On Friday I received this note from Chris Allwood, creator of Eades Whiskies:
I thought I’d let you know that I am back in Virginia now, I spent the summer getting a new visa and finishing off our second edition whiskies with Jim McEwan. We have the same designations but older component whiskies and some very interesting wine barrel pairings. I have attached some information for your reference.
As I mentioned to Chris, I’m glad that this new edition contains older whiskies. The first release was a solid effort, but I think that some extra aging will improve the flavor profiles. I checked out his attachment, and here are the details of the new releases. I think it’s cool that he is open regarding the make-up of the whiskies.
2ndEdition Speyside
70% Dufftown 12yr Old finished in Zinfandel
30% Mortlach 15yr Old finished in Callejo
2ndEdition Highland
50% Clynelish 10yr Old finished in Chateau Lafitte
50% Ben Nevis 10yr Old finished in Grenache Blanc
2ndEdition Islay
70% Bowmore 10yr Old finished in Grenach
30% Caol Ila 18yr Old finished in Chateau d’Yquem
He’s sending me review samples. I don’t know how much they will cost yet, but I have a feeling they’ll be a little less expensive than the whiskies from my last two blog posts. 
Woa! anyone ever heard of whisky being finished in Grenach? I would love to get a taste of these. Seems real interesting.
Red_Arremer: Bruichladdich has experimented with some of these types of barrels before (Grenache with one of its Rocks editions, Some Murray McDavid selected independent bottles, their 15 yr. second edition and some their line of 1st growth finished whiskys used Chateau d’Yquem & Chateau Lafitte barrels, etc.).
I can’t wait to try these creations. The blend of whiskys and barrel finishes seems really interesting. And John, I agree, no one can duplicate the blends even with the make-up stated, so I am also very happy to see if I can pick up the different whiskys & their amounts when tasting blends.
Mr. Allwood, I have seen the first Eades release, so whoever is handling your distribution in the US is doing their job. But at what they are priced, I have not tried them. I recommend you price your whiskies to sell and establish a following, then increase your prices. This is certainly what Bruichladdich did to establish a market share. I have seen this happen frequently where many whiskies never make it out the gate because of the issue of price. Case in point, I still see bottles of Glencadam on the shelf from the original release of 2005. 40% less, and they might have established a following.
When are Eades going to release their own distillation? What role does Jim McEwan play in the creation and blending of these “double malts”?
[...] Hansell announces 2nd edition releases from Eades Whiskies. Some interesting distilleries in the mix and maybe worth checking [...]
The first Edition Bruichladdich Rocks was finished in grenache casks – light pink almost in color. Light and floral – still have a bottle around.
Yes, that’s right Alex. Everyone was badmouthing it and I guess I was subliminally influenced to dismiss and forget it because I did. What do you think of it?
BFishback, Jim McEwan plays a major role in cask selection. And Chris’s distillery is slowly coming to fruition.
With reference to Todd’s point about the pricing of Eades Scottish whiskies, I agree that his model is the best way to build a significant market. We are constrained by a number of factors that prohibit us entering the market with a very low price. The main one being that the volumes we produce are very low, we do not have the benefits of scale. What we do have is small batch process that allows us to hand craft at every stage. The benefits are that not only is every Eades whisky collectable, the flavor profiles are complex, they are of limited availability and become rare very quickly.
BFishback; We have done a lot of ‘backroom’ work during 2009 with the planning, site layout etc. Harry Cockburn, our Chief Engineer from Scotland has been here a number of times and is due again in 2 weeks time. The upshot is that as soon as the ground thaws we should be in a position to continue the build program for Eades Farm Distillery. We hope to be in production by August this year with a Virginia single malt that will be aged for around 5 years (the equivalent of 9 years in Scotland).
Jim has the major role in the (I hate to say it) Blending of our Double Malts, you cannot but let him take the lead. Jim’s reputation is as a creative ‘alchemist’ when it comes to vatting different whiskies, one reason why he has just been awarded a ‘Lifetime Acheivement’ award by the Scottish whisky industry.
Eades laid down the perameters for double malts and we choose which pairings we want in our whiskies, Jim has complete creative input. Hope that helps.
Thanks, Chris, for the update!