James Eadie - Caol Ila 11yo Sherry Cask Finish 57.4% 700ml

We first tried this little beauty at our whisky festival Whisky Fringe in 2018 and, wow, did it ever impress us. This eleven year old Caol Ila matured in 1st fill Palo Cortado Sherry Casks is jam packed full of flavour and huge characteristics. One of those whiskies where everyone will find something slightly different that they love.

James Eadie was born into a family of brewers and blenders. So when the famed whisky critic Alfred Barnard visited him in 1889, it was no surprise that they bonded over a dram.

The whisky in question was James Eadie’s family blend. Passed down by his father, it was known as James Eadie’s Trade Mark X from 1877, when it was registered as one of the world’s first brands.

For decades thereafter, James Eadie’s whisky captivated contemporaries. Barnard himself lavished praise on this “ancient Scotch mixture”, of which Mr. Eadie was declared the “fortunate possessor”. Yet like many great names of the Victorian era, it did not survive into the 21st Century.

Last bottled in the 1940s, the components of the blend were unknown until Rupert Patrick, James Eadie’s great-great-grandson, made the chance discovery of his 19th-century ledgers. These records laid bare the spirits that were used to make his family’s celebrated Scotch. Pieced together, they revealed a forgotten blend from a distant era, in which the diverse flavours of every whisky-producing region of Scotland were expertly combined.

Two centuries on, using only whiskies from distilleries which James Eadie himself had purchased from, Norman Mathison, one of Scotland’s finest Master Blenders, was entrusted to revive this ancient Scotch. And so, after a lengthy slumber, James Eadie’s whisky was brought back to life.