The Oxford Artisan Distillery’s latest whisky release, Crafty Little Rye, will be exclusively made available from the distillery’s on-site shop and through an online lottery starting April 29.

Batch #6 of Oxford Rye Whisky uses the house mash bill of 90% maslin (a mix of 70% rye and 20% wheat from populations grown together in the same field) and 10% heritage malted barley; the grain is flattened and the resulting course flakes are made up in to a thick porridge. Fermentation for this batch took place over six days in the distillery’s bespoke 5000L Hungarian Oak vats, using their own in-house fermenting culture.

The resulting new make was matured in Cask #42, a lightly charred new American Oak cask, for two years and one month, which gave the new make its classic house profile. The whisky was then transferred and finished in a Vintage Port cask, #271, for one year and two months.

When evaluating Cask #271, Master Distiller Francisco Rosa felt this parcel of whisky was at its prime and should be bottled in its own right. In a news release, Rosa noted that “the Port cask came from a top producer in the Douro valley, used in champagne for ten years before being used for Vintage Port for another 15 years, so this is a classic French barrique which was freshly emptied straight before coming to us in Oxford.”

Priced at £25.00 and presented in a 20cl glass flask to improve the accessibility of The Oxford Artisan Distillery’s more premium expressions, Crafty Little Rye is bottled at 45.2% ABV. 100 bottles will be made available via an online ballot starting at 10am on April 29 through the distillery’s website: www.theoxfordartisandistillery.com/craftylittlelottery. The remaining bottles will be on sale from the distillery’s on-site shop in Oxford.