Ardgowan Distillery unveils first unique cask design in a century with £100m deal

L-R: Stuart MacPherson, Martin McAdam, and Roland Grain visit Ardgowan’s unique Infinity Casks at Bodegas Miguel Martín’s warehouse in Sanlúcar de Barrameda

We are delighted to announce that Ardgowan Distillery has signed a £100 million deal with one of Spain’s oldest sherry cask producers to secure a decades long supply of our unique ‘Infinity Casks’  - marking what is believed to be the first unique cask design for the Scottish Whisky industry in more than 100 years.

The Distillery has commissioned Bodegas Miguel Martín to construct the sustainably sourced European oak casks, at a cost of between 30 and 40 times more than standard whisky casks. 

As construction of our £20m distillery building project begins, Ardgowan has also appointed our new Master of Wood, Stuart MacPherson, who joins us from Edrington and brings 43 years of experience at some of the world’s most successful spirits companies, including more than a decade as Master of Wood at The Macallan. 

Martin McAdam, CEO of Ardgowan Distillery, said:

“With up to 80% of whisky aromas and flavours deriving from casks, it's imperative to have a Master of Wood as experienced as Stuart to perfect our maturation process. The cask supply contract is an enormous commitment from Ardgowan and demonstrates our dedication to quality and our desire to create a fantastic whisky.

“The Ardgowan Infinity Cask is specifically designed for us and is the first unique cask design for the Scottish Whisky industry in over a century. The casks are specifically designed for long-maturation and will be seasoned with organic sherry for 27 months - far longer than the industry standard of 12-18 months.

“While others hurry to take their whisky to market Ardgowan has made a conscious decision to delay the introduction of our single malt to market to make sure we’re getting the most out of these special casks.”

Roland Grain, principal shareholder at Ardgowan and Director of Investments commented:

“Our partnership with Bodegas Miguel Martín is indicative of our commitment to creating what we hope to be the finest whisky in the world. The first batch of Ardgowan Infinity Casks have already been manufactured and are now seasoning for at least two years in Bodegas’ dunnage warehouse in Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

“While many distilleries tend to just finish their spirits in sherry casks, our whisky will be matured for its whole life in these first-fill Infinity Casks. We have already spent more money on our casks than many others are investing into building a distillery.”

We have already revealed plans for our £20 million distillery, our ‘cathedral of whisky’, with first production scheduled for 2024.  A total funding package of £24m has been secured for the project so far, with the distillery recently raising in excess of £3.6m via a convertible loan note to shareholders.

Roland added:

“We’re fortunate to have received excellent financial support from investors so far as we commit to delivering to a true low carbon distillery, and shortly we will be announcing our Clan Ardgowan programme enabling whisky lovers around the world to join our crusade.”

In addition to creating 47 local jobs for Inverclyde, we have invested in leading technologies to put sustainability at the heart of our plans, partnering with Heriot-Watt University and engineers Briggs of Burton to develop pioneering technology to capture all of the CO2 in its fermentation process and transform it into green biomethane. The technique has never been used in a Scotch whisky distillery before.