Torabhaig Founder's Reserve
Regular price
£200.00
Exclusive bottling to commemorate the first ever Atlantic Crossing by open basket hydrogen balloon. A single release of 100 bottles, and the rarest Torabhaig we’ve filled so far.
Bottle 001 went on to cross the Atlantic in the open basket of a hydrogen balloon. The rest stayed home on Skye.
They may not have crossed the Atlantic, but the remaining 99 bottles of Founder’s Reserve are about as rare as Torabhaig gets. It was distilled here in April 2018 and matured in ex-bourbon barrel and virgin American oak. Drawn from a single cask, number 601, it was bottled in August 2023, and will never be made again.
Before anyone else, Club Members get early access from this Thursday, 5 November. Your 10% Club discount brings each bottle from £200 to £180.
General sale goes live 10am GMT 09/11/2026.
Nose: Delicate peat smoke drifts in with soft vanilla and toasted oak, over hints of dried herbs and a subtle nuttiness.
Palate: Roasted nuts, vanilla and cinnamon, deepened by dark chocolate and clove from the heavy toast virgin oak.
Finish: Long and warming, with lingering spiced oak and gentle peat smoke. Smoke with Taste, right to the last note.
Total Bottles: 100 total
Bottling Strength: 60.1%
Peat in Grain: 78 PPM
Residual Phenols: 24.3PM
Barley Variety: Concerto
Yeast Strain: Pinnacle MG+
Bottled On: 14th August 2023
Wood: Ex-Bourbon Barrel & Virgin American Oak
Time in Cask: +63 Months
Non chill-filtered, not coloured
Standard Shipping rate £4.95
We estimate delivery to take around 2-3 working days from the order date.
During the order process, you will receive updates via email with your order and tracking details.
Bottle 001: £1,700 Raised for Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
Signed on landing by its three pilots, bottle 001 went to auction with Whisky Auctioneer from 23 October to 2 November 2026. It raised £1,700, and the full hammer price went to Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the National Centre for Gaelic Language and Culture, just a few miles from the distillery in Sleat.
Thank you to everyone who bid, shared and cheered it on, and to Whisky Auctioneer for waiving their seller’s commission.
From Skye to the Skies
On 7 June 2026, the Atlantic Explorer touched down in Bastendorf, Luxembourg. It had lifted off from Presque Isle, Maine, 70 hours and 5,282km earlier. Its three pilots, Alicia Hempleman-Adams, Bert Padelt and Peter Cuneo, made the crossing in an open basket, with no cabin and hydrogen as their only lift.
It was the first successful crewed transatlantic balloon flight using hydrogen as its sole source of lift, and it made Alicia the first British woman to cross the Atlantic by gas balloon. Tucked in the basket the whole way was bottle 001 of Founder’s Reserve. Essential packing, of course.
“We talk about our whisky being shaped by Skye. This bottle has been carried by the sky as well, across an ocean, in an open basket.”
Neil MacLeod Mathieson, Whisky Maker