The Chain – 5 year old – Chain Pier Distillery

Notes from the Bottler:
Chain Pier Distillery was set up in 2019 as an experimental distillery and as a pre-cursor to the new Bonnington Distillery in Edinburgh. It was the first time whisky had been distilled in the City of Edinburgh for over 100 years. The distillery ONLY EVER created 39 casks before it was shut down. Uncharted Whisky has bottled one already (#34), has one lying down for further maturation (#36), and this one (#8).

The distillery was in an industrial area of Leith. The building is now a maturation warehouse although much of the surrounding industry has been demolished to make way for apartment buildings.

The liquid from this cask is beautiful marmalade amber in colour – with a bright berry and chocolate fragrance. Maturation has been exclusively in a first fill French red wine barrique.

Distilled on 19th April 2019 and bottled in March 2025, with an Outturn of only 294 bottles.
Non-chill filtered and natural colour.

NOSE
A heavy and meaty distillate. Rich and heady. No malt traces of new make remain despite the young age. Heavy black treacle, cinnamon, and saw dust. With water a touch of lemon creeps in

PALATE
This dram doesn’t taste like any red wine cask I have ever tried before. Any winey influence doesn’t appear until the finish. The dram is rich and full bodied- the distillate is the star of the show without it being ‘spiritous’. The wood has added bags of flavour too but you could be forgiven for thinking this was a sweet fortified wine cask

FINISH
The heavy spirit slides off the palate leaving butterscotch and oak in it’s wake. Brighter red fruit emerges and a touch of the red wine. Stunning.

57.6% ABV.