Introducing the Scotch Lovers’ Collection – And No, It’s Not Scotch!
I am incredibly excited to announce Lost Lantern’s Fall Collection: the Scotch Lovers’ Collection, launching on Wednesday, November 12th!
The Scotch Lovers’ Collection is an invitation to Scotch lovers to take a deep dive with us into the more traditional side of American single malt. None of the whiskies in this Collection are Scotch (after all, that can only be made in Scotland!). Instead, they are American single malts and blends of American single malts that are specifically chosen to speak to Scotch drinkers.
If you’re a Scotch lover and don’t know much about American single malt, or haven’t loved what you’ve tried, or think they’re a little too different from what you’re used to: this is the Collection for you.
The Scotch Lovers’ Collection is our invitation to Scotch lovers to explore, or dive a little deeper, into the world of American malts. And we’ve put together a Collection that is truly one of a kind, featuring extremely special whiskies that we sourced specifically for this Collection. We have always loved American single malt–after all, Lost Lantern is modeled on Scotch independent bottlers and we were both Scotch lovers first–but this is our first Collection entirely focused on American malts.
This Collection launches on November 12th and will be available, as usual, on our website, Seelbach’s, and at select retailers in California, New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. It will also be available at our Vermont tasting room.
Here is the lineup, with details further below:
Blend Series
- American Vatted Malt Remix: Aka American Vatted Malt Edition 2, the long-awaited sequel to our most award-winning and top-selling whiskey
- American Vatted Malt Reissue: A limited reissue of the first whiskey we ever released
- Shadow & Light (honorary member): Our peated and mesquited blended malt created in partnership with the docuseries ‘Independent Spirits’
Single Casks
- Warfield Idaho Single Malt: The first cask strength release from a rising star of American single malt
- Triple Eight Peated Massachusetts Single Malt: One of the first three single casks ever released from this legendary distillery, and their first peated whiskey.
- Triple Eight 10 Year Old Massachusetts Single Malt: A showstopper single malt that truly proves what American single malt can be
- Triple Eight 11 Year Old Massachusetts Single Malt Sauternes Aged: Fully aged in a Sauternes cask for 11 years, and the oldest whiskey we’ve ever released
- McCarthy’s 10 Year Old Peated Oregon Single Malt: The oldest and first 10 year old whiskey ever released from America’s first single malt
The Blends
Five years ago, we launched Lost Lantern with one of the first blends of American single malt ever created, American Vatted Malt Edition No. 1: a whiskey that showed how distinct this new style of whiskey could be.
Five years later, it is time at last for American Vatted Malt Edition No. 2, a.k.a. American Vatted Malt Remix. This new blend shows how American single malt has truly come into its own and emerged as an important style of whiskey on the world stage. This blend takes the very last of the original American Vatted Malt and adds in American single malt from five other world-class distilleries: McCarthy’s in Oregon, Westland in Washington, Whiskey Del Bac in Arizona, Cedar Ridge in Iowa, and Andalusia in Texas.
This eleven-distillery blend, the most expansive we have ever made, captures the depth and breadth of American single malt in one bottle. It is maltier, richer, and slightly smokier than the first American Vatted Malt, and has a higher portion of used oak – so it is a bridge between a traditional Scotch profile and a more new oak-forward American one.
American Vatted Malt Reissue is not technically a new whiskey at all. It is a limited-edition re-bottling of American Vatted Malt Edition No. 1, the last of our very first whiskey, now sporting a new label to match the look of American Vatted Malt Remix and our other new whiskies. If you missed it the first time, this will be your last chance to try it!
American Vatted Malt Edition No. 1 Reissue is and remains our most award-winning whiskey and our top-selling whiskey ever. It is a blend of American single malts from six distilleries: Balcones in Texas, Copperworks in Washington, Santa Fe Spirits in New Mexico, Triple Eight in Massachusetts, Virginia Distillery Co. and Westward in Oregon. This landmark blend, one of the first blends of American Single Malt ever created, was actually a result of a collaborative blending session featuring all six distilleries.
This peated and mesquited blended malt brings together two types of smoke and we blended it explicitly for the smoky Scotch lover’s palate. It brings together peated whiskey from Cedar Ridge in Iowa and McCarthy’s in Oregon with mesquited whiskey from Santa Fe Spirits in New Mexico and Whiskey Del Bac in Arizona. We created this unique whiskey in partnership with the new docuseries Independent Spirits: A Whisky Series, and wrote about it at greater length here. It’s an honorary member of the Scotch Lovers’ Collection.
The Single Casks
Located just outside Sun Valley, Warfield is one of the only certified organic distilleries in the country and one of just a handful of American distilleries with traditional Forsyths pot stills, the gold standard in Scotland. It is entirely focused on American single malt.
This is our first release from Warfield, aged in used ex-bourbon barrels for four years at a higher elevation than the highest point in Scotland. It reminds us of lighter Speyside malts or single malts from the Lowlands, yet with a distinct mountain heft – a light flavor profile yet a high proof. This is, in fact, the first cask-strength release ever to come from Warfield!
Triple Eight Peated, 10 Year Old, and 11 Year Old Sauternes Cask
If you asked every American single malt distiller in the United States what they thought the best American single malt in the country was, we have zero doubt that the consensus would be The Notch–the flagship American single malt that Triple Eight makes and painstakingly ages on Nantucket Island. The Notch, normally 12 to 15 years old and primarily available on Nantucket, is arguably the finest example of what American Single Malt can be.
So we are incredibly honored to release the first three single casks and first cask strength releases ever to come from Triple Eight: their first peated single malt, which reminds us of smoky malts from the Scottish Islands; an exceptional 10 year old single cask, reminiscent of rich Speyside or Highlands drams; and an exquisite 11 year old malt aged entirely in a Sauternes cask, akin to bold, bright, and honeyed Highlands whiskies.
You may never have had the chance to try Triple Eight before, and we hope these releases will help make their whiskey accessible to a new audience.
McCarthy’s 10 Year Old Peated Oregon Single Malt
McCarthy’s is the original American single malt, and the sole whiskey produced by Oregon’s Clear Creek distillery, which primarily makes brandies, eaux-de-vie, and other spirits from Pacific Northwest fruit. First released in the 1990s, McCarthy’s has become an icon of American single malt. Yet they’ve never released a 10 year old whiskey.
Until now.
This release is the oldest whiskey ever released from McCarthy’s, long one of our favorite distilleries. A deep and smoky malt, reminiscent of powerful Islay malts.
If you’re a Scotch lover, consider the Scotch Lovers’ Collection your invitation to join us in exploring the world of American malts more deeply. The Collection launches on November 12th!