Exploring Whiskey Terroir with Hautes Glaces's Frédéric Revol

Cocktails Distilled

If you travel high into the French Alps between the cliffs of Vercors and the peaks of Écrins National Park, you might be surprised that besides some of the world’s most beautiful mountain terrain, there is also Whiskey.

Surrounded by the Trièves Mountains sits Les Hautes Glaces, the world’s oldest organic whisky farm & distillery, established in 2009 by Frédéric Revol.

Nestled in such beauty, it’s not surprising that the distillery aims to put terroir at the heart of the taste of all its liquids.

To find out more, we talk to Revol about grains, terroir and what it’s like to distil in the French Alps.

Chapitres

1. Exploring Whiskey Terroir with Hautes Glaces's Frédéric Revol (00:00:00)

2. Now describe for us the landscape in which your liquids are born. (00:01:35)

3. What led you to distilling? (00:02:37)

4. How much impact do you think terroir really has on something like whiskey? (00:04:05)

5. Do you think the whisky world has lost sight of its agricultural roots and forgotten that connection with the land? (00:05:40)

6. Now the brand talks about micro-providence. What exactly do you mean by that? (00:07:53)

7. Now you've stated that you've turned environmental constraints into a source of creativity. How is that expressed? (00:13:14)

8. I believe you recently reduced your bottle size from 70 cl to 50 cl. Is that also for the environmental impact of transport? (00:16:23)

9. You have two main expressions. Tell us a little bit about the indigene. (00:19:42)

10. Now your second main expression is the Vulson, which is more of a Rye based. (00:21:30)

11. Aside from your permanent expressions, you also have a limited edition collection that you've entitled Episteme. Tell us a little bit about that. (00:24:02)

12. These expressions are denoted by shape, so squares, triangles, circles and stars. What do the shapes really mean? (00:26:18)

13. When people buy your whiskey, what do you want them to take away from their experience with the brand? (00:28:08)