I’ve been gifted this bottle for my birthday. Never heard of them before so here for the review so I know what to expect when I do open it. Hoping it’s a good dram
Congrats and happy birthday. They're a very new distillery but producing great quality already. A very classy dram that's a great choice for a birthday 👍
I’m with you. I’m flat out not buying a 40% whisky unless it’s a vintage bottle. Even 43% I would have to really be convinced by a review from someone like yourself. I’m not looking for a bargain, I’m looking for excellent quality and engagement. Great review! Cheers!
I have a bottle of batch 7 in the cupboard so this is very fortunate! Pleased to see you enjoy it. Agree re the price, i think a lot of it went into the bottle. I know they felt under a lot of pressure to replicate the popularity of their gin bottle…. Hoping for a bit more variation in their later releases. Was surprised that all 8 of the batches from their first release were the same recipe/maturation given that each batch was almost 10k bottles!
Very surprising to see the same cask recipe. Also a little surprised to see so many batches and very large ones at that. And even more surprising that it still seems to be selling out! I expect thousands of those bottles will be hidden away in a cupboard as a hopeful investment like usual!
First serious review I see about this highly expected release (even more pricey in France, mind you, distributor being bit greedy to sell it for 85 €). Thanks for this review which encourages me to buy it despite the price, because I love complex, balanced & spirit driven islands single malts & I love Highland Park & Ardnamurchan. Besides, the fact they waited for the right moment to release it with no overpowering previous content casks recipe, as I understand from your review, makes the blender in me happy...Comparison wise with established distilleries, I guess the better comparison to do might rather be an indie small batch HP (for instance Gordon & MacPhail 8 yo, but I'm not sure it's still available these days...). New distilleries wise, the most i spent so far for a release was for NcNean/core range/Organic (75 €) and some viewers of my channel told me they didn"t get why I would spend so much money on that....Big debate...part of me wanted to get some new releases to support new distilleries & cover them for the channel, part of me thought I might be too much influenced by their nice/original packaging (hence the Isle of Raasay bottle) & if tasted blind, being only told about their price, maybe I wouldn't have gone for them ? (also for the NcNean, I have a personal relationship story with the painted design on their label...). Anyway, this Hearach is another bottling I'm sure gonna try to get but, which will cause me some trouble to find a place to store it in my shelves for sure...Slainte !
Thanks Greg. It is pricey for sure but I also liked it more than I expected. As for WhiskyTubers like us buying these arguably overpriced whiskies I don't think we should feel too bad about it. I guess some people get very emotional about it because we are drinking something that they feel locked out of because it's more than they want to pay and that's fair but really it's our place to buy, try and give our opinions on these whiskies and sometimes we'll be saving people money by giving them an idea if it's worth the purchase. I'd also rather spend £65 on a 5yo Hearach than £150 on a tequila finished Lagavulin or £265 on a NAS 40% Dalmore. When it comes to rip off pricing there are far worse offenders than new distilleries. I do think that this Hearach is very cleverly done with no overpowering cask influence. To start with I was wondering what had happened to the sherry but over time the genius of it becomes apparent. I think the most expensive new distillery releases I've tried have been Lakes Whisky Maker's Reserve No5, Bimber Bourbon Cask, Annandale and Daftmill. Although the last two were samples (reviews on the way). The Lakes and Bimber bottlings were superb and I feel the price is justified. The Annandales I tried were also very good. Surprisingly much better than expected but I still wouldn't buy a whole bottle for the price. The Daftmill was good too but far overpriced IMHO. There are simply too many alternatives which I feel are just as good for 1/3 of the price. But if we don't try them then how do we know? And if not us then who? Cheers Greg
" I'd also rather spend £65 on a 5yo Hearach than £150 on a tequila finished Lagavulin or £265 on a NAS 40% Dalmore. " Couldn't have put it better. Agree 100% @@WhiskyLock
Looking forward to trying mine tonight. I managed to get batch 3&4 but they are waiting for me in the UK. Not actually sure which batch will be arriving today but the makeup of them all is so similar I do not see a problem. I also have a bottle of Abhainn Dearg from 2016, 3 year old, and that is mostly still in the bottle. ;)
Those young Abhainn Deargs are... difficult to love 😉 I only had a 50ml sample and it was plenty. That much character will probably be great with some more age to straighten it out though.
