Christmas = Christmas Whisky! To bring in the festive season we have an Australian stunner of a whisky special release – the Chief’s Son ‘The Aiden 2016’ all the way from the multi-award winning distillery on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula in Victoria.
With these credentials it will take pride of place on your Christmas table.
- From one of the oldest casks at Chief‘s Son
- The first of the special ‘Family’ casks ever to be released
- Made available for Christmas exclusively for the Single Malt Whisky Club
- Casks originally coopered in France and used for Red Wine then Sherry
- Re-coopered for whisky casks by none other than legendary cooper, Andrew Young from Seppeltsfield Estate
- Each individually numbered bottle is individually laser etched
This time of year is family time for most of us. And so this year, we are super excited to offer an exclusive whisky made with family foremost in mind by Chief’s Son Distillery. In fact, this whisky is all about family. Forget Santa, make way for the Chief’s Son ‘The Aiden 2016’.
This whisky is out of one of the oldest casks in the Chief’s Son bond-store. Hand filled in 2016 by Stuart’s son, Aiden – and made available for Christmas exclusively to the Single Malt Whisky Club.
Born in 2011, Aiden is the 1st son of twin boys for Stuart and Naomi McIntosh. In early 2016 at the age of 4, Aiden filled his first whisky barrel, THE AIDEN 2016. This family tradition is now carried out by all three of the McIntosh kids in January each year. THE AIDEN 2016 is one of the oldest barrels in the Chief’s Son’s barrel inventory.
We are so very pleased to have been allowed access to this whisky that holds such a special place in the hearts of the McIntosh family. This is the very first release ever of one of these special ‘Family Casks’.
The French oak barrels were originally coopered by the Tonnellerie Sirugue cooperage in France, who utilise natural air drying of oak and open oak fire bending of staves. Used for both Red Wine and then Sherry/Apera, the used barrel was then acquired by YNOak based at Seppeltsfield Estate in Barossa. Legendary Australian master cooper, Andrew Young, has re-coopered this barrel for use as a spirit barrel, including first toasted and then charring to a heavy level craft char.
On top of all this – to make this bottling truly special, we have had our logo as well as the name of the whisky and bottle numbers laser-etched into the bottles themselves.
OUR TASTING NOTES
Nose: Some mustiness at first but the sweetness soon materialises in the form of maple syrup, with a touch of bubble gum thrown in, some apricots and delicate leathery notes.
Palate: Lovely rich oily mouthfeel here. A sweet yet nutty palate – with scorched almond brittle, caramel and slightly burnt toffee to boot. There’s also a suggestion of liquorice with just a little pepper at he back of the mouth.
Finish: More nut brittle, pepper and oak swirl over and around each other in a flurry of rich caramel syrup.
A lovely balance between the roast nuts and sweet caramel here – not too sweet but definitely not dry. Interestingly, on sharing my tasting notes with the Chief’s Son crew, it was revealed to me that their stills are electrically heated and they do get a lot of caramelisation of sugars onto the internal heating elements – hence the caramel notes. This whisky is just so very more-ish. I bet you’ll have poured another before the finish has run it’s course from the first dram!
FROM CHIEF’S SON
Many years ago, the following words were scribed by my father, Alasdair McIntosh, resulting in a family visit to Scotland, that directly resulted in the establishment of Chief’s Son Distillery.
“My grandparents passed the love of whisky through my parents to me and I want to make sure my children pass it onto their children.”
My father’s words continued to resonate with me every day and during our distilleries’ first official barrelling Naomi & I invited our three children to help fill some of the very first barrels, thus continuing our family’s connection to whisky and passing on the custodianship of our legacy to the next generation.
This is the first ever release of a ‘Family Reserve’ barrel to the public and Naomi and I are so excited to be able to share this wonderful whisky with the Single Malt Whisky Club members. This whisky is usually only reserved to be served at the most special of family gatherings at a time of celebration, welcoming or remembrance of family past and present.
So, my family invites you to share a glass (or two) of the Aiden 16 and take some time to celebrate, welcome or remember those family and friends closest to you.
– Stuart McIntosh
Appearance: Mahogany, brilliant clarity, 9/10 viscosity.
Nose: A complex coalition of nectarine, apricot, sweet roses and cigars, erupting into hard toffees, camphor, sherry and floral peat.
Taste: Clean, balanced oak with wild honey, lemon sponge and roasted malts, intense stone fruits fused with caramel and subtle floral peat.
Finish: Slow and long, toffee, sweet tobacco and deep oak.
ABOUT CHIEF’S SON
The Chiefs Son distillery is a family owned and run small batch distillery set on the picturesque Mornington Peninsula. Run by the McIntosh family, the distillery name refers to the Gaelic meaning of the family name McIntosh – ‘Son of the Chief’ (“Mhic an Tòisich”). The ‘900 Standard’ name comes from the 900 years since the establishment of the ‘Mcintosh’ name.
“For the past 500 years of our family’s long history, whisky has been at the epicentre of love and laughter, life and death, tears and triumphs. Our ancestors transformed exactly the same ingredients, utilised the same ancient craft and derived the same level of enjoyment as we do today. And going forward… it reaches so far forward past our future, connecting through the generations.”
Chief’s Son is handcrafted single malt whisky – made by utilising the very best of artisan ingredients, small batch processes, hand selected barrels and a totally manual distillation system.
