Fettercairn Distillery is an undiscovered gem. Located in the south Aberdeenshire region of The Mearns, on Scotland’s east coast, this single malt Scotch whisky distillery has quietly crafted its whiskies from local barley and Cairngorm mountain water for more than 200 years. Now, for the very first time, expressions aged 24 to 50 years old are available in the United States.
Launching with its oldest and rarest expressions, Fettercairn’s signature tropical fruit-led profile, honed by its unique distillation and focus on ex-bourbon casks, has landed in selected states, including California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas. It’s a striking journey for the distillery, which sticks close to its roots in Aberdeenshire — one of Scotland’s most important agricultural regions. The Fettercairn team takes care to source all its barley from the farming communities working within a 50-mile radius of the distillery, drawing on the exceptionally fertile land of the ‘Howe of the Mearns’, a rolling glacial landscape between the famous Cairngorm mountain range and the North Sea.
This verdant region gives distillery manager Stewart Walker the best possible ingredients to craft Fettercairn’s complex and characterful whiskies. But the barley is just the beginning. At Fettercairn, a unique still set up, with a copper cooling ring fed by mountain water, results in a new-make spirit bursting with juicy, tropical fruit notes. “It’s a technique that transformed our whisky, creating a spirit that’s fresh, vibrant, and unmistakably Fettercairn,” Walker says. He should know – he’s dedicated over 35 years to whisky-making at the distillery.
It’s an example of the ingenuity behind Fettercairn, which only continues in the warehouse. While the maturation approach predominantly harnesses American ex-bourbon casks to best accentuate that fruit-forward nature, local oak is emerging as a route to creating distinct flavour.
Fettercairn’s Scottish Oak Project has seen the distillery plant over 13,000 trees. Over the next century, these will mature into a forest of native trees. The initiative has already resulted in the creation of Fettercairn 18 Years Old Scottish Oak, which makes use of breathtakingly rare Scottish casks. It’s a release that underscores the spirit of curiosity that has underpinned the distillery since it was founded in 1824.
But today it’s all about bringing that sense of wonder to the US with five remarkable Fettercairn expressions that capture the maker’s flavour-forward philosophy. Fettercairn 24 Years Old, released at natural colour and without chill-filtration, has been aged in ex-bourbon barrels to create notes of guava, mango and roasted coffee. Meanwhile, Fettercairn 28 Years Old, also matured in ex-bourbon, packs in similarly tropical notes reminiscent of pineapple, melon and treacle.
Then the collection ramps up into the exceptionally rare and truly elevated. Just 89 bottles of Fettercairn 40 Years Old have been released globally, an elegant expression that offers notes of honeyed passionfruit and a forest fruit-driven character thanks to its intricate two-step maturation process. The non-chill filtered, natural colour single malt started life in white oak ex-bourbon barrels before being transferred into first-fill ex-bourbon.
Both Fettercairn 46 Years Old and Fettercairn 50 Years Old are limited to just 35 bottles in the US, placing them among the sought-after and scarce whiskies ever imported from Scotland. Aged for around 43 years in ex-bourbon barrels ahead of a three-year secondary maturation in first-fill ex-bourbon, the former offers exceptional complexity with pâtisserie sugars, fresh brioche and cacao spice notes.
After an extraordinary half-century in oak, Fettercairn 50 Years Old is a masterpiece in long-aged whisky. After 45 years in ex-bourbon, the precious drops have been transferred into a tawny port pipe, imparting an amalgam of burnt caramel, sweet almond and ground coffee. Both have been released with only their natural, cask-derived colour and without the use of chill-filtration, cementing their status as whiskies for connoisseurs.
“Fettercairn has always been for those with an open mind and who embrace curiosity,” says Anice Kim-Saunders, vice president of marketing for Fettercairn in North America. “The wait is over – your Fettercairn journey in the US begins now.”
