Glenwyvis 2018 Members Bottle 01/21 - First Single Malt Release 50%ABV 30ml

This is the first whisky (actually the 11th bottle filled) released by Glenwyvis Distillery and was reserved for shareholders of the distillery which is community owned and crowd funded by just over 3000 people. This is a young whisky as it is from a new distillery; however I think this one tastes better than the official inaugural release for the general public which came after which tastes more like a work in progress and could have used a few more years in the casks. 

The story of Glenwyvis begins in 2015 when farmer and green energy advocate John Mckenzie decided to start a distillery in the highland town of Dingwall. What made Mckenzie’s ambitions unique is that this his goal was to create the first 100% community owned distillery in Scotland. After the initial planning stages, he started a crowdsourced fundraising campaign the following year. In just 77 days over two thousand people backed his project and became shareholders in the future distillery, the majority of which being from the local area. The number of investors soon rose to over three thousand and construction began in 2017. The name of the project is a nod to two silent distilleries that were in the same area: Ben Wyvis in Dingwall and Glenskiach in Evanton. Glenwyvis is 100% powered by renewable energy such as hydro, wind, solar and a chip biomass heating system. Like many fledgling operations, they first began producing gins and other spirits. 

This is the very first single malt release from the distillery which was bottled on 12th October 2021. It has been matured in a combination of casks:

• 80% first-fill ex-Tennessee whiskey
• 15% first-fill ex-Moscatel
• 5% refill casks

This release only went to shareholders of the distillery. One of 3,600 bottles.