During the following two weeks, we produced our very first batch of Man O’Sword; our peated spirit (45 ppm phenolics). Scottish Rugby icon, Doddie Weir, filled the first cask (2014/040) on Monday, December 1st, 2014.

By December 31st, 2014 we’d produced just 188 casks of spirit (103 Man O’Words and 85 Man O’Sword), making our Vintage 2014 extremely rare. Of these 188 casks, approximately 40% were filled into once used (‘fresh’) ex-bourbon casks and 60% into several-times-filled whisky barrels (‘refills’). ‘Fresh’ casks bring whisky to sensory maturity more quickly than ‘refills’. Whereas it’s likely that several of the ‘refills’ could be matured for up to 20 years and more, some of the ‘fresh’ casks had reached a superb level of sensory maturity at just 3 years old, thanks in no small part to our twin spirit stills.

A small number of our Man O’Words and Man O’Sword Rare Vintage 2014 casks were bottled at just over 3 years of age, capturing that never-to-be-repeated moment in time when the first of Annandale’s spirit transitioned into Single Malt Scotch Whisky……and superb it is too (see Jim Murray’s 2019 Whisky Bible)!