Whisky Focus - London Distillery Company Embarque

The London Distillery Company has unveiled its second single malt whisky: Embarque – a sherry-led expression honouring London’s historic docks and the centuries-old trade that brought casks from Spain’s bodegas to the city's bustling maritime hub.

When the London Dock in Wapping opened in 1805, it quickly became synonymous with luxury imports. Its vast warehouses, underground wine vaults, and specialist facilities could accommodate thousands of casks at once. Among them were sherry casks from Spain, which were unloaded, inspected, stored, blended, and bottled on-site. By the 1850s, sherry exports from Jerez had surged beyond 30,000 casks annually, driving expansion both in Spanish bodegas and in London’s dockside storage. Though originally designed for transporting sherry, these casks soon gained new significance: whisky merchants discovered how the sherry’s time in wood transformed the vessels, which then went on to shape the maturation of Scotch and beyond.

Embarque carries this tradition forward. Shaped by sherry wood and rooted in London craftsmanship, it pays tribute both to the artistry of cask maturation and to the trans-Iberian trade routes that forever influenced the evolution of whisky and the city itself.

The release arrives on Friday 3rd October at an RRP of £89.95, available directly through The London Distillery Company’s website. Whisky enthusiasts attending The Whisky Show (3rd–5th October) will be the first to taste Embarque and can purchase it onsite.

The whisky, presented with a striking stylised image of the London Docks, is crafted from hand-selected TLDC single malts. Initially matured in refill barrels, it is then finished in first-fill Oloroso sherry casks from Bodegas Barbadillo. These seasoned casks are said to impart richness and oxidative complexity, layering dried fruit, nuts, and spice over TLDC’s grain-led spirit while preserving its core character.

TLDC Managing Director & Whisky Maker Matt McKay explains: "Embarque represents a deliberate step in how we’re building The London Distillery Company’s whisky profile. By selecting refill casks for the primary maturation, we preserved the clarity of our heritage grain spirit, and the finishing period in first-fill oloroso sherry casks from Barbadillo has added structure, weight, and oxidative richness without masking the underlying DNA of the whisky. This release demonstrates our commitment to combining precision cask management with respect for the traditions that underpinned the creation of the original TLDC spirit, Spanish coopering, and the pivotal role the London docks once played in bringing these worlds together."

Earlier this year, TLDC marked its revival with Renascence – "The Revival Release." Made from Plumage Archer heritage barley and matured in a combination of refill barrels and first-fill sherry casks, the limited 410-bottle release sold out in under 24 hours.

You will find the current London Distillery Company's whisky range available from specialist online whisky shops such as The Whisky Exchange and Master of Malt
 

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