Cardrona Growing Wings 375ml

Growing Wings is the next stage in Cardrona Distillery's 'hatching' series, a young single malt spirit that has spent a short stretch in cask after the unaged 'Just Hatched' release but well before full maturity. That brief wood contact starts to round out the raw grain character with early vanilla and light oak, though it's still closer to new-make than to a finished single malt. Cardrona distills in Central Otago, New Zealand, one of the country's more remote whisky-producing regions, and this series is designed specifically to show drinkers how a spirit changes at each stage of maturation. It's a whisky for the curious rather than for casual sipping.

How to drink Cardrona Growing Wings

Try it neat alongside Just Hatched and an older Cardrona single malt if you can find one — tasted in sequence, the three show exactly what time in oak adds at each stage. On its own, a few drops of water help open the early oak notes.

WhiskyMash bill: Barley · Central Otago, New Zealand