Mortlach 12 Year Old “The Wee Witchie”

A small batch Mortlach Single Malt with a unique “meaty/fruity” flavor profile.

Dufftown is the Highland hamlet that calls itself the Whisky Capital of the World. This little town of less than 1700 people is home to six prominent distilleries — including Mortlach. Founded in 1823 by James Findlater, Mortlach became the first “legal” distillery in Dufftown. The history of Mortlach is an honorable one of tradition, innovation, and engineering — including the famous “2.81” distillation method using multiple still types. Their finely crafted Spirits are a core component of the most premium Johnnie Walker blends — so much so that Johnnie Walker bought the distillery in 1923.

“The Wee Witchie” is a small-batch, copper pot still at Mortlach used for experiments, that earned Mortlach the reputation as “The Beast of Dufftown”. And some of the Spirit in Mortlach 12 Year Old “The Wee Witchie” is made on that little gleaming copper gem. It was released along with two sister-drams in 2018 and has been distilled 0.81 times more than Scotch tradition. But this wee-little-witchie is aged a full dozen years in a combination of ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry casks. It boasts the classic Mortlach “meaty” flavor profile with a fruity back palate and is bottled at 43.4% ABV.

Smartass Corner:
Dufftown itself used to be named Mortlach back in the Middle Ages — which is how the distillery got its name.