GET INTO THE EXPERIMENTAL STUFF

Wow, a one-off custom distillation at distillery 156/G16 you say?! We took a bit of trans-Atlantic inspiration for this one, using some different grains and creating a mashbill of 58 per cent corn, 21 per cent malted barley and 21 per cent unmalted rye. It was distilled in a pot still, which is unusual for a grain whisky, and then matured in heavily charred 24-month air seasoned new oak barrels from Kelvin Cooperage in the US, with toasted heads added to the casks to create even more flavour.

For the creation of this fruity number the Whisky Team searched the warehouse high and low to find whiskies with inherently fruity spirit character and then blended them in a delicious manner. That’s it! It's a fresh fruity corker of a dram. The stunningly fruity nose opened on opulent notes of pear drops, pineapple cubes, a crisp sauvignon blanc and vanilla crème pâtissière, alongside apple blossom, peach rings and apricot jelly, elevated by a touch of nutmeg and white pepper.

When we created Batch 31 (2025 release), Wandering Alchemy, our whisky team blended a larger volume than required with the intention of re-casking a portion for further maturation and marrying. This batch is made up of that very whisky, one year on. A celebration of all five whisky producing regions, with notes of sweet wines, decadent desserts and rich smoky undertones.

In what is now something of an annual tradition, we’ve again joined forces with our friends at Dunville’s Irish Whiskey to create this delicious small-batch release. Here, we are proud to present a beautiful triple-distilled Irish single malt matured in a combination of bourbon and oloroso sherry casks. The Panel found themselves rifling through a sunlit filing cabinet of aromas, including pear drops and green melon, sherry-soaked prunes, manilla envelopes and milk chocolate.

Inspired by our trips to Jerez over the years, in July 2024 we began the creation of our SMWS sherry-cask solera. A range of Speyside malts were blended together and filled into our specially selected sherry hogsheads. This blended malt is the first to be drawn from that much larger batch. We will replenish the solera by adding new whisky each time we release an expression from it. Over the coming years Society members will have the chance to experience its evolution through different ever-ageing releases.

The lion’s share of the whisky used to create Batch 34: Smouldering Mojo comes from a well-known and liked Islay distillery that can produce a very punchy peated whisky, which in this case has spent just over a couple of years in STR (shaved, toasted and re-charred) casks that had previously been seasoned with a smoky, fruity mezcal with herbal and vegetal notes. The result is robustly smoky with tarry impressions, molasses and treacle-cured ham and hickory smoked salmon and a mojo sauce (containing cumin, orange, lime, coriander mint, generally used with pork) giving this bottle its name.

A visit to several cooperages in France inspired the Whisky Team to source calvados-seasoned STR barriques from our friends at Alter Oak. We entrusted the casks with a 15-year-old Speyside single malt, previously matured in ex-bourbon wood; the spirit absorbing earthy and apple cellar aromas as well as notes of rancio and tobacco. For the final result of combining bourbon-matured whisky with the calvados casks, think delectable apples and custard. We’re proud to present to you this elegant addition to our Heresy range.