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Fellow Drammers!
You’re invited to join us for a special tasting on Sunday, August 9th, starting at Noon Pacific / 3pm EST in the US and 20:00 on Islay with Donald MacKenzie, who is easily one of the most interesting people on the scene on Islay. He founded Islay Ales, which makes great beer and is as far as we know the only brewery on Islay. Later he partnered with his friend Mackay Smith to create Islay Boys as an independent bottler of single malt and blended Scotches (mostly, but not always, from Islay). And later, under their Islay Boys banner, they announced they were building Islay’s 11th distillery — Laggan Bay Distillery, in partnership with Ian Macleod (the distillery is operating but does not yet have 3 year old distillate, so nothing has been released yet).
This tasting will focus on their independent bottling line under the Islay Boys banner. We’ll be tasting three expressions that are available here in the United States, as well as 3 expressions that were distillery exclusives that we picked up on Islay a few weeks ago. “Barelegs” is a reference to Magnus III, the Viking King of Norway, who ruled the islands of Scotland in the 11th century - he adopted the Highland tradition of wearing a kilt, hence the name. “Flatnose” is a reference to Ketill Flatnose, a Viking King of the Isles in the late 9th century. Here’s our lineup:
Distillery Exclusive: Flatnose - Blended Scotch - Rum Barrel Finish (43%)
Distillery Exclusive: Barelegs - Highland Single Malt Scotch (46%)
Distillery Exclusive: Picti Coast - Single Malt Scotch (they can’t put it on the label, but our understanding is it’s from the Scapa Distillery)
Flatnose - Blended Malt Scotch - Lightly Peated, 46%. You don’t hear about “blended malt” all that often, but it means it’s a blend of various single malt Scotches (i.e. no grain whisky added, unlike a blended Scotch).
Flatnose - Blended Scotch - Interestingly, despite being 43%, this is non-chillfiltered. “Rich with notes of pepper and smoke”.
Barelegs - Single Malt Scotch - “Peated and Crisp with a Subtle Sweetness”. It’s from an Islay distillery, though they don’t say which once, which always make us think it’s probably Caol Ila, but we’ll have to ask…. 46% abv.
That’s our lineup, we hope you can join us for this conversation with one of Islay’s biggest movers and shakers. The event will take place over Zoom. Please let us know if you have any questions!
Cheers,
Drammers Club