Fettercairn

[Troglodyte]

Sorry

It was very active member “Troglodyte” who lives near the Fettercairn distillery.

I’ll do some experimenting with my kilt belt

Guilty as charged..!

But I am no longer near Fettercairn.

Fettercairn is part of the Whyte and Mackay empire, and its whisky is perhaps not as individually distinctive as it might once have been (corporate image and all that) but its distilling process is entirely unique.

Their stills have a collar around the neck which sprays water around the narrow part to cool the rising spirit, and it is this that is said to give Fettercairn its light and floral character. When the French investment firm bought Glen Moray, it is reputed they transformed that whisky to be more appealing to women - ie, sweet and floral.

It would be wrong to say Fettercairn is a woman's drink, but their entry-level 12yo is a good, light aperitif, or an easy-sipping dram that is fairly well-priced at about £37 (but easy to find being sold for much more than that) a bottle. Their older and specialised offerings (the distillery produces ranges purely for the export market whch are denied to the home market..!) are significantly more costly.

Fettercairn uses its own water supply and has planted its own oak forest on the slopes of The Mounth that forms its picturesque back-drop (The Mounth is effectively the mountainous mass that is the southern side of Royal Deeside) and the wood will be used for its own casks. I imagine that whisky will be very oaky is style - perhaps much more like Bourbon.

Only a few miles away at the ancient city of Brechin is Glencadam distillery - and, being about the same 200 year age as Fettercairn, produces a far better range of spirits. Glencadam is curently undergoing a refurbishment with a new visitor centre, and their whiskies are much more traditional - perhaps more 'manly' in character. They pipe their water several miles from the nearby Highlands, and so is much more Highland in style.

A bit further on from Brechin is the family-owned Arbikie distillery, that has a good range of spirits and also offers accomodation - so no worries about drinking and driving!

As regards photo opportunities, Fettercairn is set in a very attractive spot, with bulb-fields (like they have in Holland) all around and with the heather-clad Mounth and forested Highlands rising behind. The pagoda roofs and white-washed buildings make Fettercairn almost the quintessential distillery in appearance. Fettercain itself is a pretty and ancient stone village around a market square which has the stone cross that was once in the centre of the now long since disappeared town and castle of Kincardine - where the real Macbeth is reputed to have done his devilish doings against Duncan, and John Baliol signed over the Kingdom of Scotland to Edward I (him of the 'proud army') of England.

Fettercairn is within a Queen's walking distance of Balmoral, and Queen Victoria would regularly take a stroll across the hills, overnight at the Ramsay Arms hotel (where she pretended to be a wedding party from Aberdeen to keep the locals away) in the village, call in at Fasque House where her prime minister Gladstone had his family home, and follow Wade's military road over Cairn o' Mount back to Deeside.

This narrow road is still the principle route into the Highlands, and still uses the 1720s arched stone bridges - which get a regular battering from logging-trucks - and is a steep, exciting drive over wild country, with a viewing point on the summit (and parking) for superb photos looking east across The Mearns (the top end of Strathmore) to the North Sea. Less than 30 minutes' drive is the old Viking port of Stonehaven (where they have the new-year fireball twirlling and the best fish-n-chips in Scotland) and Dunnottar Castle.

In other words, the country of Angus and The Mearns around Fettercairn has plenty to offer the whisky-loving motorist photographer but it is often missed in favour of the Cairngorms. One is 'real' Scotland, the other offers the 'tourist experience' of Scotland.

If you were wanting a local's insider knowledge for planning a tour, I would be happy to give it.

[jsrnephdoc]

Guilty as charged..!

But I am no longer near Fettercairn.

Thanks SO much for that extended discussion. I've taken to sampling a bit of whisky only in the past few years. My palette is VERY unschooled. I could probably proclaim honestly that sherry-casked Glenlivet and peaty Laphroiag are recognizably "different" but beyond that I'd be lost. In a way, that's a GOOD thing, because it means I'll never really regret the lack of opportunity to trade $22,000 (or most recently in the US, $37,000) for the right to open a bottle of Fettercairn's handiwork.

