Domaine des Hautes Glaces Episteme R18P23 Yellow Square Malted Rye Whisky
An impressive French whisky from Domaine des Hautes, this is one of two expressions of Epist�m� R18P23 that are almost twins. This is Yellow Square, the other is Yellow Circle. They're both made from 100% malted rye from the same variety of rye (the local caroasse), and processed using identical production techniques during the summer of 2019.
The whisky is fermented for a long 140 hours (the tanks were inoculated with natural sourdough) and then double distilled in a 25-hectolitre pot still that is wood-fired before being matured twice, initially in Cognac casks and then in 'feuillette' casks, small barrels composed of staves of different varieties that have just 112-litre capacity.
Where they differ is micro-provenance. The idea was to create a whisky that would express terroir, so the only distinction is the plot where the rye was grown. For Yellow Square, the rye was grown at the foot of the Mont-Aiguille cliffs in a six-hectare plot cultivated by Christian Corr�ard, where limestone scree fed by the run-off waters of the Vercors and their sediments.