An Introduction to Fettercairn Distillery

An Introduction to Fettercairn Distillery

As a preface to my soon to be uploaded (Be'ezrat Hashem) review on the Fettercairn 14-Year-Old Travel Retail Exclusive Single Malt Whisky, I thought I'd give my own personal thoughts and overview on Whyte & Mackay products and then talk a little about Fettercairn distillery.

The Whiskies of Whyte & Mackay, owners of Isle of Jura, Dalmore and Tamnavulin distilleries, have been for decades, at best simply ignored or at worst, the butt of jokes by the whisky enthusiast’s community.

Whenever an example is needed of a bad whisky and what is wrong with the Scotch Whisky Industry today, it’s usually a Whyte & Mackay product (particularly Dalmore), that’s chosen. In fact, the only distillery that seems to attract more mockery and derision than Dalmore, is Macallan.

The Infamous Dalmore Kitsch

From an outsider’s perspective this might seem very strange as in the current climate where we are seeing a downturn in Whisky sales, current figures show Whyte & Mackay has actually increased sales. So why does the “serious” Whisky community hate on them so much?

It’s because (with a few exceptions), their whiskies have become synonymous with the most dumbed down and heavily sanitized expressions in the industry. From the budget level Tamnavulin, the medium level Isle of Jura to the Premium Luxury priced Dalmore, they are all (again, with a few exceptions), diluted down to the minimum legal 40% abv, are heavily chill-filtered so that they remain crystal clear with water or ice is added, but as a consequence of the process, have removed some 25% of the natural flavour, and are particularly ridiculed for their overuse of E150a Caramel spirit colour, that gives all their whisky a fake brown-y-orange look.

They are cynically aimed firmly at the casual whisky drinker and the ones with the least whisky education. Again, Dalmore comes under particular ridicule due to its over-the-top kitschy package presentation and completely unwarranted (in the opinion of many), exorbitant prices.

Practically the only way, up until now to get to know the real character of Tamnavulin, Jura and Dalmore, has been through a few releases from independent bottlers, who haven’t ruined the whiskies by sanitizing them to the point of near death.

 

Having said all this, there are tentative signs however that Whyte & Mackay might be having a change of heart as in 2024 they released the Jura 16-Year-Old “Perspective No.1”, bottled at 46.5% abv and the Dalmore 16-Year-Old “Luminary No.2”, bottled at 48.6% abv, with both bottlings stating on the label that they are Non-Chill Filtered and Natural Colour!

Incidentally, both expressions are either partially or fully matured in Sherry or Port Casks but nevertheless look decidedly paler in colour than even other Whyte & Mackay Single Malts matured exclusively in Ex-Bourbon barrels, exposing their over dependence on Caramel colouring.

But What About Fettercairn Distillery?

Fettercairn, meaning “[situated on a] slope by a thicket”, was founded in 1824, one year before Glencadam distillery which is only a few miles away. Indeed, Fettercairn celebrated their 200th anniversary last year with Glencadam, celebrating this year. This fact is no coincidence as both distillery founders took advantage of the combination of the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, William Gladstone’s new Highland Excise Act of 1823 and the arrival of the railway bringing ready supplies of coal for fuel, making whisky production a much more lucrative prospect.owqever,

The distillery is situated on a leaf-y junction as you travel from the North-East to the South-West of the Southern Highlands along the A90/A9. My wife and I have fond memories of the beautiful drive down these roads as it passes Fettercairn, Glencadam, Blair Athol, Tullibardine and Deanston.

Fettercairn has always seemed a perfect place for a visitor’s centre but only recently has one been built (coinciding with the promotion of Fettercairn’s new Single Malt range perhaps?).

We did actually visit the distillery back in 2017. I was told that there was a small shop there selling amongst other things, Glencairn glasses with the distillery name embossed on the side. We made it as far as the car-park but were told that the shop was currently closed to the public. I’m planning my next trip to Scotland in February next year, so am hoping to pop into the distillery while I’m in the area.

Fettercairn Single Malt Whisky Official Bottlings

Ever since Whyte & Mackay acquired Fettercairn in 1973, almost their entire production of malt whisky has been going into Whyte & Mackay’s Scotch Blends, including “Claymore”, “The Woodsman”, “John Barr” and of course “Whyte & Mackay”.

Consequently, Fettercairn has pretty much escaped the ridicule of its sister distilleries as up until quite recently, it has never been bottled on a regular basis as a Single Malt, so there haven’t been any widely available expressions for Whyte & Mackay to ruin!

However, stories have been circulating for decades amongst “those in the know”, that unadulterated Fettercairn Malt Whisky, straight from the cask, is simply superb. Nobody who told these stories had actually tasted the spirit themselves of course. It remained a legend. Fettercairn Single Malt was a mythical and beautiful beast, one could say, similar to a Scottish unicorn.

In the early 2000s Whyte & Mackay half-heartedly dipped their toes into the Single Malt market with a couple of rather underwhelming Fettercairn NAS releases. However, around 2018 they rebranded with new artwork and brought out their very first Fettercairn regularly available Single Malt, a 12-Year-Old matured exclusively in Ex-Bourbon barrels.

