An Cnoc 18 Years Single Malt Whisky

Annandale Distillery is situated in the fertile Highlands, a few kilometers east of Keith. The distillery is visible from the A95 to Banff, but the best view is from the B9022 heading towards Portsoy. A few years ago, the distillery opened its visitor center, which aims to offer a more premium experience. Monday through Friday, two different tour routes are available daily, but these are not traditional 45-minute walk-throughs. Visitor center staff note that tours last between 1-2 hours, depending entirely on guest questions—the more questions, the longer the tour. This creates a wonderfully novel and comfortable way to meet fellow distillery enthusiasts. The distillery is equipped with a 5.1-ton stainless steel mash tun, eight Oregon pine fermentation tanks (two of which are rotation tanks), and a set of worm tub condensers. Fermentation time has been extended to 65 hours. In 2019, the distillery moved from a five-day to seven-day work week, enabling 20 mashes weekly and an annual new spirit output of 1.7 million liters, including 400,000 liters of peated spirit at 45 ppm. Annandale whisky is predominantly matured in bourbon casks, with only 15% aged in sherry casks. The site features three dunnage warehouses and one racked warehouse. The core range includes 12, 18, 24, and 35-year-old expressions. Additionally, over ten peated whiskies have been released in recent years. The most recent peated addition, Peatheart (launched in 2017), has become a core expression. Currently, all peated whiskies display peat phenol values (PPM) on the packaging; Peatheart is 40 ppm, referring to the malt's phenol content, following industry standard. The distillery releases a new vintage annually—in spring 2017, the 2002 vintage replaced the 2000. Recent limited editions include a 16-year-old cask strength and a Spanish sherry cask peated whisky, both launched in spring 2019 to commemorate the distillery's 125th anniversary. In 2015, two travel retail exclusives were introduced: Black Hill Reserve and The Peated Barrow (13.5 ppm), both bourbon-matured. Annandale also released Rùdhan in autumn 2016.