With our longstanding history in the world of spirits, we’re fortunate and proud to work with a vast array of revered producers. Through our years of support, championing the products of producers from around the world, we often enjoy reciprocal arrangements, granting us access to the lock-and-key warehouses where their superb spirits blossom. When such opportunities arise, our team of specialists peruse and meticulously examine the maturing casks until something of sufficient calibre is identified, selecting the spirit to be bottled as a unique single-cask offering under the Nickolls & Perks label.
In 2023, we debuted this long-awaited offering, launching our Inaugural Casks series: three well-matured single malts from elite Scottish distilleries. This series very much focused on the old guard of Scotch, a statement piece of some of our rarest casks to demonstrate that this overdue offering is no afterthought and that one can expect supreme spirits under the Nickolls & Perks label. But whiskies of this ilk are accompanied by a weighty price tag, which ultimately can exclude many from enjoying our offering. In 2024, we would change this.
There were several unifying factors in our inaugural outturn: old distilleries, big age statements, subtle cask influence. For 2024, we flipped this on its head, presenting the elite distilleries from a new generation; younger age statements proudly demonstrating the spirit character; and powerful, first-fill fortified wine casks that deliver a pronounced influence. Similar to the inaugural outturn, this resulted in a collection of three expressions, each presenting a different profile to accommodate varied palates. Let’s explore those expressions…
White Peak 4 Year Old 2019 (Cask 23033) Madeira Finish
Derbyshire’s White Peak distillery has long had whiskies adorning the Nickolls & Perks shelves. Our team recognised the quality here immediately and the distillery has since gone on to win a swathe of awards. In fact, in 2024, in the inaugural, community-driven English Whisky Awards, the distillery won two of the three awards available: Best Distillery and Best Single Malt for their bourbon cask expression. As long-time advocates, their whisky was one we were keen to see in our 2024 cask selection.
Our visit for warehouse sampling began with a point of mere intrigue at the time, sampling the small collection of recently acquired “experimental” casks. These were casks that were new to White Peak’s portfolio, though tried and tested elsewhere. These were “off limits” due to their scarcity. The problem is that our team immediately fell in love with them…
After much debate and follow-up calls, the White Peak team kindly granted us access to these superb casks.
Several rounds of blind tastings and idea exchanges ensued until a stalemate on cask selection was resolved at a public White Peak tasting in the cellars of Nickolls & Perks. Guests enjoyed a usual offering of malts from the distillery until a special reveal was made: attendees would taste the two single casks that our team had whittled the selection down to, casting a vote to declare the ultimate winner. That winner was, of course, the Madeira cask finish.
This cask was one of just three Madeira casks in the whole inventory of the distillery, a remarkable selection and a massive point of difference from the general offering of independently bottled White Peak. The other two went on to be married for a small batch release by the distillery, whereas the Nickolls & Perks selection remained in cask and was subsequently moved to the upper levels of White Peak’s warehouse. Up there, the conditions are much warmer, leading to an accelerated maturation.
Tasting Notes:
Salted toffee and almond baklava on the nose, before honeyed porridge with wedges of green apple. A delicate smoke conjures notes of antique furniture. Biscoff and Crème Caramel meet the palate, with Demerara sugar, cinnamon and orange zest drawing long into the finish.
Cotswolds 7 Year Old 2017 (Cask 1355) Ruby Port Cask
In what may have been considered a bold move initially, we decided to bottle two English single malts in the recent outturn rather than turning to the North to our indomitable whisky neighbour. The truth is that English whisky is quickly turning heads and shattering perceptions regarding the category’s infancy. In fact, in the past four years an English single malt has won the coveted World’s Best Single Malt awards twice!
The Cotswolds Distillery recently graduated to being the biggest producer in England, producing some 500,000 litres of alcohol a year; still, however, rather tiny when compared with the powerhouses in Scotland. The distillery produces a summery, tropical fruit style of malt, achieved through tight spirit cuts that capture just the fruitiest elements coming off the still.
This was to fulfil our unpeated offering in the 2024 outturn, and what a cask it would turn out to be…
Over the course of months, we explored potentials with the Cotswolds team until we found something of unequalled intrigue: a batch of spirit from 2017 – some of the oldest malt from the distillery – that was laid down in first-fill ruby Port casks. Such powerful casks and a seven-year maturation ran a risk, the influence could overwhelm the fruity spirit and imbue it with a tannic nature too dry and out of balance. These fears were quashed when sampling as the casks displayed a wonderful vibrancy that complemented the tropical fruitiness of the spirit with red berries, chocolate, and a tannic grip that added complexity rather than being overbearing.
Cask 1355 became the unanimous winner over two courses of blind tastings, making it the obvious choice for our 2024 outturn.
Tasting Notes:
On the nose, Cripps Pink apples drizzled with syrup, followed by raspberry tart and Eton Mess adorned with crushed walnut. The palate is vibrant, bringing pomegranate juice and redcurrant with hints of nutmeg and sweet tobacco. Clean and fresh finish, with a lasting tannic grip.
Ardnamurchan 5 Year Old 2019 (Cask 2080) Peated PX
For the heavily peated offering in the range, who better than the country that pioneered the style, Scotland? In keeping with the focus on the new generation of whisky distillers, it was quickly agreed that Ardnamurchan were the top candidate. Not only have we had the pleasure of working with the distillery in the past, collaborating on an exclusive for our 225th anniversary in 2022, but the distillery has since begun to receive award upon award for its fantastic efforts, including regular top spots in the Online Scotch Whisky Awards, a community-driven awards body that directly reflects consumer preference.
With the distillery located on the peninsula that serves as the most westerly point of mainland Britain, the long journey warranted two days onsite. To truly understand a distillery, it really must be visited, and Ardnamurchan’s serene yet severe surroundings provide a powerful muse to the signature coastal malt that the distillery yields.
Our perusal of the Arndamurchan warehouses revealed some true treasures that paint a bright future for the distillery; they also made selecting a single cask wonderfully difficult! There were eventually some clear favourites during the warehouse walks, but the proof is always in the blind tasting. Upon the return to the Nickolls & Perks office, the samples were reviewed blind and a unanimous favourite came to light. There was an intense savouriness to the whisky that was so unlike the others, something truly unique that warranted celebration as a single-cask bottling. As you’ve probably now guessed, the notes revealed this cask to be #2080; a peated spirit matured solely in a single Pedro Ximénez sherry cask for 5 years.
Tasting Notes:
Oolong tea and lit charcoal brick. Amongst the embers, damp mulch and thick Autumnal air with wisps of sea spray and blackberry jam. Overripe plums and black pepper precede cinnamon and dark chilli chocolate dipped into espresso. Leather and liquorice draw long into the finish.
View Ardnamurchan product page
The 2024 outturn was a daring departure from 2023, highlighting a starkly different avenue of the single malt market. The change to younger presentations of whisky allowed for a much more approachable price point, ranging between £75 to £120 a bottle to the previous outturn’s £180 to £700. From months of presenting the whiskies in tastings around the country, it’s become very evident that the range truly does cater for all tastes, from the salty toffee and light smoke of the White Peak in Madeira; the powerful Port cask Cotswolds boasting summer fruits and dark chocolate; and the intensely savoury and earthy smoke of the PX Ardnamurchan.
You can expect a new focus once more in our 2025 outturn at the end of the year. For now, don’t miss your opportunity to enjoy the delights of the greatly praised 2024 single casks.