Tasting Through Jim McEwan’s Private Casks with Dramfool

Few people in the whisky world evoke the legendary status of Jim McEwan. Known for transforming Bruichladdich Distillery into the scotch powerhouse it is today (including creating the world’s peatest whisky, Octomore), he’s admired for his expertise, innovation, and overall knowledge. So you can imagine how incredible it was tasting through Jim McEwan’s private single casks with Dramfool.

Dramfool tasting kits of Jim McEwan’s private casks.

Jim McEwan’s Private Casks and Dramfool

Dramfool is an independent bottler founded by Bruce Farquhar, who handpicks single casks from distilleries throughout Scotland. His focus is on exquisite whisky casks, from the unique and rare to the outright intriguing. Bruce has graciously gifted me a few bottlings, and they are striking standouts of my whisky collection.

Jim McEwan’s private casks were hand-selected for his private collection. Each cask was picked at the time of distillation as the best example of what he intended to create. They matured at Bruichladdich since being picked, and now have been bottled by Dramfool. A limited number of bottles are sale (the casks yielding less than 300 bottles) and into samples for a tasting.

The tastings divided the private casks into two series. Each series included two types of Bruichladdich’s main bottlings: Bruichladdich (unpeated), Port Charlotte (heavily peated), and Octomore (super heavily peated). Each pair included a wine finish and an ex-bourbon finish, for six total 100mL samples of Jim McEwan’s private casks.

Tasting Jim McEwan’s Private Casks, Series I

Then the legend himself joined a giant group of us on Zoom to walk us through his whisky. Spoiler alert: they were even more incredible than I imagined! And Jim McEwan is as eloquent with his words as he is with his whisky-making skills. Listening to his tasting notes was like listening to a poet!

Series 1 included a 2008 Bruichladdich aged 12 years in a first fill bourbon barrel (59.8% abv) and a 2007 Bruichladdich aged 13 years in a first fill Bordeaux cask (61.8%). Then a 2010 Port Charlotte aged 10 years in a first fill bourbon barrel (59.4%) followed by a 2007 Port Charlotte aged 13 years in a first fill Bordeaux barrique (60.9%). Jim’s tasting notes eloquently describe this as…

“A classic case of Beauty and the Beast and there are no losers; the finish is long and lingering, with the palate swinging into Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World.”

Next we had a 2013 Octomore aged 7 years in a first fill bourbon barrel (62.3%) peated to 107 ppms. Then we finished with a 2007 Octomore aged 13 years in a first fill sauternes cask (57.5%), the oldest Octomore ever made. Peated to an astonishing 162 ppms, Jim called it “the sexiest spirit ever created” and the spirit that “made my spiritual journey complete.”

Single Cask Bottlings

Bruichladdich Distillery has long been one of my favorite whisky producers. And I have a soft spot for Port Charlotte after announcing the debut of the new Port Charlotte 10 in 2018. So tasting such exceptional examples of Bruichladdich’s whisky, especially with the man who made the distillery what it is today was a dream.

While the last tasting of these casks with Jim McEwan is this weekend, bottles are available for purchase on Dramfool’s website. It’s worth noting Dramfool or Bruichladdich did not sponsor this article in any way (and I paid $160 for the tasting set). But I had to write about it since it was such a memorable experience!

There are so many things I love about whisky but tasting a legend’s hard work and connecting with others in the whisky world are right there at the top.