Fettercairn has been making whisky the time-honoured way for over two centuries. Set in the foothills of the Cairngorms, in the lush fields between the mountains and the sea, the distillery uses local barley and water to craft its bright, vibrant and fruity single malts. But it doesn’t rest on tradition. Driven by a passion for flavour exploration, the team has embarked on a quest to push the boundaries of how taste, aroma and texture are perceived.
Meet The Vanguard Series is an ambitious, three-year project which sees flavour explored through the lens of all human senses. The concept was inspired by whisky maker Gregg Glass’s synaesthesia. It’s a perceptual phenomenon where one sensory pathway—in his case, taste—lights up another. As a result, he can “taste in colour”. It’s an experience shared by many, for example some artists hear colour, and some writers taste words. His remarkable, unconventional tasting notes have inspired a collection of exceptional whiskies. And The Vanguard Series starts with a dynamic pairing: a rare 29 -year-old and a non-aged statement bottling.
Both expressions are the result of a creative partnership with Barry Burns, from renowned post-rock band Mogwai, and multi-award-winning singer/songwriter Kathryn Joseph. They collaborated to create a unique piece of music based on Glass’s tasting notes for the inaugural pair.
Named Lorica, the evocative, experimental piece draws on Fettercairn’s tropical fruit-led house style to capture the essence of the whiskies in musical form. Layered with complexity, the optimistic piece builds into a gentle euphoria that matches the depth, richness and ultimately enjoyment of sipping on the whiskies themselves.
While the creation of any whisky is a new experience, Glass notes, he tends to pick up sensory elements that weave colour in with the texture and flavour. “In the development of Vanguard, I’d always listen to a huge range of music, which can have a huge influence on how I experience flavour,” he explains. “The Vanguard series explores what’s possible within whisky.
“We’ve been looking to create the ideal way of delivering layers of flavour in these whiskies: which casks we select, the components of those casks, what character they bring, and how they will evolve our house style in new and exciting ways. The series represents the distillery's commitment to flavour-led whisky making and boundary-pushing innovation.”
For Burns, the project felt like a genuine collaboration. “Kathryn and I have toured together, and know each other well, but it was a fantastic opportunity for us to collaborate together on a unique piece of music and we had a lot of fun taking inspiration from the colours and shapes of Gregg’s tasting notes, but understanding what he was listening to and inspired by when he was making the whisky which we had the privilege to sample.”
Working with Glass led to Joseph making a discovery of her own. “I love whisky now! Thank you, Fettercairn. It felt very quickly like all the elements of this made sense to me. How Gregg sees and hears the colours of the tastes, the beautiful stills of the visuals and the way that Barry is able turn everything into perfect beauty.”
And the two whiskies are pioneering. Fettercairn Vanguard 29 Years Old is inherently scarce, with just 99 bottles released worldwide priced at £2,500. It started life on 11 December 1995, spending the first quarter-century of its life in a refill bourbon hogshead. It was then transferred into a rare French pink oak cask from Bordeaux cooperage Demptos. Officially known as an ‘Essencia’ barrel, it is distinguished by its high level of carotenoids, which have imparted distinctive strawberry notes over the extended finishing period.
Meanwhile, Vanguard, a small-batch release priced at £100 RRP, builds on Fettercairn’s foray into Scottish oak. Laid down in ex-bourbon barrels on 28 February 2008, it was moved 14 years later into bespoke 200-litre casks made from American oak staves and heavily toasted Scottish oak heads. The latter were crafted from naturally wind-felled Highland trees by the Speyside Cooperage and contribute warming spice notes to the expressive whisky.
“These two inaugural releases are still uniquely Fettercairn, but they push our house style in totally different directions to create something that really feels like a glimpse of the future,” explained global single malt whisky specialist Andrew Lennie.
“Our senses are interconnected, never more than when we experience flavours which have vivid scents, textures and even colours. Having Barry and Kathryn produce such a beautiful, dramatic piece of music based on those ideas has been incredible. We’re absolutely blown away by what they’ve produced.”
