Father’s Day is just around the corner, and what better way for your customers to celebrate than with a dram of Single Malt Whisky? At Spirits Platform, we can help you take advantage of the renewed interest in single malts, with something for every Dad, from the World’s No. 1 single malt scotch whisky by value(1) to a two-time winner of the Chairman’s Award in the Ultimate Spirits Challenge(2) to award-winning single malt whiskey from some unexpected sources. Read on to learn more about our exceptional range of Single Malt whiskies so you can make the most of this key selling period.
Single Malt Whisky is malt whisky from a single distillery. It must be made from a mash of malted barley, distilled using a pot still, and matured in oak casks for three years at least. Single malts are typically associated with single malt Scotch but are also produced in various other countries.
Here are some of our top single malt picks to put a spring in your sales this Fathers’ day.
The Macallan – the No. 1 Single Malt Scotch by value
Known as ‘The Rolls Royce of Single Malts’, The Macallan is the no.1 single malt whisky (over $100) in Australia(3) and the world’s leading single malt Scotch whisky by value(4), with a rich history dating back to 1824. From place to process, people and passion, the Six Pillars form the backdrop to The Macallan’s unique spirit.
Sourced, crafted, toasted and seasoned under the watchful eye of The Macallan Master of Wood, handpicked casks are crucial to the exceptionally rich colour and flavour of The Macallan. All Macallan whiskeys take 100% of their colour from the wood in which they are matured.
The unique size and shape of The Macallan’s Curiously Small Stills give the spirit maximum contact with the copper. Only the finest quality spirit (the finest cut) is selected from these stills. This small portion or ‘cut’ is incredibly selective and one of the finest in the industry.
Each and every Macallan single malt reveals their devotion to the mastery of wood and spirit since 1824.
Whilst The Macallan has an extensive range of exceptional single malt whiskies, the 4 whiskies below are a must-have for any liquor store or venue.
The Macallan Rare Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky
A highly sensorial whisky experience
The spectacular Macallan Rare Cask is created using 16 different cask styles, each handpicked for its unique character. Some of these casks are so old and rare that they will never be used again. An intense sweet raisin note, coupled with a rich, velvety smooth mouthfeel and complexity, provide an indulgent and highly sensorial whisky experience.
Colour
Ruby Mahogany
Nose
Soft notes of vanilla and rich raisin are followed by a sweet fusion of fresh apple, lemon and orange.
Palate
An intense sweet raisin dominates before giving way to vanilla and dark chocolate, with layers of light citrus zest.
Finish
Long, rich and velvety.
The Macallan Double Cask Range
An extraordinary fusion of vanilla and subtle spice
To create Double Cask, Macallan brings new oak from America across thousands of miles to Spain, where the casks are crafted and sherry-seasoned before travelling to the distillery on Speyside to mature. These whiskies are then harmoniously united with those aged in the very best European sherry seasoned oak casks, creating a range with an extraordinary fusion of vanilla and subtle spice.
The Macallan Double Cask 12 Years Old
A fully rounded single malt in perfect balance, with flavours of honey, citrus and ginger.
The Macallan Double Cask 15 Years Old
Delicate vanilla and the subtle spice of European oak, delivering a whisky with a golden butterscotch colour and warm, harmonious character.
The Macallan Double Cask 18 Years Old
The epitome of perfect balance. A sensual, rich and luxurious single malt with a sweeter, warmer taste and character.
Make sure you have The Macallan on hand to offer to your most discerning customers this Fathers’ Day.
Highland Park
Highland Park is the single malt scotch whisky with Viking Honour at its heart. This incredible whisky range reflects the unique culture of Orkney – part of Scotland, but originally belonging to a vast Viking kingdom. In honour of those Viking ancestors, Highland Park still distil their award-winning whisky to the same exacting standards introduced in 1798 by Magnus Eunson, a direct descendant of those early Viking settlers.
All the malt to create Highland Park is hand-turned by shovel, day in and day out. All peat used is dug out of a 4,000-year-old peat moor, 4 metres down, one shovel at a time. This uncompromising approach accounts for the appeal of Highland Park, respected by whisky lovers as one of the most outstanding single malts in the world.
Let’s take a look at three Highland Park whiskies that you could recommend to your customers who like a peaty whisky experience.
Highland Park 10-year-old (Viking Scars)
A naturally light and golden coloured whisky, Highland Park 10-Year-Old delivers citrus fruits, vanilla, peppery spices and heather peat, with a light smoke influence and spice, raisins and exotic fruits coming from sherry-seasoned European oak.
Colour
Natural
Nose
Spicy, pear drops, fruity, light smoke
Palate
Sweet vanilla, lightly spicy, cedarwood, lightly peaty/smoky
Finish
Lingering sweet and spicy notes
Highland Park 12-year-old (Viking Honour)
This intensely balanced single malt scotch whisky is a perfect harmony of aromatic smoky peat and the flavours of sweet heather honey and rich fruit cake. Smooth, full and rounded, it’s a whisky that truly stands apart.
