First Cornish Whiskey For 300 Years Announced
The first Cornish Whiskey for 300 hundred years has been announced by the company Hicks and Healy Cornish Single Malt. The limited edition single malt goes on sale very shortly.
The first bottle to be produced will actually be put up on e-bay in a special presentation box, with the proceeds going to Cornwall Community Foundation. The Auction ends on Monday.
Enthusiasts will no doubt notice that this Cornish Whiskey is spelt with an “e” in it unlike its near relation Scotch Whisky. This is to emphasise that it has an even closer cousin in Irish Whiskey, although this particular single malt has been produced in a traditional Scottish-made copper still and by double distillation.
The Cornish distillery is situated at Healy’s farm near Truro in the South of the county but the mash was created at the St Austell Brewery using Maris Otter barley harvested at Trerulefoot and spring water was used from the brew house which dates from Victorian times.
The still may possibly be one of the smallest legal stills in the country at just 1,200 litres (264 gallons) although if any one knows different please let me know.
The liquor from the distillation is aged in American Bourbon casks which have been charred first. This should give a chocolaty, smoky flavour to the final product. This technique has been put to good use in the recently released Alligator Malt from the Ardbeg Islay distillery but the Ardbeg is a much peatier Whisky.
The price for a half litre bottle of this Cornish whiskey is £150 so it is not exactly aimed at the man on the street. At a strength of 61.3% it is also noticeably stronger than most single malts on the market, which tend to be at or just above the 40% mark (there are of course exceptions).
The launch of the whiskey has been met with great enthusiasm, particularly by Jim Murray of The Whisky Bible. Here
This Cornish Whiskey is one of several exciting new ventures in the whisk(e)y world. This Summer I was able to visit the Abhainn Dearg distillery on the Isle of Lewis, which will be producing its first whisky very shortly, and it has just been announced that Cumbria will be getting its first distillery at just down the road from where I live. More on that when I have more to tell.
Roger
