One Cask at a Time unveils its latest bottling, a 15-year-old Jura single malt

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Six months ago, Gentleman’s Journal was invited up to Gosford House just outside Edinburgh, where a party of whisky experts and enthusiasts gathered to celebrate new independent whisky bottler, One Cask at a Time. In the mansion’s magnificent two-tier Marble Hall, surrounded by grand Edwardian-era artworks, all 150 guests were asked to take part in a blind tasting — to determine which whisky would become the brand’s next bottling.

As the chatter on the night suggested, the results saw one particular dram win by a landslide. And that whisky — which also got Gentleman’s Journal’s vote — turned out to be a rich, mellifluous 15-year-old Jura single malt, matured in an Oloroso sherry casks. Now, the hotly-anticipated bottling is finally ready to join One Cask at a Time’s storied ‘Pendulum’ range, with just 280 bottles of the complex scotch being made available to buyers.

So why was this single malt such a runaway hit during the tasting? Firstly, that incredible colour. Just look at it. It’s like the lid of a well-played piano, or the studded leather of an antique wingback. It’s cigar-brown; a deep, enticing mahogany with slow, deliberate legs that cling to the glass. Before you even nose the stuff, you know what you’re in for — intense interplay between a tapestry of unctuous flavours.

Nosing confirms this. A long, softly unfolding profile delivers a new note with every single sniff — beginning with an initially waxy texture, before offering up a more decadent, molasses-like sweetness. But it’s not overbearing, or saccharine. Think more rounded and rich. There’s a dash of damson in its dark fruit depths, and some soft baking spices simmering away in there, too. Cinnamon, certainly. Ginger, perhaps.

And, beneath those comforting pudding-y notes, a brisk coastal breeze occasionally blows in. It’s not there in every nose, but the whisky’s gentle salinity comes and goes like the tide — and is tempered with brackish peat, like the smoke from a beach fire.

And so onto the sipping. We remember it well — a silky, full-bodied and spirited spirit from the very first sip. It’s little wonder this Jura clinched the top spot. That rounded sweet scent is the first flavour to evolve on the palate, turning from treacly to something slightly spicier. Think mincemeat melding with hints of warming oak spice. It really is a treat.

The mid-palate, similarly, reminds us that this is a whisky aged in sherry casks. There’s a raisin and sultana sweetness, but also chocolate-dipped dates, woody roasted hazelnuts and even a swell of clove-tinged red wine. That briny note crashes back to the fore, before everything pulls back and slows down for a long, warm finish. Waves of brown sugar and fruit cake gradually yield to that same smoky wisp we encountered while nosing, managing to weave Demerara sweetness with savoury salinity one last time.

But that’s fitting, as Jura itself is a wild, rugged and windy place. We may have first tasted this magnificent whisky as guests up in Scotland, but it remains a transportive dram when tasted even hundreds of miles from Jura’s bracing sea spray. And Russell Bradley, head of brand development at One Cask at a Time, thinks much the same.

“I’ve long been an admirer of Jura’s whiskies,” he tells us, "and was delighted when guests chose this cask as the next bottling. It’s a stunning dram: well-rounded and refined with a true sense of Jura’s character.”

But, while the whisky’s heritage gives it character, One Cask at a Time is also boldly future-facing — and every bottle features an encrypted NFC tag, or ‘Bottle Passport’ on the neck to enable owners to verify authenticity and access detailed information about their whisky. It’s a lovely touch, and one that allows you to relax into the legacy of your chosen bottle. We’re just very grateful that, in some small way, Gentleman’s Journal could play a part in this delicious, dark whisky making it back out into the world.