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The Exceptional Malt, Grain and Blend originally exclusive to the US launch in the UK & Europe.
 The latest batches of The Exceptional Malt, The Exceptional Grain and The Exceptional Blend Scotch whiskies from US based spirits specialist, Sutcliffe & Son has launched here in UK and in Europe. The first two batches of The Exceptional whisky were very well received in the US where they were exclusively available.
The Exceptional whiskies are the creation of Don Sutcliffe, managing director of Craft Distillers, and Willie Phillips, former managing director of The Macallan who have joined forces to create a series of exceptional small batch Scotch whiskies.
The Exceptional small batch bottlings are created from an impressive selection of aged whiskies, carefully chosen from several different Scotch distilleries, including rare casks from closed distilleries.
None of the three whiskies carry an age statement but Sutcliffe & Son does reveal the name of the distilleries of the component whiskies in each blend and they tell me that their age span four decades which would suggest to me that the oldest component whisky was distilled in the 1980's.
Once crafted the blended malt, blended grain and blended whiskies respectively were married over time in first-fill Oloroso sherry casks.
The first consignment of whiskies for the UK and European market will be available in three expressions,
The Exceptional Grain (3rd Edition),
The Exceptional Malt (2nd Edition) and
The Exceptional Blend
(1st Edition). Due to the individual nature of the cask make-up, each edition of The Exceptional has distinctive characteristics. The Scotch blend, grain and malt whiskies are all bottled at 43% ABV.
Don and Willie formed a lasting friendship when they met over 25 years ago. Sutcliffe, who was instrumental in the development of The Macallan in the US, being largely responsible for the success on the west coast and Phillips, the former managing director of the iconic Macallan Distillery for 23 years had always envisioned a future project together. With unparalleled access to some of the finest casks of whisky in Scotland and enlisting the help of master blender, Bill Arthur, their early ambition has come to fruition with the development of The Exceptional.
The first two batches were very well received in the US, meeting with critical acclaim and selling out swiftly. All three of the new expressions launched here in the UK have a RRP £86 per bottle and will be available from these specialist
Whisky Shops.
Having had the pleasure of all three of the new whiskies I can say that you can tell that they are all related by the first-fill Oloroso sherry casks
they have been finished in. You can read my review of the three new whiskies via the links below.
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