But your travelogue discussion of the countryside and other distilleries in the area sounds enchanting, and could anchor a part of my next visit to Scotland.

I must admit that on my last trip, I was wholly unsuspecting of the pace of possible travel on the paved sheep's paths with "passing places" every quarter mile or so that take unsuspecting tourists from Culloden to Glenlivet, as a consequence of which we totally missed our distillery tour, although we showed up in time for our sales-room tasting, which I enjoyed but did not much understand.

[Jock Scot]

Thanks SO much for that extended discussion. I've taken to sampling a bit of whisky only in the past few years. My palette is VERY unschooled. I could probably proclaim honestly that sherry-casked Glenlivet and peaty Laphroiag are recognizably "different" but beyond that I'd be lost. In a way, that's a GOOD thing, because it means I'll never really regret the lack of opportunity to trade $22,000 (or most recently in the US, $37,000) for the right to open a bottle of Fettercairn's handiwork.

But your travelogue discussion of the countryside and other distilleries in the area sounds enchanting, and could anchor a part of my next visit to Scotland.

I must admit that on my last trip, I was wholly unsuspecting of the pace of possible travel on the paved sheep's paths with "passing places" every quarter mile or so that take unsuspecting tourists from Culloden to Glenlivet, as a consequence of which we totally missed our distillery tour, although we showed up in time for our sales-room tasting, which I enjoyed but did not much understand.

For what it is worth I would add at least half an hour or more to your estimated road travel time. The traffic at present is terrible. Coveys of motor homes, swarms of coaches and herds of timber lorries are really not helping speedy road transit here in the Highlands. It has never been easy to keep to schedule in recent times by road, but at present its worse than ever! Just saying.

[Hirsty]

From my experience the sweet spot for whisky is 18-30 years. After that you are paying for the prestige.

[spr0k3t]

From my experience the sweet spot for whisky is 18-30 years. After that you are paying for the prestige.

I've had a couple of 30s that were nothing like their younger siblings (aroma, peatiness, mouthfeel, etc) and some I found great at 15 for a single malt. So, I'll swing it lower for 15-25... but it greatly depends on the distillery. Blended wise, I'll steer clear from unless it's a dedicated custom blend like what they did with Peat Monster over the years. Interesting stuff. A dram of Macallan 18 vs Laphroaig 15... I'd rather drink the Macallan and pay for the Laphroaig.

[Troglodyte]

Whisky is a curious comodity.

Age is seldom a reliable guide to quality, and price usually reflects the distillery's decade or two of storing casks which sees a loss of spirit in the form of the angels' share.

Apart from the single cask offerings, most single malt whiskies are something of a blend (albeit an in-house mix of good stuff) and the age given is the youngest spirit used. The distilleries have their craft down to a fine art, but they readily acknowledge that few spirits improve to any great degree after 12 or 15 years.

Distilleries' house standard (often 10 or 12 years old) is by no means anything less of a good drinking spirit than their older ones, but ecomonics in the form of speed of return on their investment, and the quantity of spirit available, is reflected in the retail price.

Whisky becomes its legal self after only three years, and is drinkable enough for blenders to use, but the desired house style takes a few more years to develop. Whilst they have great appeal, the older whiskies are seldom three or four times better than the 'standard' that the price they command suggests. A huge chunk of the price is the novelty of the age.

Blends are by no means an inferior whisky (after all, they take the spirit for blending in the form of single malts) but the blend might include grain spirits that are improved by the single malt mix while softening some of the harsher single malt characteristics. Consequently, a blend can be maintained at a consistent standard and flavour.

Fashion and drinking trends play a large part in what ends up in the bottle sold over the counter, and there seems to have been a steady move away from the peaty-smokey character that Scotch was once known for, to be more oaky and woody like, say, bourbon.

No doubt the global success of Jack Daniels and the like has influenced new-to-whisky drinkers' expectations, so, if bourbon-style is wanted, that is what is provided. Myself, I have noticed a distinct but gradual change in that direction over the past 40 or so years.

