Highlights of Scotland

[Scottish Liqueurs]

[Stag's Breath] Stag's Breath

Stag's Breath Liqueur is a "fine whisky and fermented comb honey liqueur", according to the front label, while the backlabel states:
A light liqueur of a special character produced from fine whisky and fermented comb honey in the ancient Lordship of Badenoch in the very heart of the Scottish Highlands.
Stag's Breath is produced by Meikles of Scotland Ltd., Newtonmore, Highland Region, PH20 1AS. (The percentage of alcohol given in the table on the main page, 20%, is the rounded value of what is given on the bottle: 19.8%.)

Arround the neck of the bottle was a tiny small booklet which adds the following:

Stag's Breath Liqueur is a mellow union of fine Speyside whiskies, fragrant honey comb and ... some secrets. The pure ingredients produce a distinctive drink, subtly light and pleasantly warming, recalling the haunting aroma of moorland beehives and invoking the atmosphere of the summer -- golden barley fields.

Stag's Breath Liqueur is produced and bottled in the very heartland of the Scottish Highlands in the village of Newtonmore beside the majestic River Spey. This ancient stronghold of the Clan Macpherson had a rich and beautiful backdrop of mountains, forest and heather moors.

The name Stag's Breath comes from Sir Compton MacKenzie's famous novel Whisky Galore -- afterwards turned into the classic Ealing film comedy. The hilarious story centres on the wreck of the SS Politician, and its epic cargo of 250,000 bottles of whisky, off the Western Isles of Scotland.

The Stag's Breath Liqueur range of glass bottles and ceramic flagons all have pure gold leaf decoration directly applied. The design complements the contents and pays tribute to the stule of the celebrated Scots architect, Carles Rennie Mackintosh.

This booklet contains two "recipes":

The box I got with the bottle says about the liqueur:

Here is the outcome of the mystical alchemy of distillation that transforms the grain if the bearded barley and cloud-pure burn water into the golden liquid of life of the Gaels.

Husbanded to mellow maturity in the cool aisles of glenside bonds it has been married to another fermentation -- no less magical -- the crop of the honey bees working their quiet purpose across the slopes of the hearther clad Highland hills.

It is the lightness of the summer sun entwined with the limpid depths of Northern lochs. Sip and savour it. It is an essence of Scotland.

and about the native land:
Newtonmore is in the ancient Lordship of Badenoch, "The Drowned Land", in the high heartland of the Highlands of Scotland; where the Wolf of Badenoch, natural son of Robert II, ruled by fear in the XIV Centruy.

These are the clan lands of the Macphersons and their war-cry hill, Craig Dhu, commands the neighbourhood.

Surrounded by wild natural beauty, the village is renowned as a stronghold of the unique game of shinty, once the battle training exercise of the Celtic warriors.

The first bridge over the mighty Spey, mother river of whisky, was built at Newtonmore in 1765 for the powerful Duke of Gordon.

The now gone Liqueur page of "The Tryst" wrote:
Stag's Breath Liqueur went into production in 1989 following a research development partnership between Meikles of Scotland Limited and Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh. Blended from the finest Speyside Whiskies and fermented comb honey, Stag's Breath is properly defined as a liqueur but in taste terms can be placed in a niche of its very own. Stag's Breath Liqueur is available in a variety of eye-catching bottles and gift packs. The style is 'in the manner of' Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the world famous Glasgow architect of the 1900's, reworked for the 90's by Chico Ramos of the top Scottish design shop Shaw Design.
and following the link:
Lower in alchohol strength than straight whisky; with less 'bite' than the other comparable Scottish liqueurs, it is light and dry with a distinctive musky nose and an overtaste of the waxy comb of the honey.


Picture of the bottle:    JPEG-format (8.3 kb)   /   GIF-format (31.0 kb)

 
===> Availability of the liqueurs
 

Back to the Main Scottish liqueurs page

Go (back) to: Main Scotland page # Scotland photo index

 
Jos van Geffen -- Home  |  Site Map  |  Contact Me

last modified: 9 October 2011