A Speyside stalwart and a key component of Long John blended whisky, Tormore distillery was designed by the renowned Alexander Cullen with input from Sir Albert Richardson (two of the great architects of their time), and was one of the first new distilleries built in the 20th century. “Torra Mhoir” is Gaelic for “big hill”, a reference to the nearby Cairngorms National Park. Since construction finished in the 1960s the distillery has changed hands a number of times before being sold by Pernod Ricard to Elixir Distillers in 2022. In recent years traditional methods of production have been reinstituted, believed to enhance the fruit character and overall quality of the spirit.

The whisky spent the majority of its life in a refill hogshead before being moved into a first fill Oloroso sherry hogshead in 2023. While we were keen to see it reach its 30th birthday, when we sampled this recently, we knew it was the right time to bottle this gem. We are so excited to add this 29 year old wonder to our second release.

Representing the dark-squared bishop, “Bc2” is the third limited edition release in the Chess series. Although sometimes viewed as weak because it only has access to half the board, moving diagonally along dark-coloured squares, the bishop gains strength in the end game as more squares free up. This subtle strength is seen in the “Black Bishop”, another beautiful label by Toronto-based artist Alexander Perkins.

This single malt scotch whisky is non-chill filtered and naturally coloured, yielding 153 bottles at a cask strength of 43.6% ABV.