This is an estimated arrival timeline. Timing can shift due to carrier schedules, port congestion, customs, or warehouse receiving.
Blackadder The Old Man of Hoy 21 Year Old, 1st Fill Jamaican Rum Cask
A 21 year old Orkney single malt, distilled on 2 June 2005 and drawn from a 1st fill Jamaican rum cask sourced from the Clarendon distillery. Batch OMH2026-1, bottled at 59.7% ABV, cask strength, unfiltered and uncoloured.
Blackadder does not name the distillery, and neither will we. Orkney has two working single malt distilleries, and past Old Man of Hoy releases are widely understood to come from Highland Park. What is on the label is what is certain: island malt, two decades old, finished off in first fill wood from one of Jamaica's great rum houses. Twenty-one year old Orkney spirit in ex-rum wood is not a combination that comes around often, at any price.
About Blackadder
Blackadder International was founded in 1995 by Robin Tucek and remains a family operation, run with his daughter Hannah and son Michael. The house philosophy has never changed: the cask is king. Blackadder selects individual casks on their own merits, bottles at natural strength or close to it, and never chill filters or adds colour.
The Old Man of Hoy is Blackadder's long-running Orcadian label, named for the 449 foot red sandstone sea stack that rises off the west coast of Hoy in Orkney, a landmark climbers first conquered in 1966. The name stands in for a distillery Blackadder is not permitted to print, and the series has carried some of the bottler's most sought-after island releases for over a decade.
Distillery profile
- The source is undisclosed. Orkney, Scotland's northernmost whisky region, is home to two working single malt distilleries.
- Past Old Man of Hoy bottlings are widely understood to be Highland Park, the Kirkwall distillery founded in 1798 and one of the oldest in Scotland.
- Orkney's island style is shaped by heather-rich local peat and a maritime climate, a profile distinct from both Speyside and Islay.
- Undisclosed labels like this one exist because famous distilleries rarely allow their names on independent bottlings; the whisky inside is unaffected by the anonymity.
Cask profile
This batch was finished in a 1st fill rum cask from Clarendon, the Jamaican distillery on the Monymusk estate in Clarendon parish. Clarendon runs both pot and column stills, supplies some of the best-known names in rum, and sits at the heart of Jamaica's high-ester distilling tradition.
First fill matters. This is the cask's first use after rum, so the wood still carries the full weight of its previous tenant. Blackadder set 21 year old Orkney malt, distilled 2 June 2005, against it.
Bottled at 59.7% ABV, cask strength, as batch OMH2026-1. No chill filtration, no added colour. When this batch sells through, there is no second run.
On Tasting Notes
You will not find Blackadder's tasting notes here. By design.
Blackadder shares every technical detail a curious drinker could ask for: distillery, cask number, distillation date, bottling date, ABV, outturn. Everything that makes the liquid what it is. What they leave to you is the experience of drinking it.
Tasting notes shape expectation. They tell you what you should find before you find it. Blackadder's position is that the spirit in your glass should speak for itself, and what you find there belongs to you. Pour it neat. Add a few drops of water if it asks for it. Take your time. The cask did.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Brand | Blackadder International |
| Series | The Old Man of Hoy |
| Style | Single Malt Scotch Whisky |
| Region | Island (Orkney) |
| Distillery | Undisclosed (widely understood to be Highland Park) |
| Age | 21 Years Old |
| ABV | 59.7% (cask strength) |
| Volume | 700ml |
| Cask type | 1st fill Clarendon (Jamaica) rum cask |
| Distilled | 2 June 2005 |
| Batch | OMH2026-1 |
| Cask strength | Yes |
| Non-chill filtered | Yes |
| Natural colour | Yes |
| Availability | Open release |
The Whiskey Lab's Quality Commitments
- Single Cask & Small Batch: Ensuring a unique profile for each release.
- Natural Colour & Non-Chill Filtered: Preserving the authentic character and purity of the whisky.
- Honest Storytelling: Every cask profile written by people who actually handled the liquid.
