Armorik Double Maturation

Like most small craft distilleries, quality is the main concern for the team at Distillerie Warenghem and Armorik is thus fermented, distilled, matured and bottled at the distillery itself under the watchful eye of distillery manager David Roussier.

The distillery’s water source is a 100m deep well called Rest Avel and unlike the rest of France, Brittany is on granite bedrock, not limestone. This makes the water slightly acidic and helps develop fruity aromas during fermentation. Distillerie Warenghem uses strictly French Non-GMO barley for its single malts, malting is done in Belgium and it is generally un-peated.

As with all single malts, the wash undergoes a double distillation in copper pot stills. The distillery currently produces around 100 000 LAP/Year. In terms of output this makes it about three times larger than a distillery like Sullivans Cove in Tasmania but five times smaller than a small Scottish enterprise like Benromach. The stills are based on the Scottish style but engineered in Cognac and they are one of the only distilleries in France with traditional Scottish style stills.

Although Armorik releases are generally matured in American oak ex-bourbon casks from Buffalo Trace and Heaven Hill and Spanish oak ex-oloroso sherry casks from Bodega Jose Y Miguel Martin, the Double Maturation release is unique in that it’s matured in Breton oak, sourced in the local forests of Bretagne through a partnership with the last remaining Breton cooper. Breton oak is very dense, even more so than American oak and therefore limits the impact of woody flavours and tannin while bringing a nice spiciness and natural sweetness to the whisky. The warehouse is also full of all sorts of casks used for French wines and spirits like Armagnac, Cognac, Sauternes etc. and these are usually bottled as single casks…another huge advantage of producing whisky in a country like France!

Armorik Double Maturation is bottled at 46%ABV, un-chillfiltered and at natural colour.