A fascinating story today, as we announce the imminent arrival of one of Scotland’s newest whiskies from one of its tiniest distilleries: Crabbie's short-lived Chain Pier distillery in Edinburgh.
Chain Pier was a pilot distillery in Granton that was quickly set up by Crabbie as a test facility after the construction of their Bonnington distillery was delayed for a year when initial excavations revealed the remains of an 18th century distillery and an 11th century mansion, Bonnington House.
While waiting for the go-ahead to continue building Bonnington distillery, the Crabbie team set up Chain Pier as a micro-distillery where they could trial different barley and yeast strains, fermentations and distillation methods. In the process, Chain Pier became Edinburgh’s first operational single malt distillery since 1925.
Chain Pier was equipped with a small 500L still and operated only between October 2018 and November 2019, closing as the construction of Bonnington distillery was finally completed. In those 13 months just 39 casks of whisky were filled, with the first casks reaching maturity at the end of last year.
For the inaugural release of Chain Pier, Crabbie and Master Blender Kirstie McCallum have selected Cask #190002: a heavily-charred virgin American oak cask that yielded 234 bottles of Chain Pier single malt at a cask strength of 57% and was bottled without any colouring or chill filtration.
Allocations of Chain Pier’s Inaugural Release will be slim, naturally, and you don’t need a crystal ball to predict that demand for this historic whisky will be very high, so this will most likely be available only to members of our VIP Club (find out more about our VIP Club here if you’re not already a member).
Chain Pier Inaugural Release is expected to arrive on our virtual shelves in the near future, so if you fancy getting your hands on a bottle make sure to sign up for our Newsletters and keep an eye on our Whisky-Online Facebook page to make sure you’re ready as soon as Chain Pier goes live. Here’s Kirstie McCallum’s tasting notes to whet your appetites while you wait…
Chain Pier Cask #190002 Tasting Notes by Master Blender Kirstie McCallum
Colour: Deep Amber
Nose: Light & fruity with hints of berries, fruits of the forest, and green apples. Balanced with citrus zest, vanilla, and sweet malt.
Palate: Young and vibrant, sweet fruit, rich caramel, sweet malt, and hints of lemony crème brulee with fresh ginger spice.
Finish: Long, sweet and spicy, with lingering notes of vanilla & ginger