A journey that began 20 years ago for Drew McKenzie-Smith reaches an end and a new beginning with the release of 1494, the first whisky from Lindores Abbey Distillery.
Excitement is building at Lindores Abbey Distillery as it edges ever closer to the first-ever release of Scotch whisky.
And if images revealed of the 1494 members’ release are an indication of what’s inside, people who have signed up to receive the limited edition bottling are in for a treat.
Drawing on the history of Lindores Abbey, the dramatic black colour draws inspiration from the tunics worn by the monks back in 1494, while the unique shape pays homage to the Abbey’s magnificent stone pillars.
The bottle itself is displayed on a wooden plinth made using repurposed dunnage wood, which the spirit has rested on for more than three years as it matured.
The plinth bears the unique numbers of the 1,494 members who will receive their bottles very soon.
The decision to call it 1494 comes from investigations that revealed distilling was being practised on a semi-industrial scale back then when: “To Brother John Cor, by order of the King, to make aqua vitae VIII bolls of malt”.
Eight bolls amount to almost 500kg of malt and would have been enough to make 350 litres or more of spirits.
Although the reference doesn’t say where Brother John Cor was distilling, as he appears to have been a Tironesian monk of Lindores Abbey, it is a connection that can be made.
Remarkable journey
Managing director Drew McKenzie-Smith is incredibly excited to see more than two decades of work finally come to fruition with the members’ release.
He says it has been a remarkable journey and the release now hails the beginning of another one.
“It really, really has been an amazing journey. For me that journey began 20-plus years ago when I first read about the link between Lindores and Friar John Cor,” he said.
“When I look back at old correspondence, really what I was trying to do then was build a wee museum in the Abbey ruins and it just kind of snowballed.
“It’s been 20 years, but there have been gaps in between when I said it’s not happening, we just need to get on with our day jobs.
“However, about six or seven years ago, a friend in the industry said there are new distilleries opening up all over the place, one place he felt there should be one is at Lindores and that got me off my backside to give it another go.
“This time was the right time and it hit people’s imagination. To move that forward to physically now having a distillery, a bottling hall and we are putting liquid in the bottles as we speak is great. It’s the end of part of the journey and the beginning of the next I suppose.”
First whisky
Although Lindores has been producing Aqua Vitae and New Make Spirit in recent years, within the next week or so, people who signed up as members will be getting their hands on the first whisky release.
And the team at Lindores have also been working hard to get the release out to their members on the continent.
“We never nailed ourselves to an absolute date and we are glad we didn’t,” Drew added.
“Remember this was pre-Brexit, but now it is just getting harder and harder to send things to Europe. We are very much hoping the end of March early April to start getting it out.
“We are hoping in a Covid-friendly way to either deliver the local ones or have people come and pick them up which will be nice, but for Europe we were looking at ways of doing it and we think we have found a way of doing it through our distributors who should be able to help us get our members’ bottles to the right people.”
From getting the liquid into the casks to sending out bottles takes time and there is a lot of work goes on behind the scenes too to ensure everything is going to plan.
“We have had a series of tasting panels,” continued Drew. “We have a sensory panel which we set up right at the start of this project. I’m on it, but I wasn’t guaranteed to get a place on the panel because I don’t profess to be a huge expert, but I was rather chuffed when I did get a place.
“There was no actual whisky, it was a case of checking we had the right sensory tastes and we ended up with a mixed group of people who did get a bit of booze at the end and it was worthwhile.
“We narrowed down the choice of casks and this bottling truly is a one-off. We really are making this a members’ bottle. Come June, when we have a proper release of our Lindores Abbey Whisky, everyone can come in and enjoy it, but this is to repay the people that became members along the way.”
Slainte!
Considering that a number of members may not actually even open the bottle, Drew has come up with an idea to ensure that everyone can enjoy the first release.
“I am aware that a lot of people join because they are a collector or an investor. I really want people to drink it and as a result, I decided not that long ago in the process to put a free miniature in with the packaging,” he revealed.
