Fettercairn (Finally!)

First off, i really must apologise. It's been months since I last wrote anything on here. It's been a busy few months but I am determined to get back into the swing of things. So let's kick things back off with a recent trip to Fettercairn distillery.

Fettercairn is a cute little distillery quite out of the way from most others (the nearest is the tiny Glencadam). It is situated near the town of Laurencekirk roughly halfway between Dundee and Aberdeen so it sits within the “Highland” region of malts. The village of Fettercairn itself is really cute with a couple of pubs and shops and contains the most exuberant and over-sized memorial archway erected to commemorate the visit of Queen Victoria. You pass through the centre for about half a mile and then you come across the distillery. Now here was where I made my first mistake. Be warned that the distillery is only open during the summer months. I tried to visit last winter and was thoroughly disappointed to find it all locked up, no open visitor centre, no shop, nothing! The website is practically non-existent so it’s no good relying on that for opening times. You are far better just giving them a call. If they answer, they are open, if they don't it's probably safe to assume that they are not. All of this seems a shame as if they invested a bit more in an online presence and opened for longer I'm sure it would be well worth their while as this is a really lovely little distillery and well worth a visit.

So, on to my visit. Fettercairn was founded by a local landowner in 1824 making it one of Scotland's older licenced distilleries. One of my favourite facts about this place is when the original owner ran into financial difficulties and had to sell, he sold to a certain John Gladstone whose son was none other than William Gladstone, future Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer. It's little wonder that he was instrumental in the reforming of taxes and laws relating to the production of whisky. He had a vested interest. So for me this shows just how significant this tiny little distillery is in the history of the production of Scottish malt whisky! The distillery is now owned by Whyte & Mackay, alongside more famous stable mates Jura and Dalmore and the lesser known Tamnavulin and it mostly produces spirit to go into that company’s blends, although more and more of it is finding its way into single malt releases.  The distillery itself is not particularly big (it produces 2.2Million litres a year) and the site is quite quaint (the views are stunning too!). Fettercairn has an open-topped mash ton, which I always love to see but unfortunately was closed for cleaning when we visited so that was a shame. It has 8 Oregon pine washbacks, 2 wash stills and 2 spirit stills…so far so normal. The wash stills are fairly standard, albeit small however things get interesting when we look at the spirit stills. These stills both have water streaming down the sides of them. Something that I have never seen in any other distillery and something that is quite unique to Fettercairn. The water running down the stills creates a fascinating blacky green colour to the copper as it oxidizes. But why do they do it I hear you ask? Well the answer lies in reflux. Reflux is a key element in creating a lighter spirit. As the spirit heats up and rises up the still it begins to condense (being further from the heat source and therefore cooling). This condensation of the spirit leads to it trickling back down the still, with the increased copper contact taking away some of the heavier notes of the spirit (still with me?...good!). This process is called reflux. There are many ways to increase the amount of reflux in a still, such as changing the shape or height of the still or changing the temperature the spirit is heated up at. Fettercairn choose to do it this way and have always done so. I really like finding little quirks like this when I visit a distillery, it shows how every one is unique and has its own individual style. After visiting the still house and taking in one of the 14 dunnage warehouses it was time for our tasting!

We didn’t time the tasting the best as we were too early to get to try any of Fettercairn’s brand new range which was unveiled on 1^st August and stocks of other Fettercairn’s were decidedly limited. The only one we got to try was the NAS Fior plus some others from the extended White and Mackay range.

Now, my only previous experience of Fettercairn was the decidedly lacklustre “1824” 12 year old. I found this dram very flat, metallic and rough round the edges. Especially given that it wasn’t a super young whisky so I was hoping for something better with the Fior and I must say I was pleasantly surprised! The bitter metallic taste was toned down a lot and some of the smoother characteristics of the malt were able to shine through. It’s a blend of ages, most of which have spent some time in sherry and there is a small amount of peated malt in there too. Here are my thoughts…

Nose – Lots of soft fruits, quite big and sweet. Some peaches and oranges in there. Perhaps a little white chocolate? A good start!

Palate – Less of the soft fruits here now, much more acidic and peppery. Hints of that metallic flavour are back here but far more muted than the “1824”. Not too much character here but very pleasant all the same

Finish – Surprisingly short and quite dry.

Overall, this is a very pleasant dram for the price (it retails at around £40) and is much improved on their previous bottlings. I am very much looking forward to getting to try their new range, especially the older stuff!

After tasting Fettercairn we were treated to some of the new range from Jura and these were really very enjoyable. I particularly liked the Jura 7 Wood. It looks like Jura continues to go from strength to strength as the flagship W&M non super-premium malt whisky.

So, all in all, a very pleasant trip to a distillery that is not very well known and yet has some really unique features. I hope that with the new range they go from strength to strength. Finally, a special shout out to our wonderful and knowledgeable guide who did tell me his name on the day but I can’t for the life of me remember what it is. He did a great job and was really helpful and accommodating!

So, until next time, sláinte!