com of Dornoch’s cask #1, which seems appropriate to reference since they bought cask #2:
“What a relief, a 3 year old whisky that doesn’t deliver a sense of disappointment served with a sidedish of youthful aggression. Harmony and balance are present here with plenty of character. The experience isn’t fuelled and propelled 100% by the sherry wood, which is clearly full of solera influence.
What’s even more remarkable is that this lot are self-taught and wonderfully determined to reach this point of releasing their whisky to the world. I cannot shake off the sense of a good Glenfarclas and I expect anyone tasting this will be surprised and delighted in equal measure.”
So, here’s what we’ll be tasting as part of this event, all Thompson Bros. bottlings
Dornoch Distillery whisky! This is very hard to come by. An initial run of 893 bottles is the only release to date and disappeared in a heartbeat, so this is definitely the headliner of the event!
31yo Dailuaine single malt scotch, 1989 vintage, 1 of 117 bottled, 49.8% abv
Drammers Barrel Pick #17 - 20yo Single Malt Scotch Distilled in Sutherland, 2000 vintage, 1 of 74 bottles (our European allocation), 50% abv
Blended Malt Scotch distilled in Campbeltown, cuvee 2014, bottled 2019, 1 of 816 bottles, 50% abv
27yo Early Landed, Late Bottled Brandy, distilled in France in 1993, bottled in Scotland, 1 of 409 bottles, 52.3% abv
Unreleased octave of 15yo single malt scotch selected specially for us by Phil Thompson
Organic Highland gin, Dornoch Edition 2020, distilled at Dornoch Distillery, 1 of 1000 bottles.
That’s our lineup, we hope you can join us!
Format: Online Tasting
Price: $75/person for Drammers Members and $95/person for Drammers Observers
When: Saturday, December 4th, starting at Noon Pacific, 3pm EST, 20:00 in Scotland
Zoom Details:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86231022662?pwd=T3dyZlVwejQ1UmhpMDN3Qmh6c1lvdz09
Meeting ID: 862 3102 2662
Passcode: 111421