Colour
Natural. Glowing amber
Nose
Heather-honey sweetness, gentle peaty smokiness
Palate
Rounded smoke and honey sweetness, full malt delivery. Oak, alongside equal amounts of dried fruits and spice.
Finish
Sweet and lingering with heathery notes and subtle smoke right at the end.
Highland Park 18-year-old (Viking Pride)
Two-times winner of the Chairman’s Award at the Ultimate Spirits Challenge4, the intense balance of the flavours found in Highland Park 18 Year Old is genuinely exceptional. This dessert-style whisky is a fantastic, bursting with notes of chocolate and cherries.
Colour
Natural colour, burnished gold, clear and bright.
Nose
Rich, mature oak, hints of chocolate and cherry. Top note of aromatic smoke.
Palate
Rich, full flavour, honey sweetness, chocolate and peat.
Finish
Soft, round and long with a whisper of peat on the finish.
Inject some Viking Soul into your Fathers’ Day sales the with these three fine examples of uncompromising spirit.
Bruichladdich Distillery – pushing the boundaries of artisanal single malt
At Bruichladdich Distillery on the wild Scottish island of Islay, Progressive Hebridean Distillers is pushing the boundaries in artisanal single malt whisky. As a certified B Corp. company, PHD meets the highest social and environmental impact standards while contributing to a more inclusive and sustainable economy. PHD is the inspiration of many craft distillers, focusing on the provenance and traceability of its barley varieties from different farms, fields, or “terroirs”.
Bruichladdich Classic Laddie
PHD’s flagship whisky is the famous Bruichladdich unpeated single malt– a soft, floral and elegantly complex whisky as smooth as pebbles in a pool.
Crafted from individually selected casks, each batch of the Classic Bruichladdich Laddie is, by nature, unique and subtly different. Each release assembles the finest spirits that showcase the classic, floral and elegant Bruichladdich house style.
To taste Bruichladdich is to realise that you must use 100% Scottish barley to achieve the absolute best.
Bruichladdich Classic Laddie Tasting Notes
Colour
Sunlight on fields of early summer barley.
Nose
A brilliant bouquet opens with barley sugar and a hint of mint before leading into wonderful notes of freshly cut wildflowers.
Palate
The palate entry is so refined and refreshing, the sweet oak and the barley arriving together sending the taste buds into raptures. The fruits from distillation drift in on an Atlantic breeze and pop on the tongue like champagne bubbles.
Finish
A combination of ripe green fruit, brown sugar and sweet malt bring closure – and a realisation that not all single malts are equal.
Port Charlotte 10
For those who prefer single malts on the peaty side, Bruichladdich offers the heavily peated Port Charlotte 10 single malt. Port Charlotte single malts are bottled at 59.2% alcohol in limited numbers and peated to a heavyweight 40PPM. This sweet and fruity spirit spends time in first-fill American whiskey casks and second fill French wine casks and is then matured for an extra year in the finest French oak from Bordeaux. The resulting rich and aromatic spirit has all the power of peat, yet with elegance and finesse.
Port Charlotte 10 Tasting Notes
Nose
Waves of golden caramel, fudge, vanilla custard, hints of ginger, nutmeg and clove. Citrus fruit is coaxed from the glass with a drop of water, with gentle lemon meringue and clementine. Breathe deeply for floral aromas of wild thyme, heather and sea.
Palate
The balance of flavour is superb as the smoke wraps loosely around the sweetness drawn from deep within the oak. Coconut, vanilla custard, lemon honey combines with smoked oysters and sun baked salty sand.
Finish
The finish is sublime and smoky, with the soft sweetness of fudge and malted barley, orange, mango and Banoffee pie hinting of the depth and quality of the oak. The many layers interchange on each sip, with ripe apple and apricot, beautifully intertwined with malt and oak sweetness and typical Port Charlotte style dry smoke.
Octomore – the world’s most heavily peated series of single malt Scotch whiskies
For those for whom too much peat is never enough, PHD also offers the Octomore 11 range.
Octomore (the name means ‘Big Eighth’) is the world’s most heavily peated series of single malt Scotch whiskies, created from stratospherically peated, Scottish barley. Each individual expression is handcrafted and released in Limited, numbered editions.
Sometimes bottled bold and brazen at 5 years old, always at cask strength, Octomore fatally undermines the assumption that the quality of Scotch whisky is always a function of its age.
Octomore Edition 11.1
Powerful, understated and vibrant. Underpinned with a delicate balance of smoke and sweet vanilla from the ex-American oak casks, this single malt has spent just 5 years in contact with fresh first fill wood. This high provenance, high peat single malt is a fitting embodiment of how quality ingredients demand less time to reach maturity.
Nose
Initial notes of Lemon, wet peat, pencil shavings, and a salty minerality. Peach yoghurt, cinder toffee, rubbery smokey almost antiseptic notes from the peat smoke, well balanced with the green fruit and malty notes coming through the spirit. Honey, malt sugar, dried grass, come through with time with a little hint of ginger and wood spice.
