Like all the ingredient- and produce-driven spirits produced by The London Distillery Company, LV-1767 Rye Whiskey was engineered with an exceptional eye for detail. Then CEO Darren Rook and head distiller Andrew MacLeod-Smith (now with Sweetdram) sourced organic malted British Rye from Warminster Maltings and a brewers yeast from the early 1900s stored at the national yeast library. They then brought in John McDougall, the company’s consultant distiller with over 50 years experience in the industry, to keep an eye on the trial distillations. The pair also engaged Whiskey and wood consultant, Dr Jim Swan.

For this release, the ferment took place in a 2,200-litre stainless steel pot before the wash was twice distilled in ‘Matilda’, a 650-litre copper pot still with a four plate distillation column, devised by Carl (Germany’s oldest distillery fabricator since 1869) with a still head designed by Darren Rook. The new make for this bottling was distilled on 31st October 2014 and unconventionally aged in new English oak barrels–made by the last English master cooper Alastair Simms. Again, this was to replicate the oak that London’s Whiskeys would have been matured in, in the 19th century–before the more abundant, European oaks took over. It was bottled at 54.3% ABV after the Whiskey turned four years old.

Ok, the price is bound to raise a few eyebrows, yet being the first Whiskey distilled in London in over a century and with only 250-odd bottles released, we can understand the logic. There is certainly no issue with the quality: this is top, top quality Rye. First aromas are of chocolate and lightly roasted coffee, followed by ginger and pear notes, with a hint of apple mint to finish. The palate is rich and supple, with cinnamon and nutmeg spice balanced by the sweetness of orange, in turn complemented by a nip of tannin and a beeswax note from the English oak. The finish crackles with Rye spice and white pepper before lingering on dark cherry and a hint of macadamia. Very fine and beautifully balanced, this is a unique and special Rye.