TWO Scottish brothers have made an independence statement with their latest whisky release in honour of their late founder.
Iain and Andrew Mundy – co-directors of Fife-based Fib Whisky – have released an 18-year-old single cask from North British Distillery in Edinburgh.
But given their late founder and proud independence supporter Aedan Burt refused to ever buy a cask from the distillery given its name, the independent bottlers have decided to name their release “South Scottish” in a fun and moving tribute to him.
The brothers – who were both keen Yes campaigners in 2014 – inherited the company in February 2023 following Aedan’s sudden death aged just 29.
Half of the singe grain cask – a refill bourbon originally from 1966 – has been bottled exactly as it arrived while the other half has been finished in a Banyuls red wine cask from the Coume Del Mas winery near Perpignan in the south of France, allowing people to taste the same cask of whisky before and after a finish.
Iain and Andrew told The National while they were keen to purchase a cask of North British to continue their passion of releasing single grain whisky, it was important to them at the same time to honour Aedan’s commitment to the Scottish independence cause.
“Our late founder Aeden point blank refused to ever buy a cask of whisky from North British Distillery because of its name. He considered the phrase North British to be a relic of the empire,” Iain said.
“Andrew and I very much like single grain whisky and we like getting casks of the older single grain because it’s underappreciated and presents very good value and it’s very tasty.
The iconic artwork by Scottish artist Orla Stevens on the front of the “before and after” set features the Scotland side of the border stone on the A68, with North British crossed out underneath and South Scottish written in its place.
“We wanted to honour Aedan’s memory by combining his two passions; Scottish independence and whisky,” Andrew added.
“We gave it the name it should have because of where it is. The artwork on the front shows the border stone and the fact North British is not in North Britain, it’s in South Scotland.
“The whole idea is, you are now in Scotland, not Britain.”
The "before and after" bottlings are cask strength and come in at 57.8% and 53.3% respectively.
The “after” bottling was finished for just 29 days in the Banyuls wine cask, but given it was so fresh it has completely changed its colour and very different tasting notes have emerged as a result.
This “South Scottish” release is extremely limited given the brothers got slightly unlucky with the yield from the cask, so will only be available for a short time.
Iain explained how buying whisky casks can be a lottery.
He said: “When you buy casks you can get lucky and you can get unlucky. As casks get older they can sadly develop leaks, the staves can warp and fail eventually, or it can be that it’s been recoopered poorly over the years.
“Changes in temperature and humidity can also affect things. It’s a bit of a lottery when you buy casks, so this special release will only be around for a wee while.”
To find out more, visit www.fibwhisky.scot
