Glenfiddich IPA Experiment #1 Speyside Single Malt Whisky

The Glenfiddich Distillery is located north of the town of Dufftown, on the banks of the River Fiddich. The name Glenfiddich means "valley of the deer." William Grant (1839-1923), son of a soldier who had taken part in the Battle of Waterloo and initially a shoemaker himself, was a patient man. Before distilling his first whisky on Christmas Day 1887, along with three of his sons, he worked for twenty years at Mortlach, another distillery near Dufftown. During this time, he gathered the money and knowledge to start his own distillery. Finally, in the autumn of 1886, he resigned from Mortlach and bought the necessary copper stills and mash tun secondhand for £120. All his children—seven sons and two daughters—later joined the company, and to this day, William Grant & Sons remains a family business, where the taste and quality of the whisky have remained unchanged. The complex character and pure smoothness of this whisky come from years of maturation in the finest Oloroso sherry casks and traditional Bourbon casks. The hint of sweetness from the traditional sherry and bourbon casks balances each other perfectly. The result is a smooth and full-bodied Scotch single malt whisky with an exceptional character. A Silver Medal winner at the 2007 International Wine & Spirit Competition.
The fifth generation of Grants now runs William Grant & Sons Ltd. The Glenfiddich single malt was launched in 1963. Glenfiddich's house style is young whiskies, drying, fruity, and delicious as an aperitif, while the older malts are more mature, with chocolate and fruit aromas and more like after-dinner malts. The Glenfiddich distillery has two stillhouses containing ten wash stills and twenty spirit stills. Two mash tuns are also used, and maturation is primarily done with bourbon casks and approximately 10% sherry casks. The casks are repaired in the company's own cooperage, and a coppersmith is also employed to maintain the old stills. The distillery operates according to traditional methods and uses high-quality raw materials. The uniquely shaped copper stills are still coal-fired. There are 24 washbacks, each no less than five meters tall. For the first distillation, the wash is transferred to relatively small pot stills. The "low wine," with an alcohol content of approximately 25%, then enters the spirit still, a smaller version of the wash still. The second distillate, the heart, is transferred via the spirit safe to carefully selected oak casks previously used for sherry or bourbon whisky. After maturing for 12 years or longer, the whisky is optionally blended and the "marriage" process takes place. Glenfiddich is then brought to drinking strength with water from the Robbie Dhu and bottled. Glenfiddich draws its water for whisky production from a single source: the Robbie Dubh, which means "Black Robert," and to cool the condensers, water from the River Fiddich is used. 90% of the production is sold as single malt. The secret of Glenfiddich's success lies in the combination of the crystal-clear waters of Robbie Dhu, the pure Highland air, and the unusually small size of the pot stills. Glenfiddich, which welcomes tens of thousands of visitors annually, is one of Speyside's renowned distilleries.
For the first bottling in the new Experimental Series, Malt Master Brian Kinsman collaborated with craft brewer Seb Jones. The aim of the series is to create innovative malt whiskies, and with IPA, they certainly succeeded. It is the first Scotch single malt to be finished in IPA (India Pale Ale) casks. The experiment was quite a feat. First, three different beers of varying strengths were brewed. This was the task of Seb Jones, brewer and IPA expert at a Speyside brewery. These were matured in oak casks. From there, Brian Kinsman took over, varying the maturation times. the beer before filling the barrels with whisky. Ultimately, the barrels in which the second brew had matured were chosen.