Alfred Giraud Harmonie French Malt Whisky

When compared to a juggernaut such as Scotland, French whisky making is still in its infancy, having begun in the late 1980s. They are, however, no strangers to producing premium spirits. The story of Alfred Giraud begins in 1910 when Louis Giraud started working in a maison de cognac (cognac house), where he honed his skills in production, blending, and aging. His son Alfred and grandson Andr followed in his footsteps, working in cooperage and eventually becoming Cellar Masters. The tradition wasnt broken until Jean-Pierre Giraud decided to turn to Scotch whisky in 1995. This led to the creation of Alfred Giraud French Malt Whisky, named after Jean-Pierres grandfather.The operation relies on a number of factors: The triple malt blend is sourced from 3 renowned distilleries, among them Warrenghem the first French distillery to take on whisky. Then there is the familys deep knowledge of wood, aging techniques, as well as their forestry operation in Limousin that provides wood for casks. They take pride in their blending expertise that stems from cognac, where up to 80 different liquids can make the final blend.The Alfred Giraud Harmonie lightly-peated expression has a long journey before being bottled. Its based on 3 non-peated French malt distillates that have been matured in 3 different casks. The majority of the maturing takes place in hand-picked very old ex-cognac casks, with some additional new French Limousin and American oak casks. Afterwards, the blend matures solely in extra old ex-cognac casks. It is then blended with a lightly-peated French malt distillate and finished in those very same extra old ex-cognac casks before being bottled at 92.2 proof. The resulting spirit is as complex as its long journey and strictly limited, as it depends on the number of extraordinary casks they can acquire.Get one of these limited bottles today!