Aon means one in Gaelic and represents our collection of single cask bottlings.
Every now and again we release an Aon single cask whisky. We hand pick each one of these casks because they are delicious, unique and unrepeatable.
WHAT DO AON BOTTLES LOOK LIKE? AND HOW DO I FIND OUT WHICH CASK IT IS?
You will easily be able to spot an Aon bottle amongst a range of Nc’nean products because they are bottled in frosted glass. These bottles, as with all of our whisky bottles, are made from 100% post-consumer recycled glass. They have a 40% lower carbon footprint than a bottle made from virgin glass and have an infinite life cycle. Each bottling is also numbered, with the year the cask was filled, followed by the cask number itself. For instance, Aon 19-179 cask was filled in 2019. If you’re in a shop, you can find out which Aon release you’re looking at the top of the gift tube or the back of the label which goes around the neck of the bottle. You can also find this info on the side label and on the reverse of the gift tube if you look a little harder.
WHY CAN'T I BUY ALL AON RELEASES?
We release Aon casks in collaboration with our closest retail and distribution partners who share our core values of innovation or sustainability, or in partnership with individuals like our cocktail competition winners, or sometimes as an exclusive which can only be purchased from our website or in our small distillery shop here in Drimnin on the west coast of Scotland. These bottlings are therefore very limited and are often exclusive just to one country or market.
WHAT DIFFERENT CASKS ARE USED FOR AON BOTTLINGS?
Our Aon releases come from a variety of different casks including ex-American Whiskey, ex-Bourbon, ex-Cognac, STR red wine, and ex-Tequila. Sometimes we age the whisky in two casks, one after the other. This is still called a single cask whisky, as the whisky still comes from one individual cask originally, it is then just ‘finished’ in the next cask. This adds extra flavour before being bottled. For example, our Aon 19-216 cask started in ex-Bourbon then was finished in an ex-Cognac cask from France. The ex-Cognac cask brought out toasted almond flavours and also pushed the ‘lemony’ citrus flavours produced from the ex-Bourbon cask towards more orangey citrus flavours. Other times we simply bottle the liquid that has been aged in one single cask because it is perfectly delicious as it is, for example our Aon 18-443 was aged in a STR red wine cask which brought out decadent creamy notes of sticky toffee pudding, buttery fudge and fruit crumble.
The number of bottles each cask produces changes based on the size of the cask, the angels share (which is the amount of liquid lost to evaporation whilst it is in the cask), the age of the whisky (as the longer it matures the more angels share it will lose) and how much water we may add at the end in the dilution process depending on what abv we want to bottle it at.
SOME OF OUR FAVOURITE CASK STORIES:
AON 17-234: In partnership with Gill Meller
Named "By any means" by our friend, chef and author Gill Meller, this whisky was originally matured in an ex-Bourbon cask, before being moved to British ex-Rum cask in July 2023. Gill accompanied the cask via land and sea on a rather turbulent journey from the South West of England to our distillery on the very west coast of Scotland, where he filled it with that ex-Bourbon cask spirit. The result is a deliciously rounded whisky, with flavours of spiced orange, herbal toffee and candied peaches.
AON 17-193: A cask chosen by Matt Morrison of The Fife Arms
This cask was chosen by the winner of our 2023 industry cocktail competition, Matt Morrison, whisky specialist and bartender at the prestigious Bertie's Whisky Bar at The Fife Arms. His wildly innovative approach and deep understanding of his ingredients (including foraged Penny Bun mushrooms) led him to win our contest judged on taste, sustainability and hospitality. He chose cask, 17-193 an ex-Bourbon cask from our maturing barrels, and he found he could taste banana bread, lemon balm and vanilla ice cream in this whisky. Click here to here more from Matt himself. The final of the 2024 industry cocktail competition is in September and the winner of this comp will also have the chance to hand pick and release their own cask of Nc’nean whisky in partnership with us.
AON 17-115: Our first Asia-Pacific single cask launch
This was a particularly special one because this cask was our first ever release in Japan, a country full of people who know a thing or two about whisky, in celebration of our launch there. It was also the first single cask we released in the Asia-Pacific region. The spirit was rounded and fruity and had been aged in an STR ex-red wine cask. It was hand picked for its herbaceous spice and incredibly full texture and we are delighted that it has gone down very well in Japan.
To find out information on our Aon releases, click here.