This whisky is the highly anticipated first release from the Fife distillery of InchDairnie. The Ryelaw was distilled from a mix of 53% malted rye and 47% malted barley in 2017. Both cereals were grown at farms in the Kingdom of Fife, including Ryelaw Farm from which the whisky takes its name. The spirit was then matured in charred virgin American oak casks for five years. It has been bottled at 46.3% ABV and is both non chill-filtered and of natural colour. Ryelaw is made for just one week each year at the groundbreaking distillery, which features one of only two mash filters in the Scotch whisky industry (the other is at Teaninich in the Highlands) and a bespoke Lomond still.
This whisky is the latest in the annual Loch Gorm limited edition bottling from the family-owned Islay farm distillery of Kilchoman. As with each of the previous editions of Loch Gorm, the 2023 Edition is matured entirely in ex-Oloroso sherry casks and remains the only such bottling by Kilchoman. The 2023 Edition is a vatting of just 22 casks - these were originally sourced from Spain and then hand selected by Anthony Wills, the founder of Kilchoman. Eight of these were distilled and filled in 2013, six in 2014 and the other eight in 2015. The combination of casks has created a batch of 18,000 bottles.
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Ad Gefrin is impressive. From the road it cuts an imposing figure with its glass-fronted still house showing passers-by that whisky is now being made there. The £16 million project was conceived and funded by the Ferguson family and is unlike any distillery that you will see. The family’s love of history and whisky has been combined in a unique way. But more on that later …
