InchDairnie RyeLaw

I'm sure most people have a journey through whisky: blends, single malt, single casks, grain, bourbon and maybe even on to rye? Most rye comes from across the Atlantic but some distilleries in Scotland have started using it.

Here I get to try Inchdairnie's RyeLaw:

Cards on the table I was gifted this bottle from someone who works at the distillery, I'd made a simple enquiry on Twitter asking if anyone had tried it as it had appeared on offer for the first time just under my £100 a bottle cap. (I'd previously tried Arbikie's Ryes and hadn't enjoyed them at all, one went down the sink.) A couple of days later a bottle was delivered to my door. In the same week @Gerry had offered a sample swap, which arrived at the same time!

First let's have a look at the InchDairnie Distillery, it's a little unusual:

InchDairnie do things a little differently - like some of the newer, smaller, distilleries, they use a Hammer Mill to produce a finely milled flour, rather than the coarser grist you get from a Porteuses or Boby Roller Mill. This also allows them to use rye and other grains as well as barley.

This would clog up a normal mash tun so InchDairnie don't use one! Instead they have a Mash Conversion Vessel and Mash Filter (also used at Teaninich). The milled grain is mixed with hot water to start the process of converting starch into sugar, the mash is pumped to the mash filter, basically a set of large filter bags which separates the liquid ready for fermentation. This gives a higher ABV wort.

Mash Filter

Yeast is added and the large stainless steel tanks outside the still house get to work for 60 hours converting the sugar into alcohol.

A pair of Italian Frilli copper pot-stills distil the wash.

InchDairnie also have a Lomond Hill still used for distilling grains such as rye, wheat and oats, similar in operation to the Straight Neck Pot Stills at Loch Lomond the still has six copper bubble cap plates in it's neck. 

So far InchDairnie have only released RyeLaw a single distillery Fife Rye Scotch Whisky made from malted rye and barley then matured in new charred oak casks.

In 2025 they plan to release KinGlassie a peated single malt matured for eight years in Bourbon and Amontillado casks.

In 2027 they plan to release a series called The Prinlaws Collection a collection of unique flavour-led distillates from different yeasts, cereals and oaks.

In 2029 they plan to release InchDairnie their Single Malt which will be a Vintage made up of the different seasons of a single year to create a complex single malt, each Vintage will be made up of five different styles of spirit: Spring, Summer, Autumn and two Winter versions.

James Eadie, amongst others, have released an early version of KinGlassie called FinGlassie a 6yo peated ex-bourbon bottling in 2023.

Let see what the distillery says about RyeLaw:

 

Distillery notes:

RyeLaw is a single distillery Fife Rye Scotch Whisky made from malted rye and barley. It is hammer milled, mashed, outdoor fermented, precision distilled and matured in new charred oak casks at InchDairnie Distillery in Fife.

RyeLaw is the world’s only precision distilled malted rye Scotch whisky. 

Mash bill: 53% malted rye and 47% malted barley 

No tasting notes! 

 

Let's see what it's like....

My thoughts:

  

Info: 5yo, 46.3% ABV, Natural colour, NCF

Appearance: Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin oily legs.

 

Nose: Vanilla fudge, runny honey and a little cinnamon spice. Stewed apple, cherry lips, dry sawdust and a little distant smoke. There's a big note of cedarwood aftershave that my dad used to wear when I was little!

Palate: Thin sweet arrival, a little oily, immediately spicy and a little drying. Fudge and honey offer sweetness, cinnamon and nutmeg the spice and a little dry icing sugar rounds things off. This isn't anything like an American Rye, or the Arbikie's for that matter, the near 50:50 rye barley mash bill offers a more rounded flavour than the others. A few more sips offer orange juice, stewed apples and a little blackcurrant.

Finish: Lingering sweetness, spice and stewed apples.

 

Overall: To start this is nothing like American Rye or Albikie's 60% ryes but it has more spice than your average Scotch whisky. If that's what you like then you'll probably love this. I'm about a quarter of a bottle down and I've found that when I start a session with this dram it goes down really well but if it's after a few other drams it's not so good. Maybe the extra spice making itself known?