InchDairnie starts production of Scottish Pot Still whisky

Fife based InchDairnie Distillery, has commenced production of Pot Still whisky, which once matured will go on to become part of its experimental PrinLaws Collection.

The whisky is said to be inspired by the great traditions of old pot still whisk(e)y-making in Ireland and Scotland, but with very deliberate twists that makes it a firmly product of Fife. It’s believed that this is the first time this century a distiller in Scotland has announced the production of a ‘Pot Still’ style of whisky.

The team at InchDairnie Distillery has taken their lead from the Irish definition, which is protected in law, to search for interesting new flavours.

The grains used to make this new whisky are distillers’ malt from Canada (60%), unmalted barley (35%) from Balgonie Estate and malted rye (5%) also from Balgonie.

Over the course of a week in mid-August, the InchDairnie Distillery experts led by Founder, Ian Palmer, and Distillery Manager, Scott Sneddon, milled to the finest grist using their hammermill; mashed using the rare mash filter extracting maximum sugars; fermented using distillers MG+ yeast and then distilled in copper pot stills with their double condensers.

Unusually for a Pot Still Whisky, it has been double distilled rather than triple distilled. The final spirit has been filled into first fill bourbon barrels for maturation in the distillery’s warehouses.

Commenting on the news, Ian Palmer said: “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.”

“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.”

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