Sounds interesting Shane, would definitely give this one a shot. It will be interesting to compare this to HP to see where it lands. HP at full spec makes gorgeous whiskies. Any of the airport specials or any single cask releases give me a big smile and that 17 The Dark was just a masterpiece. Hopefully Isle of Harris has a bright future, cheers!
Agreed HP can make wonderful whisky. That distillery was probably my first whisky love with the old 12 and 18. Just a shame that we don't often get it in its full glory at an affordable price. Perhaps in a few years Hearach will be able to fill that gap left by the lack of quality HP releases! Cheers
Abhainn Dearg is certainly a bit too feisty to bottle at a young age or put into average quality casks, but I was lucky enough to be gifted a bottle of the cask strength 10yo Madeira cask that you can apparently purchase on their website. I always taste samphire in Abhainn Dearg, which is admittedly extremely nostalgic to me, but this time the rest of the whisky around that particular tasting note also worked perfectly. It is very expensive though, and a 50cL bottle at that.
Sounds great and wonderful tasting note. I wasn't sure if Abhainn Dearg was still active to be honest. It's been so long since I'd heard anything about them. I'll keep an eye out for the one you mentioned though. Cheers 🥃
I’m a huge Abhainn Dearg fan. I think they produce a beautiful hefty PX , Oloroso, and madeira whisky , 10 yr , around 60abv . I agree it’s expensive for a 50 cl , but I really feel it’s worth it. A huge gulf at the moment, between the Hearach and Abhainn Dearg. What does the future hold for Hearach ? We wish them well. Slainte 🥃👍
So glad about this review, since I was really looking forward to the Harris release, but will not be able to get some for a while. And thanks for your thoughts on Harris vs. Highland Park. It seems to me Harris did everything right with giving their single malt time and bridging the gap with (quite successfully) marketing their gin. I will certainly like this, having always been a fan of the Highland Park style, if not the execution in recent years. I did have the pleasure of attending the Scotch Malt Whisky Society's 40th anniversary "The Gathering" event in Berlin in September and my souvenir was "Meditation Mode," a twelve yr old cask strength Highland Park from a bourbon hogshead and with a first fill ex-bourbon barrel finish, clocking in at 63%. Shows off what HP could be (and was reasonably priced by today's standards at an anniversary special £69) and perhaps what the Hearach will be. That said I fear the new distillery trend is running way too hot and the next whisky crisis is starting to build up. A lot of these young outfits are going to collapse when the bubble bursts.
Lots of good points. I agree that waiting for a 5yo spirit seems to have been a great idea. I'm also a long suffering HP fan. They can make great whisky but we rarely see it! Interesting that they chose to finish in bourbon casks. Not something you see all the time and you have to be careful because sometimes it's a fix for dead casks! But sometimes it can be great. I had a Bruichladdich micro provenance that was re-racked into bourbon and it was wonderful. Wonderfully mature but also great fresh bourbon vanilla caramel notes. Superb. I agree that the new distillery scene is getting very crowded. Whether the bubble bursts or contracts there will certainly be casualties. And yes I think some of them will sadly be these new, craft distilleries. Especially as all of these new distilleries are targeting the same smallish group of enthusiasts. We shall see! Cheers 🥃
Good honest review as always. Having tried so many of the whiskies from new distilleries I may just park this one for the moment. There is so much available out there new and old for £65 and less so I do think they have pitched this too high in terms of price. 😁
The price has made it a little hard to recommend when there are so many great options. Worth keeping an eye on future releases though. It is good whisky. Cheers 🥃
Well done Shane. Many thanks 🙏 for letting us know your thoughts on this new distillery. Ciao 👋 S.
I’ve been gifted this bottle for my birthday. Never heard of them before so here for the review so I know what to expect when I do open it. Hoping it’s a good dram
Congrats and happy birthday. They're a very new distillery but producing great quality already. A very classy dram that's a great choice for a birthday 👍
I’m with you. I’m flat out not buying a 40% whisky unless it’s a vintage bottle. Even 43% I would have to really be convinced by a review from someone like yourself. I’m not looking for a bargain, I’m looking for excellent quality and engagement. Great review! Cheers!
Agree also 👏
Yeah... 43% can and frequently does work just fine. 40% almost never does. Vintage whisky is a whole other thing entirely. =)
Hi Shane, I managed to pick up a bottle last week. Superb. I think I am going use the bottle as my solera bottle when its finished.
