In the Irish Sea, northeast of Dublin, the capital of Ireland, only four kilometers away from the land, there is a small island with an area of only 2.5 square kilometers, which is about the same size as Cheung Chau in Hong Kong. Its name is Lambay Island , and its other name Reachrainn means "within reach" in traditional Irish; and on this island now owned by the Baring family, an interesting "whisky maturation experiment" is being carried out. ".
In 1904, Cecil Baring, the third Baron Revelstoke, and his wife Maude Lorillard, began looking for a place to escape from the hustle and bustle of city life. The news of the island transfer attracted the couple's attention, and Cecil, who was also a banker, believed that without much consideration, he bought the small island for 5,000 to 9,000 pounds. Island - Lambay Island.
During the more than 100 years that the Baring family owned Lambay, family members were always busy with their work on the island. In 1906, the third Baron Cecil Baring invited architect Sir Edwin Lutyens to design the island's architecture. The island was designed and built over a period of thirty years. Later, the gardener Gertrude Jekyll was invited to plant a large number of plants and build a garden on the island. The fourth generation Baron Rupert Baring brought kangaroos and other animals from Australia to the island to build the island. The rich wild ecology on the island; and the sixth generation Baron James Baring, who served in the British Royal Air Force RAF, chose to build a runway on the island for aircraft takeoff and landing...
In February 2017, a joint venture company named Lambay Irish Whiskey Company was established in Dublin. The company is a joint venture between the Baring family, the owner of Lambay Island, and the Camus family, the French owner of a century-old cognac brand. The island owner Alexander Baring provided the land, while Cyril Camus, the fifth generation heir of the Camus family, brought distilling technology and experience. Combining the advantages of the two families, they plan to eventually build a small distillery on Lambey Island in 2025 to produce Lambey's own Island's Irish Whiskey.
While waiting for the distillery’s construction permit to be approved, Alexander Baring and Cyril Camus did not wait quietly, but could not wait to conduct a “whisky maturation experiment” on the island. They first collected whisky from three distilleries in Northern Ireland. The company purchased whiskey matured in bourbon barrels from Irish distilleries in the east coast and West Cork, and then transferred the whiskey to French oak barrels from France, where the Camus family matured their cognac. Continue to mature.
Yes, the special thing about Lambay Whisky is that all its creations are aged in cognac barrels, and some of them are even shipped to a place called Sea Cask Room near the sea on the island. The combination of the sweetness of tropical fruits from Irish whiskey, the grape aroma from cognac oak barrels, and the saltiness from the islands and sea breeze is extremely interesting and gives rise to endless associations.
According to Alexander and Cyril's description of their current creations, it seems that the two families' ambitions are definitely not limited to this. The flavor experiments currently being conducted on Lambay Island should be just a trial run to try to find the most suitable combination of the three elements. The style of the whiskey was chosen as a basis for creating a truly Lambay Island-style Irish whiskey on the island in the future.
The Master Blender’s approach to creating the finite balance for this blend is entirely dependent on a complex series of tastings and sniffs. The goal is to hit the sweet spot of flavor evolution in the finishing phase. Allowing enough time for the complex flavour molecules to combine ensures a pure balance of whisky and the subtle fruit notes from the Cognac barrels.
