Since its first release in 2018, Fife-based farm distillery Daftmill has made quite a name for itself. Brothers Francis and Ian Cuthbert are the sixth generation of their family to grow malting barley on their farm, but the first to start distilling. They make just 100 casks a year, distilled in the farm’s off-season, which are carefully aged for 10 years or more until they’re ready for release.

Given the size of their production, and each limited release, the Daftmill whiskies sell out astonishing quickly. But, just as with wine, there are plenty of people trading or flipping bottles, rather than opening them. After its single-cask releases earlier this year sold out in record time, the Cuthberts spotted them on auction sites at vastly inflated prices. “As much as we appreciate the high demand for our whisky, we’ve always distilled with the goal of it being opened and drunk by people that really enjoy a dram,” said Francis.

And so the brothers decided that they would release a single cask that could only be savoured by the dram, in selected bars, by people who really love whisky. “It’s a great way to ensure that every bottle we release will be opened and drunk over the next few months,” Francis explained. If you’re heading north of the border, it’s certainly worth making sure you build in a trip to one of the Independent Whisky Bars of Scotland for a taste – we suspect the cask won’t last long.

From today, you can find 2008 Daftmill, Cask No.68 in the Independent Whisky Bars of Scotland:

• Dornoch Castle Hotel, Dornoch, Sutherland
• Fiddler’s, Loch Ness, Drumnadrochit
• The Highlander Inn, Craigelllachie
• The Pot Still, Glasgow
• The Bon Accord, Glasgow

Read more about Daftmill here