The company was founded to create a whisky that truly is a product of the Isle of Man and in order to do this they have decided to do it the hard way. Manx Whisky Company was born out of a desire to prove that it is possible to run a whisky distillery as a small scale company that controls all the steps in the production process. Most distilleries buy ready made malt but these guys have decided to do the opposite. Their barley comes directly from the farmer and they floor malt it at the distillery. Long fermentation times for optimal flavour development and they age the whisky on site. Production is extremely limited but this is how they prefer it. The barley is grown on the island. The strains at the moment are Concerto and Planet. They have no legendary source of water where ancient Celtic tribes buried their treasures over the centuries giving rise to mythical whisky making properties. No, they use the local tap water of the Isle of Man. It is a small distillery after all.
Cutting peat is illegal on the Isle of Man and given this they will not produce any peated whiskies. Using peat from other locations would be too much of a deviation from their Manx ethos. Given that they don’t use temperature control during the fermentation a multitude of yeast strains will be used during winter and summer.
“Where can I buy your whisky” I asked? This is the sad part – you can’t! The whisky will not be ready until at the very earliest Christmas 2023, so if you want to stay up to date on planned releases and events, sign up like me and they will stay in touch; https://www.manxwhisky.com
Who are these lads? Scott is from the Isle of Man and Magnus from the west coast of Sweden. I’ve been to the IOM as a wee snipper, liked it, apart fae the ferry, I was seasick. Never been to Sweden though have friends there. Both thought that it was strange that no one had made a serious effort to make whisky there on the island so decided to start a small distillery that focused on doing the most local product they can, this means getting the grains straight from the farmer and taking care of the entire process themselves including floor malting of the grains. They are hardly empire builders and aim to release very limited quantities each year. The spirit is very much for the informed drinker who cares about nitty-gritty details (just like themselves!). I cannee wait to take a sample! PAUL MCLEAN
Wee chat with Magnus; “Hi Paul, We are just outside Baldrine (Paul’s note; near the Laxey Wheel, went there as a wee lad). Scott is mostly working with the farmers and is also doing the barley cleaning and all logistics related to this. He also builds some of our custom made equipment (you’d be surprised how little equipment there is off the shelf for microscopic distilleries!), I do the rest of the production – malting, mashing, fermentation, distilling and oversee the maturation (all this is done on site”).
I would suggest one to keep an eye on!