Founded by two friends, Ola Lopatowska and Ryan McCafferty, the Edinburgh based Stravaig Spirits Company launched their Tri Carragh single cask brand in 2022.
With a combined industry experience of over 20 years, the pair wanted to bring the very best, complex and characterful single cask whiskies to market.
A year later they launched their small batch single malt brand Glenlaird, a Highland single malt distilled at an undisclosed distillery in small batch releases bottled at 48% ABV.
It’s been a stellar start for the whisky brand, and things seem to be going from strength to strength.
Over the last three months Stravaig Spirits has swept up a remarkable collection of international accolades.
At the World Whiskies Awards Tri Carragh claimed two prestigious gold medals. Tri Carragh Glen Garioch 11 Year Old picked up Best Highland Single Cask Single Malt, while the Glenlaird 12 Year Old won the Best Highland Small Batch Single Malt.
These wins, judged by leading industry experts and writers, placed Stravaig Spirits among Scotland’s top producers in two key Highland categories.
In May, the success continued in Asia, where the brand’s Tri Carragh Macduff 13 Year Old was awarded a Silver Medal at the Tokyo Whisky & Spirits Competition.
And their Tri Carragh range was also recognised once again at the prestigious International Wine & Spirits Competition, where two new releases achieved high silver medals.
‘For an independent bottler, this kind of recognition — across multiple awards bodies in just three months — is incredible,’ said Ryan.
‘These awards are a testament to the quality of the spirit, the integrity of our wood program, and our commitment to bottling characterful, high quality whiskies.’
Last month the brand took home a trove of medals from the Spirit Selection by Concours Mondial de Bruxelles – one of the largest and most prestigious spirits competitions in the world.
From 8-10 September in Jalisco, Mexico, some 2,598 samples from 70 countries were blind tasted by a jury of 140 international experts.
Tri Carragh picked up a total of Two Grand Gold Medals (reserved for the Top 2% of entrants), Three Gold Medals (Top 10%) and One Silver completing the haul.
Their Lowland Dalrymple 10yo was awarded the title of ‘Revelation Scotch Whisky’ making it the best scotch whisky as determined by this year’s judges.
Also picking up the Grand Gold Medal was the newly released 8th Release single cask bottling; Ardmore 11yo (RRP £75).
This single malt is bottled from a single 2nd Fill Bourbon Ex-Laphroaig Barrel, bottled at cask strength of 59.8% ABV and one of only 221 bottles.
The latest award adds to an already impressive collection of accolades for the young Edinburgh company.
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