The Fettercairn Whiskies
The Distillery
Every whisky's story begin with its distillery. The Fettercairn Distillery is one of the oldest licensed distilleries in Scotland, having been founded in 1824 by Sir Alexander Ramsay who owned the estate on which the distillery is located.
Being tucked away between the foothills of the Grampian Mountains of the Eastern Highlands makes for a fairly spectacular location, with a view down the glen in which it's located.
Being next to one of the highest mountain ranges in Scotland ensures that the distillery has year-round access to the high quality water accumulating from rainfall and snow melt in the springs and lochs of the mountains! The distillery has a capacity of approximately 2.2 million litres of pure alcohol per year.
History
Fettercairn, despite being one of the oldest distilleries is rarely heard of these days, until recently. Here's the story of how the distillery went through decades of hardships only to resurface recently with a completely new look!
In 1887, just a few decades since its founding, a fire raged through the distillery and destroyed the vast majority of its equipment forcing them to shut down for the next three years for a complete refurbishment.
After its reopening in 1890, the distillery experienced a quiet few decades which resulted in its closure in 1926-1939 when Associated Scottish Distillers Ltd acquired it. In the 1960s, the distillery expanded its production capacity to its modern day levels.
The 1970s-1980s were a tough period due to the harsh economic climate which led to many distilleries in the Eastern Highlands closing, leaving Fettercairn as one of the last active distilleries in the area, having changed hands several times and eventually took over by Whyte & Mackay.
More recently, Whyte & MacKay were bought out by Vijay Mallya, an Indian business tycoon with the vision of marketing Fettercairn as a more luxurious brand, leading to the introduction of its 24, 30 & 40 year old releases.
The Core Range
The core whisky range from Fettercairn contains four expressions:
- 12 Years Old (40% ABV)
- 18 Years Old (46.85% ABV)
- 22 Years Old (47% ABV)
- 28 Years Old (42% ABV)
The core range contains a total of 4 whiskies starting with a 12 Year Old. All of which has the signature Fettercairn tropical style with the older one like the 28 Year Old featuring more depth and complexity whilst still staying true to the tropical character.
Shop the Fettercairn core range with Three Musketeers with this link: https://www.3mk.sg/collections/fettercairn
Aside from the core range, Fettercairn has much more to offer! Here are some of the special releases that we think you should try:
Fettercairn Warehouse 2 Batch No.1
Part of the Warehouse Collection
The Fettercairn Warehouse Collection offers a taste of the experiments that goes on in the distillery, making each expression a limited edition release!
This particular release is rather well-received and it was matured in the distillery's Warehouse 2, as the first batch.
The whisky was drawn from five different types of cask: Port pipes, Vasyma sherry butts, Tevasa sherry barrels, unseasoned Vasyma barrels, and ex-bourbon barrels.
Nose: Grilled peached, honeycomb, earthy coffee with some chocolatey sweetness underneath.
Palate: Festive spices, buttery biscuits, a splash of fresh greengages and pear.
Finish: Cinnamon and nutmeg last on the long finish, with more honeyed sweetness too.
Vol: 700ml
ABV: 49.7%
