A mermaid swims across the label. That is no accident. The bottle was drawn for Denmark, and The Highlander Inn in Craigellachie let Hans Christian Andersen have the final word on how a Danish exclusive should look.
The expert description
Deveronside 2007/2023 Maggies Collection 16 Years Old is a Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky from MacDuff, matured in a hogshead and bottled at 49.8%.
MacDuff stands near Banff on the north coast, where the river Deveron meets the Moray Firth. The distillery started in 1962, and the name Deveronside appears whenever independent bottlers release MacDuff casks under something other than the distillery name. This cask, number 800219, was filled in 2007 and bottled in 2023 after sixteen years in a single hogshead. It gave 224 bottles.
Maggies Collection is The Highlander Inn’s own series, named after Maggie Riegler, a local artist from Craigellachie. She drew the labels for the inn’s bottlings until 2012 and died in 2018, but her hand still marks the range. This release is bottled without chill filtration and without added colour.
Tasting notes
Nose
Dried apricot and orange marmalade, honey on warm bread, and behind it a faint waxy note like old furniture polish.
Palate
Powerful without being harsh. Malt and pale caramel first, then baked apple, cinnamon and a nutty middle drawn out of the active hogshead.
Finish
Long and dry with pepper, orange peel and a last touch of salted caramel.
Specifications
Name: Deveronside 2007/2023 Maggies Collection 16 Years Old
Distillery: MacDuff
Bottler: The Highlander Inn
Region/Country: Highland Scotland
Type: Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Age: 16 years
ABV: 49.8%
Size: 70 CL
Cask type: Hogshead
Non-chill filtered: Yes
Natural colour: Yes
Distilled: 2007
Bottled: 2023
Number of bottles: 224
Edition: Maggies Collection
Flavour profile
Fruity · Malty · Spiced · Waxy · Single Cask
Investment potential
Medium. One cask, 224 bottles and a release made solely for the Danish market is a combination that has historically made bottles hard to find again. The series also carries a settled collector following around The Highlander Inn.
Did you know?
The Highlander Inn is a pub with rooms in the middle of Craigellachie, and more than five hundred different whiskies stand behind the bar. It has been run by Tatsuya Minagawa from Japan since 2011. A Scottish village inn with a Japanese landlord is not the obvious arrangement, but it works.
See our full range of MacDuff