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Black Mountain launches maturation-at-sea trial
French whisky brand Black Mountain has partnered with sail transport firm TransOceanic Wind Transport to send a cask on board a boat to mature at sea for six months.
Black Mountain whisky boards the boat
The Black Mountain No.2 cask set off from Bordeaux on 2 May and will be transferred to the Grayhound, a cabotage vessel serving France, Southern England and the Isles of Scilly.
Black Mountain Compagnie set up the process to examine how the slow movement of the boat, temperature variations and presence of sea spray impact the whisky.
The cask contains 280 litres of whisky, which is likely to be bottled for a future limited release.
Cédric Leprette, co-founder of Black Mountain, said: “I am extremely concerned about the environment, and so are my associates, I also like this conqueror, adventurous, almost chivalric spirit! I find all of these aspects with TOWT: reviving sailing merchant navy in 2015 and introducing the initiative as a pioneering concept, this is simply awesome and jubilant.”
e added that the experiment is “kind of [a] return to the roots of whisky: it was actually following transportation of the spirit in barrels within sailing boats towards the colonies that [the] British discovered the positive impact of prolonged wood maturation on whisky.”
Black Mountain’s sea maturation experiment follows a move by The Savoy earlier this year to send a barrel containing a Jack Daniel’s cocktail to sea for four months.