76.154 Shore reflections (Creators Collection)

Description

From the team

We head down the stairs leaving behind The Vaults and walk to the Shore, a place that is iconic to Leith and featured on the label for Cask 76.154 Shore reflections. It also has quite a significance for Shona. “I live in Leith, but I’m not originally from here,” she says. “I’ve lived abroad and in different cities, but I always come back to Leith. That’s what homecoming really means to me. I feel really at home, in this town.”

Leith’s place in the history of the spirits trade is also still visible on many of the buildings on the Shore. “You see little elements of that in the design, but then also the shoreline itself, which I represented by using bottles as some of the buildings.”

The whisky from Distillery 76 comes from an ex-sherry cask, a deliberate homage to the Shore and the Port of Leith and its role in the sherry trade. This is where casks would arrive from Spain to be decanted – and subsequently filled with whisky that transformed during maturation in the sherry-soaked wood. Although no longer the hub of industry it once was, there are reminders around the Shore and across Leith of the legacy of the spirits trade here, once a home to over 90 bonded warehouses along with distilleries, cooperages, blending facilities and more.

I wind up our walk by asking Shona what inspires her about the Society. “There’s a sense of community and friendship,” she says.

“The Society’s always trying to do something different, so it was cool for me to explore the ideas and push myself in terms of my illustrative style.”

Tasting Panel notes

Juicy baked apples, rolled in demerara sugar, paraded on old leather-bound books alongside ginger biscuits, a raisin-rich fruit loaf, and sticky quince jelly. A glorious wave of deep fruits delivered stewed rhubarb served with plum brandy, calvados, cassis and kirsch wrapped within liqueur chocolates. Adding water beckoned the arrival of thick and creamy custard that oozed over the baked apples, now joined by poached pears, roasted chestnuts and a dollop of plum jam. Finally, like a crescendo of delight, we found a sweet and crumbly cheesecake base layered with clementine sponge, fig rolls and baked ricotta. On top was a sprinkling of lemon zest, cocoa nibs and beeswax honeycomb.