Fielden Whisky of England, a whisky dedicated to supporting England’s farms across the country, launched its inaugural Harvest Blend Rye Whisky on 1st August 2024.
And I have a bottle in front of me, which is better than a frontal lobotomy. Old joke.
Fielden as you might guess is an Old English word meaning ‘of the field’ and it was chosen because Fielden has a mission to bring England’s fields back to life with heritage grains grown on regenerative farms, using traditional farming techniques which revitalise the land, without chemical inputs.
With so much land given over to meat farming ( often cited as a bigger cause of climate change than burning fossil fuels) or turned to farming solar energy, this has to be a worthy enterprise.
Of course if the whisky is no good, then it all means nothing but thankfully this is a very good whisky.
The Harvest 2019 Rye Whisky has the distinct characteristics of the heritage grains it’s made from. Mild weather and summer rain in 2019 meant the rye gathered in was brighter and more delicate in its character than usual. The resulting whisky tastes of early summer: fresh, floral and full of fruity flavours with a hint of zesty spice on the finish.
Harvest 2019 Rye Whisky is the first edition in a new annual series celebrating Fielden’s grain harvest. The vintage indicates the year in which the grains were grown and harvested, and so reflects the weather patterns and their influence on the grain in the given year. Fielden plants a mix of heritage varieties, with tiny genetic differences, which grow tall and strong, and can adapt naturally to the soil and weather, creating diverse flavour profiles in the grain.
Each year Fielden will launch a new edition for Lammas Day (1st August), a date in the calendar traditionally marking the start of the harvest and a time to honour the first crops. This whisky, and the whiskies to follow in the series, will celebrate the flavour nuances of the grains from one growing season to the next.
Harvest 2019 Rye Whisky is made from diverse populations of rye (73%), wheat and barley, with small amounts being malted. The mash was fermented for five days in stainless steel tanks and then double distilled in pot and column stills. The resulting spirit matured in a combination of nine casks: mostly American oak (STR and second-fill casks), with a Sauternes barrel and a Ramandolo barrique. After a slow marriage, the spirit was gradually reduced to 50% abv..
The rye, wheat and barley used by Fielden is grown exclusively for the distillery on farms stretching from Cornwall to Warwickshire. The mixed crops they grow were once common before the turn of the 20th century when the hybrid varieties now used in both conventional and organic farming were created.
Fielden’s fields look very different to industrially farmed fields, they are full of wildflowers, birds and insects as heritage grains thrive without the need for the pesticides and fertilisers essential in intensive arable farming. They take more nutrients in from the soil and deliver a flavour profile unique to its heritage grains.
Harvest 2019 Rye Whisky is priced at a RRP of £80.00 for 70cl and it is available to purchase via fielden.com, Berry Bros. & Rudd and specialist retailers .
Fielden Rye Whisky Tasting Notes:
AT FIRST: Floral as in orange blossoms and roses, herbal and herbaceous, candy floss, buttery and milky (banana yoghurt), raspberries and other fresh berries (not dark ones though), fresh ginger and apricot.
THE TASTE: Refreshing herbs and delicate summer fruits (raspberries, apricots), soft pastries: brioche bun, cream and greengage Clafoutti. Medium body compared to the fuller bodied core Fielden expression.
THE FINISH: A hint of white peppercorn, fresh ginger feeling and long-lasting lemon thyme.