Domaine des Hautes Glaces is one of the most quietly radical distilleries in Europe. Founded in 2009 by Frédéric Revol and Jérémy Bricka in the Hautes-Alpes commune of Saint-Jean-d'Hérans, at over 900 metres above sea level, it is a true farm distillery — a ferme-distillerie — where every step from grain to glass happens on site. The barley is grown in their own fields, malted in their own floor maltings, fermented with wild yeasts, and distilled in wood-fired stills.
Les Moissons, named for the harvest, is their entry single malt and a beautiful introduction to the house style. Certified organic, it captures the cold mountain mornings, the slow-ripening grain, and the herbal freshness of Alpine pasture. There's an honesty to the spirit that feels increasingly rare — nothing is rushed, nothing is added, and the terroir speaks plainly through the glass.
The flavour profile is unlike anything from Scotland or Ireland. Where most single malts lean on cask influence, Hautes Glaces lets the grain and the place do the talking. You taste hay-meadows, mountain herbs, wildflowers, and a clean cereal sweetness that lingers on the finish like the memory of a long summer hike.
Now part of the Rémy Cointreau family, the distillery has retained its artisanal soul. Les Moissons is a whisky for those who want to taste a landscape — a bottled postcard from a corner of the French Alps where someone is doing things the slow, right way.
