Lindores Abbey New Make Spirit Mini

Volume: 0.05 litres | Alcohol content: 63.5% | Chill filtration: No | Colouring: No

Special Features:

Lindores Abbey New Make Spirit Mini reveals the character of the distillate before cask maturation. The clear grain spirit is bottled at 63.5% in a 0.05-litre bottle. As it has not yet been in contact with wood, the aromas created by the raw material, fermentation and distillation remain unobscured.

For this spirit, Lindores Abbey extended fermentation to 114 hours to encourage additional tropical fruit notes. When the wash first began to foam, the wash still was stopped, allowed to rest and then slowly heated again; the middle cut in the two spirit stills was also handled with particular care. The cut began at 75–76% and ended at 66%. At around 68–69%, the spirit coming off the still showed caramel and butterscotch on the nose, complemented by peach and strawberry. The finished spirit combines pear and other fruit notes with grain, malt and nutty impressions. Sweetness and spice accompany its robust character and distinctive mouthfeel.

The first publicly available release of the New Make Spirit appeared in 2018 and sold out within a few weeks. At the 2020 World Whiskies Awards, Lindores New Make Spirit was named Best Scotch New Make. This miniature is one of the distillery’s 0.05-litre bottlings.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: On the nose, the new make is fresh, malty and slightly fruity, with a lively, youthful clarity shaping the aroma.
• Palate: On the palate, it is powerful and direct. Grain notes combine with gentle sweetness and pronounced yet clean warmth.
• Finish: The finish is dry and lingering, with spicy and slightly mineral tones accompanying the aftertaste.

Distillery/Bottler:

Lindores Abbey Distillery is located in Newburgh, in the Scottish region of Fife. The site is closely associated with the earliest written reference to Scottish aqua vitae: the Exchequer Rolls of 1494 record that King James IV commissioned the Lindores monk John Cor to make aqua vitae from eight bolls of malt. After 523 years, spirit once again flowed from copper stills on the site in 2017; the new distillery’s first single malt followed in 2021.

Lindores Abbey uses Laureate barley grown on nearby farms and mills the malt on site. Fermentation takes place in traditional wooden washbacks. One large wash still is followed by two smaller spirit stills, an arrangement that increases copper contact during the second distillation and helps produce a clean, refined new make spirit. The water comes from a borehole near the distillery.

Facts: