Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

3 Brand-New Mortlach Scotch Whiskies Are Now Available

Sam Slaughter
By
Mortlach New Expressions 2018
Mortlach

Speyside distillery Mortlach has unveiled three new whisky releases that will soon be available stateside: Mortlach 12-Year-Old Wee Witchie, Mortlach 16-Year-Old Distiller’s Dram, and Mortlach 20-Year-Old Cowie’s Blue Seal.

Even if you’ve never heard of Mortlach before, chances are you’ve had a chance at trying some of the whisky that comes out of the distillery — Mortlach whiskies are integral components in a number of different Johnnie Walker expressions.

Recommended Videos

Each of the new expressions utilizes the brand’s distinctive 2.81 distilling process. This process, which the brand calls “The Way,” employs six unique copper pot stills (including three wash and three spirit stills). The resulting product almost goes through triple distillation, thereby giving us the name 2.81. The practice was invented by Dr. Alexander Cowie (son of George Cowie Sr., the person responsible for Mortlach’s survival after the first 30 years as a distillery) in 1896 and has remained unchanged since its invention.

Related

Each of these whiskies will be available nationwide.

Mortlach 12-Year-Old Wee Witchie
Mortlach 12-Year-Old Wee Witchie
Mortlach

On the nose, Wee Witchie features toasted oak and fresh stone fruit notes. The whisky is medium to heavy in body and rich in oak, vanilla, and Crème Brûlée flavors that lead the palate into poached pear and caramelized orange. The finish is a soft blend of citrus and clove. This whisky was aged in a mix of ex-sherry and ex-bourbon casks.

Mortlach 12-Year-Old Wee Witchie is 43.4 percent alcohol by volume and will retail for around $50.

Mortlach 16-Year-Old Distiller’s Dram
Mortlach 16-Year-Old Distiller’s Dram
Mortlach

Aged entirely in ex-sherry casks, the first thing you’ll notice is a rich perfume of stewed black and orchard fruits. Distiller’s Dram also has a hints of earthiness and spice on the nose. The body is a palate-coater and starts with baking spices and cocoa powder before notes of butterscotch and honey. The finish is long and sweet.

Mortlach 16-Year-Old Distiller’s Dram is 43.4 percent ABV and will retail for around $100.

Mortlach 20-Year-Old Cowie’s Blue Seal
Mortlach 20-Year-Old Cowie’s Blue Seal
Mortlach

Also aged entirely in ex-sherry casks, Cowie’s Blue Seal has sandalwood and other earthy elements initially on the nose. An oily palate follows with caramelized apples and dark berries that lead into chocolate malt balls and honey-dipped figs. The finish is long and dense, with dried fruit characteristics.

Mortlach 20-Year-Old Cowie’s Blue Seal is 43.4 percent ABV and will retail for around $200.

Editors' Recommendations

Sam Slaughter
Sam Slaughter
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Sam Slaughter was the Food and Drink Editor for The Manual. Born and raised in New Jersey, he’s called the South home for…
Here’s to the New Year: 20-Year-Old Whiskies to Drink in 2022
Whiskey in a glass

2020 is barely a month old, so it's a good time to consider some 20-year-old whiskies to drink in this first year of the new decade. Of course, many of these happen to be single malt Scotch, and for good reason. In general, you can age a whiskey for much longer in the temperate climate of Scotland than you could in Kentucky, with its extreme seasonal temperature swings, and still have it come out tasting good. This is because hot summers and cold winters force the liquid to interact with the barrel more, resulting in a whiskey that may become overly oaky and tannic over time. For this reason, most Kentucky bourbon is released below the 10-year mark, while the benchmark age for single malt is usually 10 to 12 years. There are some exceptions, of course, and these can be quite good if appropriate attention is paid to the barrels as they age. Here are ten whiskeys aged for two decades to try now -- provided you can find and afford them. (As a general note, the age statement refers to the youngest whiskey in the bottle, so there may be older liquid included as well).
Deanston 20 Year Old Oloroso

