Rye Scotch from InchDairnie
There are a number of reasons why rye whisky has failed to catch on in Scotland. We have a wide range of rye whiskies from other countries, mainly from the US, but in Scotland this type of liquor seems to be still waiting for its time. One reason for this, as key as it seems, is marketing. According to the guidelines of the British law on Scotch whisky, any whisky made other than according to the rules for single malt whisky is by definition classified as grain whisky. And grain whisky is not very popular among consumers. With a few commendable exceptions, grain whisky is treated as a necessary evil, and its role is limited to that of a "filler" in the production of blended whisky.
We have written about this problem on several occasions, including in the context of a kind of race for the palm of supremacy that took place several years ago between the InchDairnie and Arbikie distilleries. Because no matter how niche the product was, the fact of offering the first of its kind on the market certainly ennobles, and no doubt can become an effective tool in the hands of an efficient brand marketing team. Incidentally, this race was won - by a hair - by Arbikie, a small, young distillery located on the North Sea coast, about halfway between Dundee and Aberdeen.
The issue of rye whisky in Scotland was also discussed with the recent launch of a single grain whisky from Bruichladdich distillery, The Regeneration Project.
Yesterday saw the launch of the first official whisky produced by the InchDairnie distillery. However, unlike literally all Scotch whisky makers, here it was not a new single malt Scotch whisky, but a completely unique single grain Scotch whisky that hit the market. InchDairnie is relentless in its efforts to become a leader in the production of what may soon become a new category of Scotch whisky, namely Scotch rye whisky.
InchDairnie RyeLaw (46.3% vol.) is a whisky made with a backfill consisting of 53 percent malted rye and 47 percent malted barley. Logically, then, it is a malt whisky, but logic here has little to do with formal requirements. Formally it is a grain whisky, single grain Scotch whisky. This whisky was distilled twice, first in an alembic equipped with a double condenser, rare in the industry, while the second distillation took place in a Lomond Hill alembic specially designed for InchDairnie. It is the result of a collaboration between Ian Palmer, the distillery's founder, and Frilli, an Italian manufacturer of copper alembics.
The just debuted rye whiskey from InchDairnie is from the 2017 vintage and was aged in fresh American oak barrels fired from within, sourced from the Ozark mountains rising in the states of Arkansas and Missouri. The final result of the work of the InchDairnie team, is expected to offer in its aroma accents of spices, characteristic of rye-based liquors, notes of oak and vanilla. On the taste we should expect notes of pepper, sweet cookies and dried fruits.
InchDairnie RyeLaw is available from specialist aged spirits stores at a retail price of £110 per bottle.
InchDairnie is one of the distilleries that launched in the last decade on the wave of increased popularity of Scotch whisky. The plant is located in the village of Glenrothes in Fife County, a little north of Edinburgh, and is thus part of a group of a dozen Scotch whisky factories that have populated the Lowlands region in recent years. Instead of the traditional mash vat, the distillery uses a mash filter, which allows for easy mashing of other grains, especially rye. The high viscosity of the rye mash would regularly clog the holes in the bottom of an ordinary mash vat. InchDairnie produces not only rye whisky, but especially classic malt whisky, but we will have to wait a few more years for its release.
[27.04.2023 / photo: InchDairnie]