Pine

Fifty Stone

Maine Craft Distilling was founded in 2012 by Luke Davidson and Fred Farber. Like many in the new wave of craft distilling, Luke experimented with a private still (in his barn) after malting grain for local brewers and eventually tried his hand at whiskey, inspired by scotch but using ingredients native to Maine. Like a very few Scottish distilleries, Maine Craft Distilling is a malt-to-barrel operation, with many of the machinery from Scotland. While the distillery makes rums, vodkas, gins and brandy – including a curious blueberry liqueur – the Fifty Stone is their only whiskey. Named after the old British unit of measure, fifty stones was traditionally the weight of barley required to make a barrel of whiskey (one stone usually equaled 14 pounds). The barley is smoked using Maine peat and Maine seaweed. Purportedly made in the Highland (we assume that equates to Scottish) style.

By Adam | February 5, 2021 | Foreign | No Comments |

Islay scotches are generally not drawn to much experimentation with cask finishing as much as distilleries in other regions, especially the peat/smoke heavy ones along the southern coast of the island near Port Ellen like Ardbeg and Lagavulin. Laphroaig likes to dabble into the alternative maturation waters, though mostly with their Cairdeas series. This Laphroaig QA is a travel retail exclusive in a liter bottle. The QA stands for Quercus Alba, the Latin name for white oak, a native hardwood found in eastern and central North America. The whisky is aged in ex-bourbon barrels before being finished in charred QA casks.

By Adam | February 5, 2019 | Islay | No Comments |

While Oban has been distilling for over two hundred years, their geographic restraints have kept them from growing into a truly giant place of production. For many years, their single malts were relegated to the 14 Year and Distillers Edition. Therefore it was a welcome surprise when they introduced a new No Age Statement offering to their lineup in 2015, the Oban Little Bay. The Scottish Gaelic name for the town, An t-Òban, means “little bay”. The single malt is blended in 200 liter ex-bourbon barrels, the smallest barrels available at the distillery. This was at one point their travel retail exclusive.

By Adam | November 27, 2018 | Highland | No Comments |