Deanston is a sometimes overlooked Highlands distillery that has an excellent range of single malts, including some organic expressions and this limited release 20YO. The whisky was matured in Oloroso sherry casks for two decades, and bottled at cask strength without color added or chill-filtration. There are notes of dried fruit and vanilla on the palate, followed by a hint of baking spice and prune.
BenRiach 20

Read more
7 New Celebrity Booze Brands to Drink Now
dos hombres bryan cranston aaron paul

Celebrities have been endorsing booze brands for decades. The most famous example from the 20th century is probably Frank Sinatra's relationship with Jack Daniel's, an arrangement that benefited both parties -- Frank got lots of free booze, Jack got an amazing PR boost. Nowadays, actors, musicians, and athletes are creating (or sometimes just lending their names to) spirits brands, from Bob Dylan and Heaven's Door to Drake and Virginia Black. Over the past year, there have been a slew of new celebrity booze brands, and the current trend seems to be almost all about tequila. This makes sense, as the category continues to grow rapidly here in the U.S., and distilleries in Mexico often produce dozens of different brands. Here are seven recent celebrity spirits that have joined this crowded field that you can try now.
Dos Hombres Mezcal

What's the next best thing to a Breaking Bad reunion? El Camino on Netflix. Lagging way behind that is this new mezcal from Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston. The two actors apparently traveled around Oaxaca to find the right mezcal to source and label with their Dos Hombres name. This has thrilled some and annoyed others, who were not excited to see a couple of rich white guys hawking mezcal (and some fans felt duped by Paul's cryptic Instagram announcement, expecting an actual Breaking Bad reunion instead).
Villa One Tequila
Villa One is a new tequila brand from pop star Nick Jonas and designer John Varvatos that is part of the Stoli Group portfolio. There are blanco, reposado, and añejo expressions available, made at the same distillery in Jalisco that produces brands like Cenote and Tres Ochos under the eye of master distiller Arturo Fuentes. This is a premium tequila brand, with prices ranging from $45 to $60 depending on the age. According to Jonas, he took a hands-on approach: "It was critical to us that we take part in the decision-making process every step of the way and, now, we feel that this is exactly the tequila we sought out to create almost two years ago.”
Santo Fino Blanco Tequila

Read more
The Final Chapter of The Balvenie Compendium Now Available
The Balvenie Compendium

The Balvenie has announced that the final chapter in its Compendium series, The Balvenie DCS Compendium Chapter Five "Malt Master’s Indulgence," will be released this month for a cool $80,000. This series is comprised of various vintages that are personally selected by malt master David Stewart, one of the longest-tenured professionals in the Scotch whisky industry. As indicated by the name, this final release is a nod to the freedom Stewart has enjoyed as malt master to select any cask he deems fit to set aside and further age for decades if he sees potential there.

The lineup of the final chapter consists of five different whiskies: a 1962 vintage (56 years old) aged in a European oak Oloroso sherry hogshead in commemoration of Stewart's first year working at The Balvenie; a 1974 vintage (44 years old) aged in a refill American oak barrel that marks the year Stewart was appointed malt master; a 1983 vintage (35 years old) aged in a refill American oak hogshead that celebrates the year Stewart began tinkering around with various styles of maturation; a 2001 vintage (18 years old) matured in a European oak Fino sherry butt meant to celebrate the latitude Stewart has been granted throughout his career; and the youngest, a 2002 vintage (16 years old) aged in a first-fill American oak bourbon barrel that is a tribute to Stewart's reintroduction of peat into the production process with The Week of Peat. Only 50 sets are available globally, each presented in an oak frame crafted by Scottish designer Sam Chinnery, and accompanied by The Balvenie DCS Compendium book written by former global ambassador Dr. Samuel J. Simmons.

Read more