St Bridget's Kirk Cask #3 10 Year Old Blended Malt Scotch Whisky (700ml)

At the time of writing, Lady of the Glen is ten years old. Throughout that period Gregor Hannah has acquired hundreds of casks, some of which have been less than full. On other occasions, re-racking from 250 litre hogsheads into 180 litre barriques has left him with leftover spirit. Either scenario suggested material for blending, which is where St Bridget’s Kirk comes in. These vatted malts are always just one cask worth, at most a butt – so about 500 bottles – although recent releases have been smaller still. A tiny volume of Batch #3 has landed and it's a great job on a multi-regional malt. Exactly what's included isn't stated, even though Hannah's philosophy is to present as much information on the label as possible: "Unfortunately there are limits and sometimes you buy casks and you don’t know where the contents were distilled, so you can’t always write them down... or if I’m not allowed, as is the case with certain distillery brands."

The blends in this series have been very good indeed. Compared to previous batches, #3 loses a bit of its age as there's a younger Islay component, but all of the various elements (sherried Speyside, Highlands and Islay) are well-integrated, the lightly peppered delivery tuned for drinkability and the sherry injecting richness through the middle. There are suggestions of rosewater and Turkish Delight, but in general the focus is sherry and peat reek, the latter peaking at the finish where an Ardmore-like quality enters, only with a maritime-menthol end-note for good measure. It's tasty stuff. As for the title - St Bridget’s Kirk is the name of a local landmark in Dalgety Bay where Lady of the Glen's bottling hall is based. It's from here that all their releases are hand finished by a five-person team. 48.5% Alc./Vol. Non chill filtered.