Oban – The MacLeans Young Teddy (70cl, 50.8%)

Oban – The MacLeans Young Teddy is a whisky from Oban (Highlands). Bottled at 50.8% ABV, 70cl. Towards the latter half of the 18th century, the Duke of Argyll, keen to encourage economic prosperity in the region, offered extremely low rents to people willing to settle on his lands. Two people who took advantage of this opportunity were the Stevenson brothers, who utilised a slate quarry on the island of Belnahua to construct several buildings, including a brewery, in the mainland fishing village of Oban. Oban is unusual in being both a seaside distillery and an urban one. Its story is inextricably tied to the town in whose High Street it is wedged. Indeed, the site is as old as the present town itself. What was originally started as a brewery, by 1794, distillation of whisky was taking place. Oban will always be a small distillery due to their building being built in the centre of the town, with no room for expansion. The distillery is still relatively small in terms of production, and chooses not to operate at its full capacity, favouring a long fermentation period in an effort to preserve the characteristic coastal style that has won it so many admirers over the years, especially in the United States. Young Teddy