Since then, they’ve dabbled in a few other Limited releases either finished in Sherry or Port and all of them, as mentioned above, emblematic of the then Whyte & Mackay’s marketing policy. That is, all dumbed-down and bottled as “Integrity-challenged”. (See my previous couple of articles for a definition of the term).

Then, in 2020 they quietly released a Limited Edition 16-Year-Old bottled at an impressive 46.4% abv. This first edition was unfortunately still chill-filtered and caramel coloured. However, they released another 16-Year-Old the following year, also at 46.4% abv but this time made it without Chill-Filtration and presented it at Natural Colour. Presumably, still experimenting and unable to make up their minds, each subsequent annual edition of the 16-Year-Old was finished in various combinations of both Sherry and Port casks.

But, in 2024, something extraordinary happened. Someone at Whyte & Mackay suddenly realised that there was in fact an entire market out there that was looking for higher-quality “Integrity” Single Malt Whisky. Running completely counter to their previously established Marketing policy, they decided to completely revamp and expand both their entire Fettercairn Single Malt core-range and Travel-Retail range. With the single exception of the already established “Entry-Level” 12-Year-Old that still remained at 40% abv, they decided to bottle every expression at 46% abv or higher, make them non-chill-filtered and presented at Natural Colour!

What’s more, as of 2025, gone were the lazy Ex-Sherry Cask Finishing and both the core-range and the new Travel-Retail range are all matured exclusively in Fettercairn’s Ex-Bourbon casks, either First-Fill or Refill Barrels and Hogsheads. That’s great news for the strictly kosher consumer! (There are however still a few Limited Editions which are matured in other cask types such as their 23-Year-Old Brandy Cask).

We can split the new Fettercairn range into two categories. Their core and their Travel-Retail range.

As you can see, the 16-Year-Old is now part of the regular core-range and no longer comes with a thin coating of Sherry and Port. Instead, it’s naturally presented with the cask type that typifies the Fettercairn house-flavour, that is, Ex-Bourbon casks.

Release	Range	Cask Types	ABV	Non-Chill-Filtered	Natural Colour	Price (£)
12-Year-Old	Core	Ex-Bourbon	40%	No	No	47
16-Year-Old	Core	Ex-Bourbon	46.4%	Yes	Yes	79
22-Year-Old	Limited Edtn	Ex-Bourbon	47%	Yes	Yes	244
24-Year-Old	US Market	Ex-Bourbon	46.5%	Yes	Yes	($650)
14-Year-Old	Travel	Ex-Bourbon	46%	Yes	Yes	56
17-Year-Old	Travel	Ex-Bourbon	47%	Yes	Yes	120
25-Year-Old	Travel	Ex-Bourbon	46.3%	Yes	Yes	420

Looking at the above table I wonder if like me, you’ve noticed something unusual. Every expression has been bottled at round about 46% alcohol level but every abv is ever so slightly different. It seems as if they’ve gone from one extreme to the other.

For decades, Whyte & Mackay has been all about boring consistency throughout the entire range. The exact same abv, the exact same colour for every whisky, no matter what the cask type. They all remain crystal clear when adding water or ice. But now, the message seems to be that each expression is different and has its own unique character. That’s really clever marketing in my opinion.

The Whyte & Mackay Scottish Oak Programme

Before we finally get round to the actual review, I wanted to mention Whyte & Mackay’s Scottish Oak Programme which has been going on for well over 20 years now. Scottish Oak has historically offered many challenges when it comes to cask making due to the fact that it does not grow straight like North American White Oak, leading to waist, as well as it containing too many oak “knots” which lead to leakages. However, traditional Scottish Oak has the potential to infuse richer spicy flavours into the whisky as compared to American White Oak, due to its unique chemical makeup.

insidethecask.com

The project began by engineering a new type of Scottish Oak to address its cask making challenges, an oak similar to the growing patterns of White American Oak more suitable for making casks, whist maintaining its unique flavour character.

In 2019, it was announced that, due to the increasing emphasis put on “Green” issues by the major political parties in the UK, Whyte & Mackay decided to expand their Scottish Oak programme. The other, no less important influence for this decision was the ever-increasing cost of quality oak used to make casks in the Whisky Industry along with the emerging high-tech methods to engineer a more efficient oak type as well as drying techniques that can prepare a cask for use in a much shorter amount of time.

As mentioned in previous articles, Whyte & Mackay are not alone in their interest in High-Tech Oak engineering programmes. Glenmorangie and Inver House, to name just two examples, are also investing heavily in this area.

These engineered Oak Casks are still highly experimental and controversial due to their arguably mixed success.

See my previous article entitled “Old PulteneyFlotilla Vintage 2008 Review”

Be'ezrat Hashem, the next article I should be uploading will be my review of the Fettercairn 14-Year-OLd Travel Retail Exclusive Single Malt Whisky.