A family-owned distillery in Fife has added to its repertoire with the launch of Balcomie whisky named after one of the area’s much-loved landmarks.
Kingsbarns Distillery has unveiled a brand new whisky – Balcomie – which pays homage to the beauty and heritage of the distillery’s surroundings.
The spicy, citrusy and balanced whisky is named after the local historic landmark Balcomie Castle, and it is the first of future releases that will be named after celebrated sites in the kingdom – a strategic move to showcase how important place and heritage is to the Kingsbarns brand.
Available now, the whisky features sumptuous scents of treacle, sultanas, fruit loaf with cinnamon icing, a touch of dark chocolate and summer berries and has flavours of sweet, tinned pineapple, orange peel, cake spice, dried apricot and a hint of roasted hazelnut.
Matured in 100% ex-Oloroso American Oak Sherry Butts from Jerez in Spain results in a perfectly balanced spirit and the wood allows the light, fruity and oral spirit to shine through. Non-chilled filtered and bottled at 46% this single malt is fruity, complex, and balanced.
New expression
The head distiller at Kingsbarns, Peter Holroyd (main picture), says the new expression is one he and his team are extremely proud and almost everything that goes into it is found in Fife.
“It’s a new expression and everything we are doing at the distillery is trying to give our products a sense of place first and foremost so we have given it the name of an old castle that is just a couple of miles down the coast from here,” he said.
“We are naming our core expressions after local landmarks and that goes right into the products itself.
“We are using locally grown barley, mineral rich water drawn from directly from beneath the distillery, so we are using water from an on site and maturing it all in Fife as well.”
The release of Balcomie whisky marks the end of a five-year journey for Kingsbarns and it is a bit of a departure for them.
Peter continued: “The product itself was distilled in 2015 and put into Oloroso sherry butts which had held sherry for years and years.
“The wood has actually taken out a lot of the heavy notes, so it’s not a sherry bomb. If you are into your whisky it’s not a terribly dark one, but it’s perfect wood for us as it matches quite nicely with our light elegant fruity style of spirit.
“The good thing about whisky is it’s all long-term planning. We have a filling plan 25 years into the future so we know what kind of casks we want to be filling.
“A sherry expression of whisky has always been in the plans. By and large we normally fill ex-bourbon casks which have held bourbon in the States and then chipped over here which works really nicely.
Something different
“However, this sherry release is something a wee bit different and a wee bit special as we have never put anything like this out before. It retains that lovely fruitiness that you get straight off the stills, but it has a lot more richness to it.
“We will be picking up a few different local landmarks and singing their praises; that is certainly the plan. For this one we have released about 9,000 bottles which are available now online from the Kingsbarns website.”
Peter, 32, who brewed beer before taking up his current position at Kingsbarns in 2013, added: “The team here are incredibly excited and proud of it because we haven’t released anything like this before so it’s a new face for the company, a new side to the distillery that people haven’t seen before.
“Once the whole Covid thing is sorted and we are back to some sort of normality, it is going to be really interesting to take this to tastings – or even virtual tastings.
“Our flagship Dream to Dram has really shown people what to expect from us and this is a fantastic addition to the line-up.”
Wealth of history
William Wemyss, managing director of Kingsbarns Distillery, said: “Place and heritage is hugely important to us as a company and we’re proud of where we come from, therefore, we’re naming each of our future core range releases after different landmarks in Fife – starting with Balcomie.
“Our distillery is surrounded by a magnificent landscape with a wealth of history and we wanted to capture the essence of this with Balcomie – a product we’re really excited to share.
“The new addition to our range allows whisky lovers to enjoy fruity and indulgent flavours from an original bottle designed to honour our Scottish heritage.
“The Balcomie is perfect for cold, autumnal evenings and is guaranteed to take whisky fans on a stunning flavour journey – we hope customers love it as much as we do.”
The idea for Kingsbarns Distillery was born in 2009 by Douglas Clement when the former golf caddie observed the lack of nearby distillery to the St Andrews golf course for players to visit.
Following five years of hard work and fundraising, the distillery – formerly a derelict farm building – became fully operational in 2013 with financial support from the Wemyss family.
In 2013, Clement sold the business to the Wemyss family and within 18 months of the sale, the distillery was opened to the public in November 2014.
Today, it produces a light, fresh and elegantly dry style of Single Lowland Malt including the flagship Dream to Dram. They also produce Darnley’s Gin.
