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Dornoch Cask 149 – An experiment

By July 29, 2024No Comments

Cask 149 was a project in 2019 by our former distillery manager, Jacob Crisp, who was with us before there was even a still in the distillery.  At Dornoch Distillery, the staff get to lay down their cask.  It’s encouraged that they have free reign to do something a bit different.

Jacob really went overboard with this one…

Jacob obtained local barley from the Dunrobin Farm, where he grew up. Working with the owner of the Golspie Mill, Michael Shaw, he floor malted himself a very traditional mill and kilned it with local peat he had cut himself.

For those unsure of the details of this process, Jacob previously wrote a very detailed piece on his 2021 maltings project:

For those not familiar with the process of malting, here is a quick overview. The first stage involves periodic steeping and rinsing of the barley in water. The purpose of this initial stage is to stimulate the grain to initiate germination, and also to raise the moisture content of the grain’s endosperm to a sufficient level to allow modification. The beginning of germination is signalled by the emergence of the root tip (coleorhiza), this is called ‘Chitting’. Once observed (in this case) the grain is spread over a floor to continue germinating. During germination the embryo of the grain begins to produce enzymes that ‘modify’ its internal structure, essentially unpacking the endogenous carbohydrate stores ready to provide energy for the growing shoot, or acrospire. Externally this process can be observed by the acrospire slowly making its way up the side of the grain beneath the husk. Once the acrospire has progressed about ¾ of the way up the side of the grain, germination is halted in order to preserve the maximum fermentable extract. Hot air is passed through the grain bed, killing the embryo and progressively drying the grain for long term storage. This process has to be carried out very carefully so as not to destroy the endogenous enzymes which will be required later.”

This was a true labour of love, he worked closely with his friend Michael Shaw (Golspie Mill) and his father Iain Crisp (Dunrobin Estate).

The barley was turned 2-3 times a day depending on temperatures, to prevent excessive build-up of heat within the bed. One of his batches was even milled on a traditional millstone, powered by water.

Jacob opted to shorten the fermentation time from 7 to 5 days, with propagated brewers yeast and local spent brewers yeast.

The resulting liquid is amazing!  Due to the low yield and extreme amount of manual work that went into this batch, it has a slightly higher value.

Label artwork depicts the Golspie Mill and was produced by Melissa Nash.

Vhairi Mackay

Author Vhairi Mackay

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