Interestingly, although surrounded by single malts of all ages, styles and qualities, the distillery men themselves are reputed to favour Johnny Walker Black Label when it comes to their whisky of choice. What do they know that we don't..?

[RGM1]

That's a useful bit of knowledge. I don't drink enough scotch to know what is best, but I do enjoy it when I do. I know what I am seeking next time I am in market.

[jsrnephdoc]

Whisky is a curious comodity.

Age is seldom a reliable guide to quality, and price usually reflects the distillery's decade or two of storing casks which sees a loss of spirit in the form of the angels' share.

Apart from the single cask offerings, most single malt whiskies are something of a blend (albeit an in-house mix of good stuff) and the age given is the youngest spirit used. The distilleries have their craft down to a fine art, but they readily acknowledge that few spirits improve to any great degree after 12 or 15 years.

The "angels share?"

My guess is that refers to evaporation of ethanol through the walls of the cask or its closure.

But the thrust of your message is that really NOTHING separates well-made whisky aged 10-20 years from that held in casks for 20-50 years except the bravado that comes from opening the bottle in public and proclaiming (silently or contemptuously) "look at ME; I can afford this!"

Shades of Ozmandius, or the Emperor's New Clothes!

[Father Bill]

Whisky is a curious comodity.

Age is seldom a reliable guide to quality, and price usually reflects the distillery's decade or two of storing casks which sees a loss of spirit in the form of the angels' share.

Apart from the single cask offerings, most single malt whiskies are something of a blend (albeit an in-house mix of good stuff) and the age given is the youngest spirit used. The distilleries have their craft down to a fine art, but they readily acknowledge that few spirits improve to any great degree after 12 or 15 years.

Distilleries' house standard (often 10 or 12 years old) is by no means anything less of a good drinking spirit than their older ones, but ecomonics in the form of speed of return on their investment, and the quantity of spirit available, is reflected in the retail price.

Whisky becomes its legal self after only three years, and is drinkable enough for blenders to use, but the desired house style takes a few more years to develop. Whilst they have great appeal, the older whiskies are seldom three or four times better than the 'standard' that the price they command suggests. A huge chunk of the price is the novelty of the age.

Blends are by no means an inferior whisky (after all, they take the spirit for blending in the form of single malts) but the blend might include grain spirits that are improved by the single malt mix while softening some of the harsher single malt characteristics. Consequently, a blend can be maintained at a consistent standard and flavour.

Fashion and drinking trends play a large part in what ends up in the bottle sold over the counter, and there seems to have been a steady move away from the peaty-smokey character that Scotch was once known for, to be more oaky and woody like, say, bourbon.

No doubt the global success of Jack Daniels and the like has influenced new-to-whisky drinkers' expectations, so, if bourbon-style is wanted, that is what is provided. Myself, I have noticed a distinct but gradual change in that direction over the past 40 or so years.

Interestingly, although surrounded by single malts of all ages, styles and qualities, the distillery men themselves are reputed to favour Johnny Walker Black Label when it comes to their whisky of choice. What do they know that we don't..?

To be bluntly honest, and despite deep respect and appreciation for your excellent explanation, I merely like what tastes good to me and has the appropriate 'blast' on my tongue and throat. I don't care how it is blended or aged or in what it is aged.
Right now, I'm enjoying Arran very much.

[Hirsty]

18-30 is a general rule of thumb. Each distillery differs, for example, I interned at Edradour and they have some wonderful younger products.

The 15 year mark is when the majority of the residual sugars have been extracted from the wood but there are still some there. You are getting decreasing returns but it can add complexity.

Charring also effects the timescale as does moving to a finishing cask.

It is also worth considering the yeast or yeasts used for fermenting, the malt used (as in barley), water chemistry, and even the conditions in the bond.

Just as an aside, I am not a huge fan of single cask - one of the aspects of the artistry of being a distiller is the ability to blend different casks together to create the desired end product.