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Conversations by the dram: The icon behind Nc'nean's latest release
New for 2024 as part of their Quiet Rebels series, Nc'nean Organic Quiet Rebels Amy is in tribute to the distillery’s Head of Sustainability, Amy Stammers. With such an eco-conscious team as Nc'nean, it’s easy to understand why blender Matt Hastings chose Amy as the figurehead to partner with on this release. Our W Club Manager Luke Crowley-Holland got the chance to sit down with this Quiet Rebel, and discover the story behind the whisky.
Watch the full interview on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5ZB5qgTvlM
Or listen to it on the W Club Decanted podcast: https://www.whiskyshop.com/club/members/podcast
What does a day in the life as Head of Sustainability at this beautiful distillery look like?
“Kicking ass and not taking no for an answer.”
Amy
Tell us a bit about yourself, your journey to becoming Head of Sustainability for a whisky company?
“I began working here seven years ago, and I was first employed to be the visitor manager here but during COVID we didn't have any visitors, so I decided it was good to diversify […] I have a background in environmental law and green politics and it just fits really well with how I see the world and my own personal ethos. So I picked up that baton and ran with it.”
Nc’nean is a net zero distillery - can you tell us how hard a challenge it was to get to that point?
"It was a lot easier for us, I think, because it was thought about at the beginning when the distillery was being constructed. So the things that make us net zero, that is being able to generate our own heat, which is the big part of distillery's carbon footprint and being able to have renewable electricity was designed into the build. So for us, it was relatively easy at that point. Not to say that it wasn't challenging in other ways."
The ability to be net zero, how easy is that for other distilleries to do?
“Depends on what resources they have access to and how they choose to go about that challenge. The heat and the electricity and fuel. How you decarbonize those will be different for every distillery […] You need a physical resource to create heat, whether that's oil or gas, hydrogen, biomass, electric. So yeah, every distillery's journey on to net zero will be different.”
How much of an impact does all this have on the flavour of the whisky?
“I would say the biggest impact for us is probably the barley and where it comes from. In Scotland we have two farms, one in Fife and one in Aberdeenshire, and they produce very good quality grain which is grown organically and they look after the soils very well, and healthy soils feeds healthy plants, which gives you great flavour. We attribute a lot of our flavour, and the viscosity of the liquid, to the fact that the barley is grown organically.”
What is your favourite Nc’nean whisky?
“I like the core expression of our flagship. It's been my favourite since we released in 2020. However I am slightly biassed in saying that my new favourite is going to be Quiet Rebels, only because that is coming out next month and I helped design it”
Arriving at 46% abv, this is free from chill filtration and has a natural colour. It is made from a recycled glass bottle, and the distillery is known for recycling 99.97% of their waste. All very impressive to us. Aromas of citrus, tropical fruit and a kick of pepper arrive on the nose. The palate is full of peach, pineapple, lemongrass, malted barley, all in a creamy, smooth character. The finish is dry, with peppery ginger and spicy, earthy notes. A fruity whisky, with a bit of depth behind it.
And on that note, tells us more about what goes into creating the Quiet Rebels series.
“It starts with what you want and what you like. Now that could be very flavour driven, or in my case, it was kind of ethos driven. And for every person that makes their Quiet Rebels, that process will look slightly different. I started with a desire to reflect what I do for the company, which is sustainability, so I started by looking at our supply chain and everyone knows that whiskey is made in these beautiful casks. But these casks come from somewhere and they're previously used by other industries."
"And what I wanted to do was talk not just about sustainability in our supply chain, as in our farmers, but reflect sustainability and good practise or talk about good practise for the industries that use these barrels before we do. So in my case, that was wine. And we found a really amazing vineyard in France that are doing incredible things for biodiversity and the soil, producing a great fortified wine called Morrie. And we sourced those casks from that vineyard specifically for that story. And because I like fortified wine, AKA port, it's a port style. So those casks then came here, we filled them with our whisky, let them finish for a year, and then the process for me was to try that liquid with Matt, who is our blender, and work out how I built my Quiet Rebels around the flavour that I was finding from those casks.”
Bottled at 48.5% abv, this non-chill filtered and natural colour liquid was finished in ex-Maury casks from a small organic vineyard in France, a farm which follows the biodynamic principles such as following the lunar calendar. These casks were then blended with Nc’nean house style STR red wine and ex-Bourbon casks to create this moreish release. Expect notes of brown butter muffins, citrus, toasted nuts, and savoury flavours.
