Blend #1 Scotch Whiskey
From Sweetdram:
Blending is considered an artform in Japan, and we’ve painted a minor masterpiece: a unique and complex yet sessionable dram designed for whisky novices, connoisseurs, and everyone else in between. Although this bottle marks a slight deviation from our other botanical spirits, the skills required to develop it are rooted in the same basic principles. It’s ultimately about building flavour and aroma, and creating a new, exciting experience for the drinker – but whisky requires a deft, more subtle hand. You’re somewhat limited in the tools you can use. You can’t reach for a peel, pepper or plant to fill a gap or add a little hint of something missing. You can only work with the casks you have at hand. Fortunately, we’ve managed to source a few beauties. First, the foundation: North British single grain whisky aged in virgin oak, the reliable, woody backbone on which to build. Then sherried Invergordon for a bit of punch and depth and peated Ardmore for body, length, and a wispy touch of sweet billowy smoke. Vatted as one and finished in barrels seasoned with Tawny port from Douro, Portugal, to pull the individual components together. The result is a modern dram that sits somewhere between Scotch and a round, complex bourbon. A nice, clean, easy drinker with nuance, charm, and gusto. Simply sip and savour – with a dash of water to release the oils and esters – or enjoy as a long drink with dry ginger ale.
The Producer
Sweetdram was founded in 2014 by Andrew MacLeod Smith and Daniel Fisher, who met in 2011 while studying for their Master’s degrees in brewing and distilling at Heriot-Watt University. After the course, the pair kept in touch to flesh out an idea they had for a modern drinks brand focused entirely on original flavour instead of conventional categories and repetitive trends. In 2014, they started Sweetdram from a tiny but well-designed work space in Dalston, London. The initial concept for the brand was to become the industry's first ‘gypsy’ distillers, who collaborate with various distilling partners around the world to make one off expressions that push categorical boundaries in terms of flavour and style.
The first of these nomadic collaborations resulted in the revival of a nearly defunct botanical spirit called Escubac with the historic Distillerie Combier. Further collaborations with the East London Rum Company and Brooklyn’s King’s County Distillery established Sweetdram as unconventional risk-takers with a drive to create singular, contemporary spirits. These successful projects inspired the move to Scotland—Andrew’s childhood home and Daniel’s home away from home where he lived prior to co-founding Sweetdram—where they established a new production facility in a massive industrial warehouse in Sighthill, Edinburgh.
It is in this immersive, contemporary space that Sweetdram now crafts its innovate liqueurs and spirits using a custom copper pot still with a helix coil head. Additionally, this permanent location has allowed Sweetdram to expand into independent bottling with the launch of a whisky program—the curation of which predates the inception of Sweetdram—using sourced casks matured throughout Scotland.
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