The Lost Distillery are a fascinating recent addition to the whisky world. Their ethos is encapsulated by their choice of logo, a Triskele, the ancient Celtic rune for reincarnation. The company attempts to present whiskies from distilleries long lost using a meticulous process of piecing together the production techniques. To achieve this, they focus on the ten most important elements of a whisky’s flavour. These are: era, locality, water, barley, yeast, peat, mash tun, wash back, still and wood. This gives an idea of what the profile of these lost whiskies would have been, and allows the company to identify currently open distilleries that might provide certain elements (often distilleries located close to the site of the lost distillery) of the eventual whisky.

This whisky is based on Gerston, a distillery located in Caithness, an area in Scotland’s extreme north. Two distilleries have had the name Gertson, and are now know as Gerston One and Gerston Two. This whisky focuses mostly on recreating the flavour of Gerston One, which was a small scale farm distillery, that became very well regarded in the whisky drinking circles of London. Gerton One used local produce, including their own farm-grown barley, a stream on the farm, wild yeast and peat cut from Loch Calder. The whisky was said to have had a distinctive salty, peaty flavour.

This whisky recalls these flavours perfectly, a testament to the careful blending the company has undergone to resurrect these lost whiskies. On the nose, aromas of tropical fruit, sea spray, earth and peat take hold, whilst palate brings further flavours of toasted oak, salted caramel, smoked cardamom and apple. The finish is dominated by black tea, woodspice, gentle and a lingering jammy fruit note. As Gerston did not have access to chill-filtration technology or distiller’s caramel, this whisky is presented without either, and at 46% ABV. A delicious dram that takes the art of blending to new, extraordinary places, allowing us a glimpse into the past.

A thorough history of Gerston can be found at The Lost Distillery Company’s website

• Product type
  Blended Malt
• Distillery / brand
  The Lost Distillery Company
• Country
  Scotland
• Non-chillfiltered
  Yes
• Natural colour
  Yes
• SKU
  019340