“It says: ‘Please open his dram and enjoy. Slainte! Drew’. I know people collect them, but all the love and work that has gone into the actual dram they should taste it. A lot will sit on shelves because it looks nice, and we have become our own worst enemy by making it look nice, so the free miniature will give people the chance to drink it.”
Extremely proud of the 1494, Drew says there was a discussion over bringing out other spirits, but as they get ready to release the bottle he believes being patient and releasing a whisky first was the correct strategy.
Drew added: “I suppose we were lucky in the sense that whisky distilling is seen as an essential industry.
“Whilst the visitors’ centre had to close down, the distillery has kept up the whole way through with all the safety bits and pieces in place.
“That is really what a distillery thrives on, day to day, filling the casks and getting them into the warehouse and into maturation, that is the beating heart of Lindores.
“All the visitors is part of what we do, but any whisky distillery lives or dies by the quality of its spirit.
“We can tick all the boxes for tourism. We have Friar John Cor, we have William Wallace and a lot of people said bring out a bottle with a picture of Friar John Cor or William Wallace on it, but from day one that wasn’t the route I wanted to take as it would have betrayed our heritage and from a business sense people are buying one bottle of the old Friar John Cor and it would sit on the shelf.
“We want people to come back and buy more so the pricing has to be keen and the spirit has to be good.
Gin question
“There was one question I was asked more than anything – ‘Will you be doing a gin?’ And there are times when I think I should have done a gin.
“Every day there is another gin distillery and, to their credit, the gin market is still hugely buoyant so maybe financially that’s what we should have done.
“However, I thought with all the provenance that we have, and our story is built on that provenance, that if the first spirit was to be a gin that would have been wrong, so that’s why we brought out the Aqua Vitae, which is really nice.
“We also have the New Make Spirit and, come June, they will be joined by our core first release from Lindores and after that we will start doing special releases. We have some really exciting casks sitting around.
“We want to get everything right for these releases, get our distribution right, we have some great stockists and make sure they are ready and supplied. It’s all the logistics behind it. The launch is very exciting, and although the branding etc might be boring stuff, you have to get it right.
And with restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic beginning to ease, the team at Lindores are looking forward to opening up again and welcoming visitors.
“We are lucky in that we are a distillery that also has a big visitor centre and, more importantly, the abbey itself and a lot of outdoor space.
“Up until Covid it was really, really busy. As soon as we can we are going to reopen. We closed down slowly with tours done by video and explained to people that it wasn’t the same and 99% of people thought it was great, so we will open up in the same way I expect until it is safe for visitors and, of course, the staff as well. We really are genuinely looking forward to it.”
Key role
The staff at Lindores have played a key role in the journey to the release of 1494 and Drew invited them all to the first tasting at the end of last year.
“Quite a few of the staff have been with us since we opened and I wanted them to see it come to life,” he said.
“We had a big moment back in December which was the first day that the spirit actually was three-years-old. All the staff came in, past and present, and we all had a dram in the warehouse.
“It was the culmination of the last 20-plus years or even if you want to go back to 1494. That was the day I thought ‘we have brought whisky back’.
“It was nerve-wracking for Gary (Haggart), the distillery manager, as he was the guy who took the bung out of the cask in question.
“While we monitor these things, imagine if he had done that, with all the drama and excitement, and the dram wasn’t great that would have been a real setback, but we were all blown away. I would say that, but we are really confident that the spirit is bang on.
“For any distiller, not just Lindores, their new make is their DNA. If you’re DNA isn’t good then you’ve really got a problem.
Best New Make
“When we won Best New Make in Scotland last year through Whisky Magazine that was the best accolade we could get as we didn’t have anything else to enter.
“The fact we had that recognition is important. It’s fine me saying ‘it’s good’ and Gary saying ‘it’s good’, but you need people outside to give you that recognition.
“It was a real weight off. It doesn’t solve everything and doesn’t mean your new dram will be universally adored, but it means we do have the best possible spirit that’s been in the best casks and then it is all about cask selection. I am confident that that is really shaping up nicely.”