La Fabrique des Bières d’Anjou, also known as La Piautre, is a French brewery-malt distillery nestled on the banks of the Loire. The factory works with three farmers located within a 20 km radius to produce a local, artisanal whisky. In 2013, it integrated a malting plant and began producing whisky. First with the help of a bouilleur de cru and a COYAC still, then, since 2017, with their own Charentais still. The result of a long fermentation and double distillation over an open fire, La Piautre 2018 is a single malt smoked with Irish peat. First matured in two separate casks – a 100-litre cask and a 225-litre cask, each of which contained wine before being sanded and then re-toasted – the whisky then finished its maturation in a single cask of Coteaux de l’Aubance wine.

Profile: Oily and opulent.