It would make a great solera bottle. I'm tempted to use it for another one myself. Cheers Andy 🥃
Thanks for reviewing and sharing your thoughts, Shane.
Interesting new release.
Slàinte mhath
Cheers 🥃
I have a bottle of batch 7 in the cupboard so this is very fortunate! Pleased to see you enjoy it. Agree re the price, i think a lot of it went into the bottle. I know they felt under a lot of pressure to replicate the popularity of their gin bottle….
Hoping for a bit more variation in their later releases. Was surprised that all 8 of the batches from their first release were the same recipe/maturation given that each batch was almost 10k bottles!
Very surprising to see the same cask recipe. Also a little surprised to see so many batches and very large ones at that. And even more surprising that it still seems to be selling out! I expect thousands of those bottles will be hidden away in a cupboard as a hopeful investment like usual!
First serious review I see about this highly expected release (even more pricey in France, mind you, distributor being bit greedy to sell it for 85 €). Thanks for this review which encourages me to buy it despite the price, because I love complex, balanced & spirit driven islands single malts & I love Highland Park & Ardnamurchan. Besides, the fact they waited for the right moment to release it with no overpowering previous content casks recipe, as I understand from your review, makes the blender in me happy...Comparison wise with established distilleries, I guess the better comparison to do might rather be an indie small batch HP (for instance Gordon & MacPhail 8 yo, but I'm not sure it's still available these days...). New distilleries wise, the most i spent so far for a release was for NcNean/core range/Organic (75 €) and some viewers of my channel told me they didn"t get why I would spend so much money on that....Big debate...part of me wanted to get some new releases to support new distilleries & cover them for the channel, part of me thought I might be too much influenced by their nice/original packaging (hence the Isle of Raasay bottle) & if tasted blind, being only told about their price, maybe I wouldn't have gone for them ? (also for the NcNean, I have a personal relationship story with the painted design on their label...). Anyway, this Hearach is another bottling I'm sure gonna try to get but, which will cause me some trouble to find a place to store it in my shelves for sure...Slainte !
Thanks Greg. It is pricey for sure but I also liked it more than I expected. As for WhiskyTubers like us buying these arguably overpriced whiskies I don't think we should feel too bad about it. I guess some people get very emotional about it because we are drinking something that they feel locked out of because it's more than they want to pay and that's fair but really it's our place to buy, try and give our opinions on these whiskies and sometimes we'll be saving people money by giving them an idea if it's worth the purchase. I'd also rather spend £65 on a 5yo Hearach than £150 on a tequila finished Lagavulin or £265 on a NAS 40% Dalmore. When it comes to rip off pricing there are far worse offenders than new distilleries.
I do think that this Hearach is very cleverly done with no overpowering cask influence. To start with I was wondering what had happened to the sherry but over time the genius of it becomes apparent.
I think the most expensive new distillery releases I've tried have been Lakes Whisky Maker's Reserve No5, Bimber Bourbon Cask, Annandale and Daftmill. Although the last two were samples (reviews on the way). The Lakes and Bimber bottlings were superb and I feel the price is justified. The Annandales I tried were also very good. Surprisingly much better than expected but I still wouldn't buy a whole bottle for the price. The Daftmill was good too but far overpriced IMHO. There are simply too many alternatives which I feel are just as good for 1/3 of the price. But if we don't try them then how do we know? And if not us then who?
Cheers Greg
Well said !@@WhiskyLock
" I'd also rather spend £65 on a 5yo Hearach than £150 on a tequila finished Lagavulin or £265 on a NAS 40% Dalmore. " Couldn't have put it better. Agree 100% @@WhiskyLock
Looking forward to trying mine tonight. I managed to get batch 3&4 but they are waiting for me in the UK. Not actually sure which batch will be arriving today but the makeup of them all is so similar I do not see a problem.
I also have a bottle of Abhainn Dearg from 2016, 3 year old, and that is mostly still in the bottle. ;)
Those young Abhainn Deargs are... difficult to love 😉 I only had a 50ml sample and it was plenty.
That much character will probably be great with some more age to straighten it out though.
With the deluge of new releases on the horizon….. one simply can’t afford to try them all.
