From left: the Tailored Spirits team – Tom Costello, Carl Johnstone and Adam Harding
From left: the Tailored Spirits team – Tom Costello, Carl Johnstone and Adam Harding.
(Image credit: Jacek Hubner)

Tailor-made whisky

A new Scotch whisky bottler has released its debut single malt collection. Based in Leith, Tailored Spirits Co launched last year. Its inaugural range, the Experimental Series, is made up of three limited-edition Highland bottlings of one-off micro-batch experiments.

Experiment 1 Croftengea Loch Lomond 7 Year Old is a heavily peated malt matured in a first-fill 35L oloroso Sherry American oak ‘bloodtub’ (Alcohol 58.8%, £59.50/50cl, 52 bottles produced). It’s intense and layered with notes of roasted nuts and dried fruit.

Experiment 2 Fettercairn 13 Year Old is matured in neutral oak then re-racked into a first-fill Ribera del Duero barrique to accentuate the whisky’s fruity character (Alc 54.1%, £74.50/50cl, 84 bottles). It’s light and rounded with lovely malted biscuit notes.

Experiment 3 Ardmore 8 Year Old is a lightly peated malt matured first in ex-bourbon casks, then in ex-Cognac barriques (Alc 60.4%, £64.50/50cl, 60 bottles). A whisper of bonfire smoke on the nose becomes more dominant on the palate.

‘As three rather keen whisky folk, we wanted to produce a series of drams that celebrate the journey and exploration we go on as whisky drinkers. The discovery of flavour and the surprises that lay in single-cask whisky with interesting maturations is what whisky is all about for us,’ says co-founder Adam Harding. ‘The first three drams really set out the stall for the series, highlighting just how much influence the right wood can have on a maturing whisky.’

Spirited words

‘Love makes the world go round? Not at all. Whisky makes it go round twice as fast’

Compton Mackenzie, author of Whisky Galore

What to drink now… Piccolina

Bartender with Piccolina cocktail in bar setting

(Image credit: Addie Chinn)

Swift, London

London’s award-winning Swift was opened in Soho in 2016 by Mia Johansson and Bobby Hiddleston. The group now includes two more venues that echo the original concept of a groundfloor cocktail bar and basement speakeasy. The Piccolina was created by Johansson, who says: ‘This is a delicious and nuanced take on a rich and stirred-down, classic-style cocktail. Using fortified wines rather than spirits brings complexity to the drink, thanks to the wines’ interaction with both yeast and oak during fermentation and ageing. The cocktail retains a generous body and silky mouthfeel due to residual sugars in the wines and the addition of the crème de figue liqueur. A finishing few dashes of Angostura lend the balancing bitter note, resulting in a sophisticated take on a lower-alcohol serve.’

Ingredients: 60ml Taylor’s Chip Dry White Port, 30ml Harveys Amontillado, 15ml Briottet Crème de Figue, 4 drops Angostura aromatic bitters

Glass: Coupe

Garnish: Olive

Method: Add all of the ingredients to a generous mixing glass, fill to the brim with ice and stir for a few seconds. Refill to the brim with ice and stir for 10-20 seconds, then strain into a chilled coupe and garnish with a single olive in the glass.

Julie Sheppard
Julie Sheppard
Regional Editor for Australia, New Zealand and South Africa & Spirits Editor

Julie Sheppard joined the Decanter team in 2018 and is Regional Editor for Australia, New Zealand and South Africa & Spirits Editor.

Before Decanter, she worked for a range of drinks and food titles, including as managing editor of both Imbibe and Square Meal, associate publisher of The Drinks Business, senior editor of the Octopus Publishing Group and Supplements editor of Harpers Wine & Spirit. As a contributor, she has over 20 years’ experience writing about food, drink and travel for a wide range of publications, including Condé Nast Traveller, Delicious, Waitrose Kitchen, Waitrose Drinks, Time Out and national newspapers including The Telegraph and The Sunday Times.

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