Nc'nean has announced the fourth release in its Huntress series. Each edition of the series, which is inspired by Gaelic goddess Neachneohain, who also gives her name to the distillery, experiments with different production methods.

The Lemon Meadow bottling is the result of Nc'nean's experiments with fermentation. For this release, the distillery used a yeast derived from French sparkling wine production which it says is "rarely seen" in Scotch whisky. Nc'nean says the yeast brings "buttery, citrusy, and biscuity notes".

The spirit was then matured in the distillery's "house style" casks: ex-STR red wine, ex-American whiskey, and ex-oloroso sherry. Nc'nean says the combination of the French sparkling wine yeast and maturation results in a whisky with flavours of "lemon sorbet, chamomile, and all-butter shortbread". 

The whisky used in Lemon Meadow was a product of Nc'nean's first yeast trial in 2017, the year in which it began distilling. 

Lemon Meadow follows the distillery's 2024 release Huntress Orchard Cobbler, which experimented with different cut points on the distillery's spirit runs. Tasting it blind for Whisky Magazine, Bethany Whymark found notes of apple skin, pear drop, sponge cake, and clove and ginger spice, chocolate-coated raisin, while Christopher Coates said it was "a very quaffable dram indeed".

Nc'nean Huntress Lemon Meadow (48.5% ABV, RRP £88.75) is available now via specialist retailers.