High Coast began producing whisky in 2010 after being founded by a group of whisky-interested friends in 2007. Situated in Sörviken, Sweden, the distillery is exposed to a high degree of temperature variance throughout the year, including some terrifically cold nights during the winter. From the beginning, the distillery has employed a patience, thoughtful, transparent philosophy to create a creative slate of offerings. In 2017, the Origins product line was begun, the core offerings that are most widely distributed (the Hav is also one of these). The High Coast Timmer was launched in 2020 and is made of peated barley (39-46ppm) matured in a variety of cask sizes for approximately seven years.
Old Pulteney 12 Year
Wick is a town by the sea, and Old Pulteney is a distillery in and of the town, nicknamed The Maritime Malt. Built in 1826, Old Pulteney uses a Porteus mill that is a century old to process the barley used in distillation. Named after the Pulteneytown district of Wick, the distillery is one of the most northern on the mainland. After almost 200 years of near-constant operation, albeit closed temporarily during times of war or temperance, the distillery currently produces 900,000 liters of whisky a year. The flare near the top of the bottle is meant to evoke a copper pot still. The Old Pulteney 12 year is the definitive offering in their core portfolio and is aged exclusively in ex-bourbon casks.
Bunnahabhain Toiteach a Dhà
There is remote and then there is Bunnahabhain remote. Located on the island of Islay off the coast of Scotland, the distillery was only accessible by boat until the 1960s, when a single-track road was finally installed. The distillery is also known for having the tallest stills on Islay and producing one of the few non-peated whiskies there, a place renowned for its use of peated malts. However, distillers love experimentation and Bunnahabhain eventually tried using smoked barley with the debut of the Toiteach in 2008. The Toiteach a Dhà, Gaelic for “The Smokey Two”, is part of the distillery’s core range and serves as a sequel of sorts to the first. It is made up of around 75% ex-Oloroso sherry and 25% ex-bourbon casks, which is a higher proportion of sherry influence that found in other core offerings.