If there’s one thing founder Michael Ballantyne knows it’s good scotch and tequila.
With a background in culinary arts and a love for cask aged drinks that are sipped neat, 4 years ago Michael went on a journey to Tequila country to ask Master Distiller Luis Trejo from La Cofradia Distillery a burning question: “If scotch is aged in more than just ex-bourbon casks, why can’t we add new flavours to tequila by using casks from scotch whisky?”. It was at that moment the two’s love for their own national drinks created the unique idea to age tequila in scotch whisky casks sourced from Dufftown, Scotland.
Storywood is the next chapter in Michael’s love for agave spirits married to a scotch inspired wood programme now known as Storywood Tequila, with a UK distribution deal with Halewood International.
Travelling to cooperages and distilleries all over Scotland in order to find the perfect wood casks for Storywood’s expressions, Michael settled on Speyside- the home to some of the world’s finest Single Malts.
Born in Mexico, aged by Scotland, Storywood Tequila takes a torch to tradition. Not a shot glass in sight, Storywood encourages you to live free and sip slow, this is represented in the slow maturing process also. The agave plants used in Storywood are grown slowly, between 8 – 12 years giving them time to develop and mature before they are pulled from the ground. The spirit is then aged in Scotch whisky casks, bringing a new era to tequila.
The core range includes the Speyside Anejo and Speyside Reposado. The Speyside Anejo, aged 14 months in Scottish Speyside whisky barrels, with notes of toasted oak, roasted nuts and treacle toffee with an ABV of 40% and RRP £40. The Speyside Reposado is aged 7 months in Speyside whisky barrels, with notes of caramel, oak, vanilla and honey on an earthy agave base with an ABV of 40% and RRP £29.90.
Storywood Tequila will be available to purchase from specialist retailers and from Halewood wines & spirits at halewood-int.com from September 2019.
Founder of Storywood Tequila Michael Ballantyne said:
“If there is one thing I know it’s flavour through oak so I’m excited to bring to the industry my next chapter. Here at Storywood we really are about writing our own rulebook, creating unique barrel aged liquids and pushing on what we love best – innovation. Born in Mexico but aged by Scotland our mission is to make tequila more accessible to a wider audience encouraging brown spirit drinkers to step outside their comfort zone. We want to encourage our Storywood tribe to live free but sip slow, taking the time to sip and savour as you would with any fine barrel aged liquid. Welcome to a new era of tequila.”
