Hemispheres is comprised of distillates from just two very different distilleries.
Worlds apart in almost every way you could imagine distilleries to be; scale, method, style, ethos - yet completely harmonious and in total synchronicity as soon as the two distillates met. But in their own very different ways, both the North British Distillery in Edinburgh and the Thomson Distillery of New Zealand embody the environment in which they find themselves.
Each shapes what whisky from that place is, how it is considered and indeed, how it tastes.
The story of this blend began when Nick, our Kiwi co-founder stumbled upon a sample of Thomson Whisky as he judged a competition whilst on holiday in his native New Zealand. It’s rare for people like us who sample hundreds of samples per year to be gobsmacked when tasting - but that was exactly his reaction to his first taste of Thomson Whisky.
When you talk to Rachael and Mat of Thomson Whisky, you hear a story that can’t help but inspire. We realised our role in blending this liquid wasn’t to integrate it into a melange of other flavours but to present it, preserving the character we found so alluring. That said, as blenders we were curious to see what would happen if… and indeed, we struck upon a formulation using liquid from our home town in Edinburgh, which somehow felt like it belonged.
These two distillates, worlds apart in almost every way act as a reminder that under one sky, in whisky and in life, there’s more to connect us than separate us. This herbal, smoky and complex liquid celebrates ever expanding possibilities within the world of whisky, and the new realms in which they meet.
THE TASTE
Thomson single malt lends a delicate smokiness, with hints of orange, incense, spice and a deep, herbal finish. North British is one of our favourite grain whiskies to blend with. It has heft, but softness. It invites other flavours in, and in the case of this combination yielded something quite spectacular with a nuttiness emerging mid-palate that we loved. It's long finish offers more and more, before gently finishing with a rounded softness and lingering smoke.
Beyond the whisky itself, the Thomson Whisky story is inspiring. Matt built his distilling apparatus himself, The Manuka Smoke malted barley is something unique to the place they find themselves in. Their approach, a fusion of traditional methods in a non-traditional place as they seek not simply to make a Kiwi version of Scotch, but allow the traditions they follow to grow and evolve to represent the place they are in. They so clearly love and respect the craft of whisky making and quietly are pushing it forward at the same time.
And whilst it’s taken a while for this project to come to fruition, it perfectly demonstrates our underlying purpose at Woven in our desire to search the entire world of whisky for interesting flavours, not just the inventories of Scotland. As lovers of Smoky whisky, this both delighted and perplexed us, but having understood the who and the how behind this spirit - we are absolutely besotted with the spirit that Thomson Distillery are making, and can’t wait for more people to experience it.
DISCOVER THOMSON WHISKY