Distiller’s Art Macduff 14 Year Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Distiller’s Art is a single-cask range of bottlings released by Hunter Laing. Hunter Laing was founded in Glasgow, similar to the Douglas Laing story and became their own entity in 2013. They are behind other great bottlings such as Old Malt Cask and Old & Rare. They also are the owners of the new Islay distillery, Ardnahoe.

Macduff distillery was built in the whisky-boom of the 1960s. The distillery setup is quite unique with five stills – two wash and three spirit – all of which have upward-tilting lyne arms that have a right-angled kink in them. The spirit stills also have horizontal shell and tube condensers. The character is nutty (slightly sulphury at new make stage), with quick mashing, short fermentation, and cold condensers. It is this last technique that adds weight to the spirit. It could well be that the kink in the lyne arm helps create just enough reflux to contribute a balancing fruitiness. Owned by Bacardi, the distillery releases its own brand under the name “The Deveron”. The distillery is a coastal, seaside distillery east of the Speyside region.