Virginia Distillery Cuvee Cask Store Pick Highland Whiskey 750ml

Virginia Distillery Company was founded in 2011 by the Moore family and opened its doors in Lovingston, Virginia, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, drawing its water from the surrounding mountain springs. The distillery built its early reputation on a hybrid approach, blending malt whisky it distilled on-site with mature single malt sourced from Scotland, marketed together as Virginia-Highland Whisky, a nod to both the state's terrain and the Highland tradition the brand draws on. This blended series became the distillery's flagship line while its wholly Virginia-distilled expressions, released under the Courage & Conviction name, continued aging toward their own eventual release.

Virginia-Highland Whisky is made entirely from malted barley, marrying the distillery's own new-make spirit with older Scottish malt before finishing the blend in specialty casks sourced from partners across Virginia and beyond. This particular Cuvée Cask bottling was selected as a single-barrel store pick, finished in first-fill European red wine Cuvée casks that undergo a shave, toast, and re-char treatment designed to draw out extra sugars and aromatics from the wood. That cask treatment layers in additional caramel, toffee, and vanilla character on top of the whisky's base malt profile, and the whisky is bottled at 46 percent ABV.

The nose offers plum and dark raspberry alongside rich chocolate torte and a touch of clove. On the palate, tart cherry and blood orange mingle with cocoa and burnt sugar, while the finish closes on candied walnut and ginger, a combination that showcases the depth the Cuvée cask treatment brings to the blend.