Whisky Focus - Ailsa Bay Review

Ailsa Bay is a deliciously sweet peaty Lowlander, a new generation of single malt which breaks the boundaries of regional style bringing Speyside and Islay together in its own unique Lowland way.

As you are all probably aware by now William Grant & Sons recently launched the first single malt whisky from its Ailsa Bay distillery in Girvan on the west coast of South Ayrshire, Scotland. The new Lowland single malt is simply called "Ailsa Bay".

The Ailsa Bay distillery was established in 2007 and is located within William Grants massive very industrial looking Girvan Grain distillery which over looks Ailsa Bay which is dominated  by the extinct volcanic rock of Ailsa Craig. The Ailsa Bay distillery may be located within the Girvan distillery but make no mistake this is no small distillery, Ailsa Bay has an annual production output capacity of 12 million litres of alcohol the majority of which will find its way into to Grant's very popular blended whisky range.

It is a Lowland distillery due to its location, but the Ailsa Bay is a state-of-the-art distillery created in 2007 from Peter Gordon’s vision and initially built to combine the purpose of increasing capacity and supply of malt whisky for blending and growing demand, this means it has been set up to produce a number of different Speyside malt styles within the distillery.

With its unique advanced technologies and precise controls, the new distillery has allowed Master Blender Brian Kinsman and his team the ability to isolate and control more elements from the initial distillation, to the maturation process, which enabled optimal control over the type and quality of liquid produced. Rarely will a Master Blender be able to exercise more control of his craft and, at the same time, be given such space and encouragement to innovate.

The distillery does a "Peated Run" for just one week per year, the whisky which is a result of this peated run is the whisky which is bottled as Ailsa Bay Single Malt Whisky.

This peated lowlander has a stated phenol content of 21 PPM (parts per million), this reading is taken from the finished whisky and not the dried malted barley, as is the industry standard, giving us an accurate indication of the peat level we will find in the bottle, and 21PPM is a decent amount of peat.

"Ailsa Bay Distillery has allowed us to do something extremely special," says Master Blender Brian Kinsman. "Using our precision distilling methods and a special process for cask maturation, I am able to carefully control the outcome of the whisky. With Ailsa Bay, I took exceptional peated malt and ex Baby Bourbon Hudson casks to create a whisky with a balance of smoke and sweetness, to occupy a new space on the flavour map."

It was initially launched in the Nordics at the end of 2015, and it now available here in the UK. There will 350 X 9 litre cases (4200 b0ttle) of Ailsa Bay available between the UK and Nordics this year, additional markets and greater allocation will be considered later in 2016.

Ailsa Bay is bottled at 48.9% ABV, it has an RRP of £55 and is now available from specialist online whisky shops such as The Whisky Exchange who offer delivery to most countries of the world.
 

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