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Next Auction starts Friday 29 March. Bottle Deadline: 18 March.

Bruichladdich Dramfool Jim McEwan Signature Collection 1.1 & 2.1 / Bottle #013

Lot: 336652

Bruichladdich Dramfool Jim McEwan Signature Collection 1.1 & 2.1 / Bottle #013

Winning Bid: £986

Currency Estimate

Important: Currency exchange rates are constantly changing; this feature is to be used as a guide price only. All final transactions occur in British Pounds (£).
Lot:
Distillery: 
Bruichladdich
Age: 
see lot description
Vintage: 
see lot description
Region: 
Islay
Bottler: 
Dramfool
Cask Type: 
see lot description
Bottled Strength: 
59.8-61.8%
Bottle Size: 
2 x 70cl
Distillery Status: 
Operational
product Details

Bruichladdich Dramfool Jim McEwan Signature Collection 1.1 & 2.1 

Founded in 2015, Dramfool is a small independent bottling label created by Bruce Farquhar. Many of these releases have received high praise, and the collection features some interesting distilleries. Whisky Auctioneer is delighted to have partnered with the company to launch Jim McEwan's Signature Collection. The range comprises of nine releases, each containing three single cask bottlings from Jim McEwan's private collection. 

Despite having come out of retirement to take on a new challenge at Ardnahoe distillery on Islay, his enduring legacy (for the time being at least) is his success in rejuvenating the neighbouring Bruichladdich when it re-opened in 2001. Born on the island, Jim began his career at Bowmore, starting out on 1st August 1963 at the age of 15 as an apprentice cooper, he worked his way up to cellar master at the distillery's famous warehouses before moving to Glasgow at the age of 28 to train as a blender for parent company, Morrison Bowmore. After eight years, Jim returned to Islay at the request of Suntory to become its new distillery manager at Bowmore before ending his illustrious 38 year career as an ambassador for not only Islay's oldest working distillery, but the island itself. When the offer was made to reopen and manage the redundant Bruichladdich, Jim leapt at the chance to reawaken this mothballed giant, and revitalise both it and its importance to the island. Over the next decade and a half, he helped transform the image of the distillery, breathing new life into its existing stock with a pioneering new wood policy, and reviving the historic tradition of peated single malt production by introducing the Port Charlotte and Octomore brands, and of course, the acclaimed The Botanist gin.

It was during his illustrious tenure at Bruichladdich that Jim acquired the private collection of casks that forms this exclusive Dramfool range. Each release will feature a single cask of each of the three Bruichladdich single malts.

Bottles 1-20 and 88 in the auction are presented as 2-bottle lots including their equivalent number from the second release before it has even launched.

Winners of bottles #1-20 and #88 will also receive first refusal on that same bottle number in subsequent releases, presenting aspiring collectors with the opportunity to complete the full Jim McEwan Signature Collection in the same bottle numbers.

Release number one pays a fitting tribute to Jim's use of exceptional quality wine casks to revitalise the old Whyte & Mackay-distilled stock when he took charge at the distillery twenty years ago. They had such an influence that their use is now a cornerstone of Bruichladdich production.

This 2007 vintage Bruichladdich single malt was aged for 13 years in a first-fill Bordeaux red wine cask and bottled in February 2021. The chateau being one of only four to be awarded the Premier Cru (First Growth) status in the 1855 Official Classification. One of 265 bottles.

The second selection highlights Jim's favourite wood type, first-fill bourbon. Release 2.1 is a 2008 vintage Bruichladdich single malt and was aged for 12 years in a first-fill bourbon cask from Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky. With over 200 years of distilling heritage at the site, the distillery has one of the strictest wood policies in the American whiskey industry, insisting on six month ageing for every oak barrel before charring. One of 215 bottles.

This lot has a 2 bottle shipping fee.

Important Notice

We would recommend viewing/close inspection prior to placing any bids. If this is not an option and you have questions beyond the offered description and images, please contact us for a more in-depth condition report. Otherwise lots will be sold as seen in the images.

Please note: Due to the various ages of bottles and their seals, condition of liquid is at the buyer's discretion and no claim can be lodged against failure/leakage in transit.