Michel Couvreur The Unexpected Whisky, France

The second iteration of 100% French whisky from Michel Couvreur. The unaged spirit was distilled from the Vanessa variety of barley in the French Alps, then transported to Bouze-les-Beaune and aged 10 years in a mix of Oloroso, Amantillado and Pedro Ximenez casks. In the 1950’s, Michel Couvreur, originally from Belgium, landed in Burgundy to make and market wine there. He took frequent trips to England and Scotland to sell his wines but was always particularly drawn to Scotland for the fishing and hunting. Eventually, he decided to move to Scotland in 1964 and became enamored with the production of whisky, from the selection of the most ancient strains of cereals to seeking out extremely rare Sherry casks for aging. It became Michel’s dream to make his own unique Scotch whiskies, but unfortunately, times were changing; many of these old methods were being replaced by new, cheaper ones, swapping the old, traditionally-used Sherry casks for more cost-effective steel or plastic vessels. B