Side by side : Initial trio from Saltire Rare Malt

Established in 2022, @MaltRare1494 Saltire Rare Malt Whisky Company are a new Independent Bottler out of Falkland in Fife.

Their first trio of releases include Glen Moray, Aultmore and Tamnavulin bottlings.

Keith Rennie and Nigel Heywood have been building a collection of casks, numbering more than 250, for more than 30 years and have now decided to share them with the world, 2014 being a good year to launch the very first bottlings of Saltire Rare Malt, 530 years after the birth of Scotch Whisky, in the beautiful, historic ‘toon’ of Falkland.

They chose this year's Spirit of Speyside Festival to launch themselves and release the first trio of bottles.

"An exclusive collection - A Measure of Time & Taste: Each spirit is on a journey, just as we are, and each hour that passes shapes something rare and special in every cask.

Among our uniquely curated collection, there are certainly famous labels, rare gems and casks from 'lost distilleries', but above all else, the character of the spirit is what guides us.  

The details matter — from barley yields to regional rainfall levels; from cut points to cask types. These variables are what shape the tone, taste and character of a dram, making each individual whisky release very special indeed."

Saltire are releasing their bottles at 48.8% ABV - a good drinking strength, but there will be some cask strength releases, with a minimum age of 14 years.

They sent me samples of the first three bottles to try, let's see what they are like!

Dram	Glen Moray 17yo 2nd Fill American Oak	Aultmore 14yo 2nd Fill Oloroso Ex-Agitator	Tamnavulin 15yo 1st Fill Ex-Rhum Agricole
Characteristics	Distilled: 4 May '07 Bottled: 4 May '24 Cask #800471 ABV 48.8% 310 bottles	Distilled: 25 Mar '10 Bottled: 26 Mar '24 Cask #21250 ABV 48.8% 380 bottles	Distilled 2 April 2009 Bottled 3 April 2024 Cask #1975 ABV 48.8% 296 bottles
Bottler notes (by Hans & Becky Offringa)	A bit of a surprise on the nose and palate but very tasty with a gentle goodbye. This whisky has a pale gold colour in the glass. The nose starts with aromas of stewed apples, tinned pears and pineapple chunks. A sturdy background of malty notes supports this fruit salad, which is laced with aniseed and crystalized ginger. On the palate, what follows is a succulent burst with more fruit (ripe cherries) and shaved hazelnut. The finish is slightly astringent and pleasantly reminiscent of bitter lemon soda. Adding water is not recommended since it slightly flattens the delicate experience of this fine malt.	A nice aperitif, elegant and accessible. This would be a lovely accompaniment to a summer fruit salad. This whisky is pale gold in the glass. On the nose is an immediate hint of buttered banana bread surrounded by floral aromas of broom, honeysuckle and pansy, carried on a malty platform. That malty character carries on in the palate with added notes of walnut and unsweetened citrus lemonade A quiet finale, medium long and very pleasant. This dram really benefits from a dash of water to release a fresh floral note appearing next to more banana aromas.	A very agreeable aperitif that may serve as a companion with asparagus with butter cream sauce and a dusting of celery salt. This pale gold whisky is slightly mineral in the nose at first, then followed by toasted banana bread. Then aromas remind one of walking on a green wet lawn while tasting fresh sour cherries. Later a clear vegetal note of cooked asparagus sprinkled with lemon juice arrives, over a background of wet sawdust. On the palate, it is really fruity and vegetal, with the emphasis on the latter. After a while longer, angelica appears during a pleasant, slightly bitter finish that does not linger. Add a few drops of water and notice an increased creaminess in the mouth-feel.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Very pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin oily legs.	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, slowly bead up forming and inverted crown and eventually fall as slow thin legs.	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thin legs.
Nose	Huge orchard fruit notes to start: green apples, pears, apricots and plums. There's a digestive biscuit note and some . It seems dry and spicy, let's see how it tastes!	Gentle dunnage funk, a little wet cardboard some strawberry jam and a little fresh cut grass. There's a hint of lemon cheese cake with a biscuity base and a little hint of smoke.	A little closed this one, time teases some dried pineapple, cola cubes, lemon zest and damp hay. The official notes say toasted banana bread - spot on!
Palate	Thick sweet arrival: Golden Syrup, honey and drying icing sugar coat the mouth. The fruit has turned all tropical with pineapple, mango and papaya. Lemon bonbons add some citrus, there's a lovely coconut note alongside some creamy vanilla ice cream. It turns dry and spicy as the liquid disappears.	Thick, dry and slightly smoky on arrival. A fruit basket of orchard, tropical and berry fruits land on the tongue. After the initial wave poached pear comes to the fore with a little minerality. A little lemon zest, walnut and a bite of peppery spice round things off nicely! This is a yummy dram!	Juicy and creamy to start - loads of orchard fruit, citrus and spice. Apple, pears, peaches and grapes combined with a lovely lemon / lime zest mix and a ginger spice. A melting vanilla ice cream note and some slightly sour dry grapefruit as the liquid disappears. Yummy!
Finish	Lingering tropical fruit, icing sugar and gentle ginger spice.	Short and sweet with lemon zest and spice.	Medium length dry ginger spice and some tropical fruit.
Overall	Loads of distillery character with the Glen Moray: orchard on the nose, tropical and citrus on the palate, the 2nd fill bourbon cask has just gently matured the spirit for 17 years and it's turned out lovely. I'm a huge fan or Port matured Glen Moray and it's getting more and more difficult to get back to 'plain' ex-bourbon distillery character - this bottle does it well. The Aultmore is a little unusual but my favourite of the three. Using an ex-oloroso cask, previously used by Swedish distillery Agitator, has added a layer of berry complexity to the dram. The minerality and I'm sure some gentle smoke (from the Agitator maturation?) just ticks all of my boxes. The Tamnavulin is so juicy, loads of fruit and a little spice. I'm not usually a rum fan, this is only the second next to a Ardnamurchan bottling that I've liked. This Rum v Rhum thing as always confused me so I looked it up: the simple difference between Rum and Rhum Agricole is that RUM is always made from Molasses (an industrial by product of sugar production) while Rhum Agricole is made directly from freshly pressed sugarcane juice. It's not overly sweet as you'd expect. Bottling all of these diluted at 48.8% puts them in the dangerously drinkable category but I'd suggest that the prices are a little high (£105, £79 & £95 respectively)? I'd go for the Aultmore though - a yummy dram!

Huge thanks to David @davidmc12952276 (ex of @DramsStevies) and the team at Saltire for the samples, freebies haven't swayed my opinions - buy a bottle and try them for yourself!