Palate
Brown sugar sweetness hits the palate initially. The chilli heat of high strength carries the Octomore DNA across the palate. Another taste and stone fruit, apricot, that peach yoghurt come to the fore and then the cask influence appears with sweet vanilla, toasted oak, brown sugar and soft toffee.
Finish
Malt, huge Peat notes, earthy and oily, tar and bonfires. Vanilla honey, ginger spice and syrupy sweetness.
Colour
Lemon.
Octomore Edition 11.2
Two parcels of alluring spirit were combined to create Octomore 11.2. Parcel One spent 5 years full-term in ex-red wine casks from the Pauillac region of France. Parcel Two has spent 5 years in a combination of ex-American whiskey casks and ex-red wine casks from the St Julien region of France.
Nose
Rich Oak, dried fruit, citrus and smoke. Maritime notes, sweet toasted oak and malt sugar. As the dram opens up, figs, dried apricot and cherry dominate.
Palate
Superb texture, soft and gentle but holds the high strength perfectly, allowing the richness and complexity stand out. Toasted nuts, oak sugar, chocolate and toffee, the dried fruit citrus and honey notes.
Finish
Rubbery smoke, a little antiseptic and dry, dryness on the palate now, the fruit notes fade and the smoke and oak head on, leaving a huge presence behind.
Colour
Copper.
Octomore Edition 11.3
Octomore Islay barley is grown each year by friend and farmer James Brown, on Octomore farm itself. It is harvested, malted and distilled separately, even from our other Islay barley harvests, in order to become a single field, single vintage single malt. The distinctive flavour and rarity of this barley is something truly special when combined with the clean ex-American whiskey cask maturation.
Nose
Eight floral character on the nose, Summery and bright. The peat smoke is slow to rise initially but comes through with a light touch, clean and dry and very much in the background. Lovely light floral notes and sweet citrus, with honey and vanilla really holding everything together.
Palate
Texturally this dram has a fantastic presence on the palate, holding the high strength perfectly. A gentle sweetness, honey and fruit syrup arrive, orange blossom, apricot jam and again the floral bouquet all gentle soft notes are holding off the phenols.
Finish
Burnt heather, toffee and malt sugar all play a part in a complex long finish.
Colour
Barley straw.
If you’re a whisky destination you can’t overlook these fantastic whiskies from Progressive Hebridean Distillers.
Westland American Single Malt Whiskey – a brave new tradition
For centuries, single malt whisky has been considered the domain of Scotland. But relative newcomers prove that great single malts can come from other places. In 2010 Westland Distillery, located in the Pacific Northwest of the USA, set out to bring a new and distinctly American voice to the world of single malt. In March 2016, Westland was named World Craft Producer of the Year by Whisky Magazine and has since garnered dozens of awards.
Award-winning Single Malts – Born in the USA!
Three expressions of Westland American Single Malt Whiskeys each exhibit the fundamental intention of their house style: a balanced, barley-forward whiskey that honours tradition but moves it forward, with new and distinctly American flavour profiles.
Westland American Oak
In pursuing American single malt whiskey, Westland brings their signature five-malt grain bill together with new American oak casks – two things practically unheard of in the old world. This combination produces a dramatically different whiskey from what is commonplace and expected in the single malt category.
Nose
Lemon and orange custard, waffle cone, crème brûlée, chocolate custard, jasmine.
Palate
Rich fruit, Rainier cherries, Swiss chocolate, almond, bananas, cream, Turkish coffee.
Westland Sherry Wood
Westland Sherry Wood celebrates the old-world custom of maturing whiskey in Spanish sherry casks. But unlike old world whisky makers, Westland ships their sherry casks from Spain whole. This imparts a sherry character that is still incrediblyvibrant while ensuring the barley notes have an equal voice.
Nose
Honey-dipped oatmeal raisin cookies, maple syrup, banana pancakes.
Palate
Kiwi, maple syrup, raisins, sweet cookies, pastries, stewed yellow fruits.
Westland Peated
Westland Peated is the truest to tradition but still represents a unique perspective on the world’s oldest whisky style. Many peated whiskies follow the traditional 100% peated malt model, displaying a raw and heavy smoky character. Westland introduces non-peated malts, most grown locally in Washington State, for a genuinely new angle on peated whisky.
Nose
Nuts, smouldering moss, flamed orange peel, roasted plantains.
Palate
Campfire, iodine, roasted pistachios, green herbs.
With over 50 Awards(5) between them, Westland American Oak and Westland Sherry Wood are a sure fire way to add something new, innovative and intriguing to your single malt selection.
A single malt sales opportunity for your business
There’s no question that interest in single malt whisky is growing. Give your single malt whisky sales a dram of courage this Fathers’ Day. At Spirits Platform, we offer a curated selection of the finest single malt whiskies that can help make Father’s Day highly profitable for your business.
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1 Drinks International Annual Brands Report 2020 2 https://www.highlandparkwhisky.com/en/18-year-old 3 IRI Australia Liquor Weighted MAT 14 Feb 2021 4 Drinks International Annual Brands Report 2020 5 https://westlanddistillery.com/awards-accolades
