NED Whisky has produced a single barrel bottling for the first time, releasing a XO Cognac cask finished whisky.
NED Whisky Single Barrel 01: XO Cognac Finish was released Thursday, March 24, and contains NED’s sour mash whisky, finished in Cognac seasoned casks.
The spirit was originally matured in a new American oak cask, before a final maturation in a cask that previously held XO Cognac.
Scott Fitzsimons, Head of Direct to Consumer Sales and Experience at Top Shelf (NED’s parent company) commented: “We’ve got a number of innovations and experimentations with barrels and types of oak in our warehouse and this cask showed exceptional qualities.”
“There’s plenty more quietly maturing away, but this particular cask shone very bright very quickly.”
According to the brand, the bottling serves up flavours of dried fruit, toffee, sultanas, fine oak, spice and ripe fruits.
NED Single Barrel 01: XO Cognac Finish has been bottled at 46 per cent ABV, which NED says was found to be the ideal strength by blind tasters.
This whisky smallest release ever produced by NED, with only 450 individually numbered 500ml bottles drawn from the cask.
The bottling is the first in a new series of barrel finishes, which the company describe as ‘a new frontier for NED.’ Three more releases will follow in the series, released ‘when the distillers’ believe the whisky to be at optimum maturity.’
“We are always looking for ways to push the boundaries and this is the first time we’ve release a ‘finished’ whisky in a seasoned cask,” Fitzsimons said.
“We hope to release another three of these single cask, cask finish releases before the end of the calendar year, but as always with whisky it tells us when it’s ready – not the other way around.”
NED’s new range of single casks will follow on the back of the brand’s successful small batch ‘Wanted Series’, which picked up a string of awards in 2021.
Single Barrel 01: XO Cognac has an RRP of $119.99 and is available at the NED website.