Cheers 🥃
Very true! It's been a fun ride though. Cheers John 🥃
Sounds interesting Shane, would definitely give this one a shot. It will be interesting to compare this to HP to see where it lands. HP at full spec makes gorgeous whiskies. Any of the airport specials or any single cask releases give me a big smile and that 17 The Dark was just a masterpiece. Hopefully Isle of Harris has a bright future, cheers!
Agreed HP can make wonderful whisky. That distillery was probably my first whisky love with the old 12 and 18. Just a shame that we don't often get it in its full glory at an affordable price. Perhaps in a few years Hearach will be able to fill that gap left by the lack of quality HP releases! Cheers
Very detailed review on a new whisky, much appreciated from Singapore! Its 80 pounds here but your review has made me interested and curious. 😂
Pricey! 😬 definitely a distillery to keep an eye out for though. They really know what they're doing 🙂
Abhainn Dearg is certainly a bit too feisty to bottle at a young age or put into average quality casks, but I was lucky enough to be gifted a bottle of the cask strength 10yo Madeira cask that you can apparently purchase on their website. I always taste samphire in Abhainn Dearg, which is admittedly extremely nostalgic to me, but this time the rest of the whisky around that particular tasting note also worked perfectly. It is very expensive though, and a 50cL bottle at that.
Sounds great and wonderful tasting note. I wasn't sure if Abhainn Dearg was still active to be honest. It's been so long since I'd heard anything about them. I'll keep an eye out for the one you mentioned though. Cheers 🥃
I’m a huge Abhainn Dearg fan. I think they produce a beautiful hefty PX , Oloroso, and madeira whisky , 10 yr , around 60abv
. I agree it’s expensive for a 50 cl , but I really feel it’s worth it. A huge gulf at the moment, between the Hearach and Abhainn Dearg. What does the future hold for Hearach ? We wish them well. Slainte 🥃👍
So glad about this review, since I was really looking forward to the Harris release, but will not be able to get some for a while. And thanks for your thoughts on Harris vs. Highland Park. It seems to me Harris did everything right with giving their single malt time and bridging the gap with (quite successfully) marketing their gin. I will certainly like this, having always been a fan of the Highland Park style, if not the execution in recent years. I did have the pleasure of attending the Scotch Malt Whisky Society's 40th anniversary "The Gathering" event in Berlin in September and my souvenir was "Meditation Mode," a twelve yr old cask strength Highland Park from a bourbon hogshead and with a first fill ex-bourbon barrel finish, clocking in at 63%. Shows off what HP could be (and was reasonably priced by today's standards at an anniversary special £69) and perhaps what the Hearach will be. That said I fear the new distillery trend is running way too hot and the next whisky crisis is starting to build up. A lot of these young outfits are going to collapse when the bubble bursts.
Lots of good points. I agree that waiting for a 5yo spirit seems to have been a great idea. I'm also a long suffering HP fan. They can make great whisky but we rarely see it!
Interesting that they chose to finish in bourbon casks. Not something you see all the time and you have to be careful because sometimes it's a fix for dead casks! But sometimes it can be great. I had a Bruichladdich micro provenance that was re-racked into bourbon and it was wonderful. Wonderfully mature but also great fresh bourbon vanilla caramel notes. Superb.
I agree that the new distillery scene is getting very crowded. Whether the bubble bursts or contracts there will certainly be casualties. And yes I think some of them will sadly be these new, craft distilleries. Especially as all of these new distilleries are targeting the same smallish group of enthusiasts. We shall see! Cheers 🥃
All the old ones were new at the time.
Very true 🥃
Good honest review as always. Having tried so many of the whiskies from new distilleries I may just park this one for the moment. There is so much available out there new and old for £65 and less so I do think they have pitched this too high in terms of price. 😁
The price has made it a little hard to recommend when there are so many great options. Worth keeping an eye on future releases though. It is good whisky. Cheers 🥃
Adrnamuchan lite ...... I kept saying Macleans Nose everytime you were trying to describe it. So do think its like Macleans Nose ?
Sadly I haven't had a chance to try Maclean's Nose yet. Sounds possible from what I've heard though!
I had a bottle of MacLean’s nose, Sròn MacIlhean. It’s a top dram 🥃
Na Her-auch. The native of Harris.
8 minutes of packaging review 👀
It's a new brand in a new type of packaging. You can skip 🙂
🥃👍🏻😀