Hello, Roberto here, one of the distillers at Nc’nean. As a new pioneering distillery, we’ve only been distilling since 2017, so I’m here to give you a run down on how we make our younger whisky so delicious, and debunk some of the myths that older whisky (spirit that has been sat in a cask for 10+ years) always tastes better. 

We believe (and can prove!) that whisky doesn’t have to be old to be delicious. By putting time, money and effort into making a great spirit, and investing in fantastic quality casks, you can make a great whisky that is considerably younger than 10 years old.

If you’ve ever been to a whisky tasting or spent time in the company of keen whisky drinkers, you’ve probably heard something along the lines of ‘Did you know that 80% of a whisky’s flavour comes from the cask it’s matured in?’. Or 70%. Or 90%. Or any other high number. I’ve heard so many different percentages I’m starting to think they’re being plucked out of thin air! Essentially, ‘flavour is only about the cask’ is the takeaway message. 

Casks are crucial, no doubt. Whisky can’t be made without them. But statements like this imply that the quality of the spirit before it’s filled to cask is of little importance, and all that matters is which cask and how long the whisky has been spent in there. In our view, nothing could be further from the truth. Typically younger whisky also tends to have different characteristics, generally brighter, fresher, not over-oaked. Some older distilleries still choose to bottle some of their spirit at a younger age to access these flavours, take Bruichladdich for example, they tend to bottle Octomore as a five year old.

At Nc’nean, we want to bottle our flagship whisky at a younger age (on average around five years old), so we’ve tailored our processes to derive as much deliciousness as possible from our raw ingredients before the spirit ever touches oak. 

To find out how we do it, let’s start right at the top.

Well, not quite. Water would be the top, but you’ve probably heard enough about ‘the purest Highland spring water’ to last a lifetime. Our water comes from a spring in the Highlands, true, and it is very pure, but we don’t claim that it imparts any discernible flavours to our whisky.

What comes next would be our malted barley, and that’s where the flavour journey really begins.

100% ORGANIC MALTED BARLEY

All our barley is organically grown, and it all comes from Scotland – specifically Fife and Aberdeenshire. Surprisingly, it’s not a requirement of Scotch whisky to use Scottish barley, we could source it from Canada, Europe, England, anywhere really, but we stick closer to home - both to support local farming and to reduce road miles.

Organic barley is better for the environment. No artificial fertilisers or chemical pesticides mean that our farmers need to intersperse barley-growing years with grazing years, growing grass to feed cattle who in turn fertilize the fields, improving soil health and preserving the vitality of our waterways. The biodiversity enabled by eschewing pesticides causes the barley to grow the way nature intended, protecting itself from competing plants and bugs. This stress reaction produces antioxidants which are known to improve the flavour. Just think of an organic carrot compared to a regular one. Which one would you say tastes more carroty? We believe that organic barley provides more depth of flavour, complexity and translates to a beautiful silky texture in the end spirit, as well as being better for the planet.

MASHING

With all the focus on casks, the role of things like yeast, mash length and fermentation times can often be overlooked.

We start with resting our mash for a full hour after mashing in (see A Day in the Life – Mashing for a full breakdown of the process). The conversion of starch to sugar doesn’t need an hour, but this rest allows us to extract as much flavour from our organic malt as possible. Then, before we draw the wort to one of our washbacks, we recirculate for around 30 minutes, clarifying the wort as it filters through the grain bed. A clear wort is vital for a bright, fruity spirit coming off the stills, which is exactly what we’re looking for. By contrast, a cloudy wort would yield a heavier, oilier spirit, which is fine, but it’s not Nc’nean.

FERMENTATION

Then comes yeast. This magical fungus doesn’t just eat sugar and give us alcohol. Nutrients in the wort are metabolized by the yeast, producing flavour compounds which are collectively known as congeners. These provide the fresh apple and banana character of our wash, which carries through to the aroma and flavour of our whisky.

Importantly, different strains of yeast produce different flavours. For our flagship recipe we use two yeasts to produce both the alcohol and flavour profile we’re looking to achieve during fermentation, and we delve deeper during the yeast trials (including using those produced for champagne, rum or wine production) for our annual Huntress release. 

DISTILLATION

Our distillation process doesn’t really add flavour so much as it refines and purifies what we’ve created during fermentation.

Our lantern-shaped stills have broad necks which encourage reflux, where a portion of the vapours cool within the still and drip back down into the liquid to be distilled again, adding lightness and purity to our new make spirit. We distil slowly to maximize copper contact in the stills, and ensure our spirit is collected below 20°C to preserve the vibrant fruitiness of our spirit.

CUT POINTS

Our ‘heart’ cut (the liquid we take off to be matured) is narrow and high, meaning we collect spirit that is fruity and elegant on the palate, with notes of green apple, cut grass and stone fruits. The flavours we produced in the washbacks carry through to the spirit, which will be softened and refined during cask maturation.

CASKS

Now, once our new make is already bursting with flavour, we can fill our casks to nurture the spirit until it’s ready to emerge as whisky. For our flagship expression, we primarily use a combination of ex-bourbon and STR (shaved, toasted, recharred) red wine casks.

Our bourbon-matured whisky retains much of our new make spirit’s character – elegant and clean with an oaky warmth, subtle notes of coconut, toffee and a dry finish. The STRs are more impactful, bringing jammy red fruits and softening the edges, providing texture. A tiny bit of sherry cask whisky adds the finishing touches, an understated, gentle spice to marry everything together.

Each cask will mature for three to six years before being selected for our flagship whisky recipe, by which time the casks have had a chance to add their influence, but not so long that our spirit is hidden beneath layers and layers of oak. We want our spirit to shine.

It is for all of these reasons that our whisky has been described as having "a maturity beyond its years" by Simon Difford the Founder of the Difford’s Guide. Additionally the Whisky Sponge review by Thijs Klaverstijn of their Nc'nean five year old bottling remarked that the whisky has "a slightly more mature profile than you’d expect based on its age," emphasizing its "good balance between sweet and fresh notes".