WHO ARE THE HEWITTS?

Husband and wife duo, Sarah and Simon Hewitt, are two of our quietly rebellious team members here on the wild west coast of Scotland. In autumn this year, they released their own spirits as part of our Quiet Rebels series, which celebrates a different member of the team each year. Read on to discover a little more about who Sarah and Simon are and learn all the important details about their respective Quiet Rebels releases.

SIMON AND SARAH

Sarah leads our bottling operation and Simon is one of the team’s longest serving distillers. However, the married couple’s journey into whisky was not via the typical route. United by a shared love of adventure, they have tackled two of the world’s most iconic long-distance trails: the 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail in the USA and New Zealand’s 1,900-mile Te Araroa, which stretch almost the full lengths of their respective countries. Incredible achievements made all the more impressive by they fact it meant they spent almost a year living in a tent.

LIFE ON THE MORVERN PENINSULA

It was Simon and Sarah’s love for all things remote and wild, as well as Nc’nean’s ethos of pioneering sustainable production, that lead them to the little village of Drimnin here on the Morvern peninsula. Now settled here, Simon (who used to be a chef) enjoys cooking with fresh ingredients from their garden, and Sarah spends her time running up the local hills, with both enjoying a good party to balance it all out.

Simon is also our resident beekeeper, which requires a fair amount of dedication and attention to keep the colony of about 40,000 bees alive and well.

But Sarah and Simon’s connection to the local environment goes beyond beekeeping...Drimnin has a rare population of Scottish wildcats sometimes referred to as "the highland tiger" which are sadly facing extinction. During the 2020 lockdown, a sick wildcat kitten found in a garden and after conservationists had been consulted, the kitten was offered to Simon and Sarah. They adopted the kitten, named Taz, and cared for him until he was old enough to roam safely. DNA tests showed that he’s 57% wildcat, with fully wild grandparents, but not wild enough for breeding programs. Now, Taz enjoys the best of both worlds - freedom to explore and a warm home to return to. He’s independent, clever, a bit grumpy, and deeply loved - a living piece of Scotland’s natural heritage.

LIFE AT NC'NEAN

Sarah and Simon both started working at Nc’nean in 2019 before we had any mature whisky to sell. But once the whisky was ready, Sarah started heading up the bottling operation, which at first was based in the still house itself, before moving to our new dedicated bottling hall in 2023. Simon has been distilling, chipping and managing the warehouse since the day he arrived.

ALL ABOUT THE QUIET REBELS SERIES

The Quiet Rebels series is a series of whiskies made up of limited edition releases that launch in the Scottish autumn each year (usually in October). Each year, one of these limited edition releases is curated by one of our team members themselves. Often maturation focused, the individual chooses their favourite casks to mature whisky in and everyone has their own name printed on the bottle. For example, Quiet Rebels Annabel, Quiet Rebels Lorna, Quiet Rebels Gordon, and Quiet Rebels Amy.

When the time comes, the latest Quiet Rebel (chosen in order of when they joined the company) sits down with our blender Matt to talk about their dream whisky so that it can be brought to life. You can find out more about past releases here.

QUIET REBELS SIMON

Distiller Simon is a self-proclaimed beer fanatic, and so for this Quiet Rebels release, he has chosen to incorporate stout casks from iconic Scottish Brewery, Innis & Gunn. The result is a buttery, chocolatey whisky with notes of baking spices, boasting rich flavours of chocolate brioche, coffee fudge cake, and cherry jam.

The whisky began its life in shaved, toasted, and re‑charred (STR) red wine casks before maturing further in stout casks sourced from Scottish brewing legends Innis & Gunn. In a full‑circle twist, those stout casks had also previously held Nc’nean whisky. This unique journey has produced a decadent, well‑rounded expression that perfectly reflects Simon’s taste.

Quiet Rebels Simon is available to purchase here via our UK website. Quiet Rebels Simon is now available in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland and will be available in retail stores and online in the following weeks and months in France, Denmark, Finland, Japan and the US.

QUIET REBELS SARAH

Sarah has never really been a fan of neat whisky, cream liqueurs, however, are just her thing. So for the first time ever in the series, and in true Quiet Rebels style, she has released something a bit different. There was only one thing whisky based which Sarah knew she wanted to make: a velvety, rich and creamy whisky liqueur.

Crafted with Nc’nean’s signature organic single malt and organic oats instead of dairy, Quiet Rebels Sarah brings tasting notes of crème brûlée, spiced honeycomb, and chocolate mousse, all with the complexity and character of Nc’nean’s single malt Scotch. Full, glossy, and luxuriously smooth, it’s a creamy liqueur designed for sipping straight from the fridge over plenty of ice.

Quiet Rebels Sarah is sold out on our UK website but is available to buy via this list of stockists in the UK. Quiet Rebels Sarah will be available in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland over the weeks and months to come too. This release is selling particularly fast so anyone who would like a bottle is advised to contact their local retailer in advance.