Mortlach gift box presenting the chef's amuse-bouche, Shin'Labo Dining Experience
Mortlach partnership credit
Diageo

The Beast of Dufftown

A single malt that leads through its ageing, and the room I built to honour it.

Speyside single malt since 1823 Launch at Shin'Labo · 20 September 2022 Mortlach Room at MeatMore · 2023 to 2024 Malaysia's first dedicated Mortlach room

Mortlach is known as the Beast of Dufftown. Its 2.81-times distillation gives it a meaty depth that no other Speyside house has. You do not pour Mortlach as an afterthought to a meal. The meal is built around it. From 2022 to 2024 that is what I did, first at Shin'Labo and then in a room of its own.

The story took place in two rooms. It began at Shin’Labo, where Mortlach launched in Malaysia on 20 September 2022. It grew into the Mortlach Room at MeatMore in Bukit Bintang, Malaysia’s first dedicated Mortlach dining room, from August 2023 into 2024. What I learned from it is still with me. A properly aged single malt can lead a plate, and ageing, the willingness to wait for something while it is being made, applies to a slab of beef as much as to a cask.

The distillery (1823)

Mortlach was founded in 1823 as the first legal distillery in Dufftown, on the site of an older illicit still. George Cowie joined in 1853 and later became its sole owner. His son, Alexander Cowie, devised the 2.81-times distillation that Mortlach still uses, and no other distillery in Scotland does. Together with the traditional worm tub condensers, it gives the spirit its thickness and its meaty weight.

A course served in a glass cup, held out through torn dark-blue paper.
A course served in glass, out of the torn dark. Photograph by Bonnie Yap.

The launch at Shin’Labo

On 20 September 2022 Shin’Labo was dressed in the maison’s blue for the launch of Mortlach in Malaysia. Every course came to the counter in its own Mortlach box, with its dram. Shin’Labo’s cooking, Japanese craft with French technique and Malaysian produce, gave the malt’s savoury depth a language straight away. Eleven months later the conversation had become a room of its own.

The entrance of Shin'Labo on the launch night, with the illuminated Mortlach M and a Mortlach bottle in a display case.
The Shin'Labo lounge in Mortlach blue, with velvet sofas, Mortlach cushions and display cases.

Shin'Labo in Mortlach blue, the entrance and the lounge, 20 September 2022. Photographs by Bonnie Yap.

A course served in its blue Mortlach box at the counter, with a dram of Mortlach.
James Won speaking to guests at the Shin'Labo counter on the launch night.

A course in its Mortlach box, with its dram; at the counter on the night. Photographs by Bonnie Yap.

Mortlach presents a collaboration with James Won, from the launch at Shin'Labo, September 2022. Film courtesy of Mortlach.

The Mortlach Room at MeatMore

Malaysia’s first dedicated Mortlach dining room opened at MeatMore in Bukit Bintang on 29 August 2023, announced that day in the maison’s media alert. It seated twelve. Mortlach 12 Year Old was the house pairing, with limited editions above it, among them the Mortlach 30 Years, 2024 Special Release, chosen by the maison and me together. The signature was the Mortlach New York Strip: USDA Prime sirloin aged thirty-five days, served with the Mortlach 12.

The room drew on MeatMore’s ageing cabinet by Precision UK, which ran whisky-aged, butter-aged and kombu-aged programmes at 15, 35 and 90 days. The maison also gave me barrel wood from its casks to smoke with, so the wood that had shaped the spirit came back to shape the meat.

The Mortlach Room at MeatMore: a long communal wooden table set for twelve beneath a blue neon MORTLACH sign, with dark panelled walls and a bottle display.
Malaysia's first dedicated Mortlach Room, at MeatMore, set for twelve. Photograph by Bonnie Yap.

The service followed MeatMore’s omotenashi, the Japanese culture of wholehearted, anticipatory hospitality. Like the Hennessy Salon at Enfin and the Krug Chef’s Table before it, the Mortlach Room was one of my rooms within a restaurant.

A whole glazed langoustine on a white oval plate, held by a tattooed arm emerging through torn dark-blue paper.
A glazed langoustine, served out of the dark. Photograph by Bonnie Yap.

At MeatMore, we are proud to be a harmonious community that practises the culture of Omotenashi and enjoy ‘meat cooking’ as a ritual. We are extremely excited to be sharing our ethos and expertise in the area of meat ageing as well as curing with liquid gold such as Mortlach.

James Won · Mortlach × MeatMore Media Alert, 29 August 2023

What stayed

When Shin’Labo and MeatMore closed in 2025, the partnership ended with them. What I carried into the conservation work and Serumpun Sarawak is the practice of ageing: waiting for something while it is being made, and not hurrying what comes after.

Composite portrait of James Won: warm laughter, a mosaic of Mortlach Room moments and dishes behind him.
What the partnership left behind. Photograph by Bonnie Yap.

The archive

More from the launch night at Shin’Labo and the Mortlach shoot at MeatMore.

Open the archive 12 frames, photographed by Bonnie Yap
The Shin'Labo counter set for the launch, a blue Mortlach box at every place.
The counter set for the launch, 20 September 2022. Photograph by Bonnie Yap.
Blue Mortlach boxes along the Shin'Labo counter beneath a lit shelf of Mortlach bottles.
Mortlach boxes along the counter. Photograph by Bonnie Yap.
James Won introducing the evening to guests seated along the Shin'Labo counter.
Introducing the evening. Photograph by Bonnie Yap.
Two cooks at the Shin'Labo grill finishing meat with a torch before the ageing cabinet.
At the grill, before the ageing cabinet. Photograph by Bonnie Yap.
Guests at the Shin'Labo counter on the launch night, Mortlach boxes before them.
Guests at the counter. Photograph by Bonnie Yap.
A composed course on a white plate held by a tattooed arm through torn dark-blue paper.
A composed course, through the torn dark. Photograph by Bonnie Yap.
The glazed langoustine, a second frame, held through torn dark-blue paper.
The langoustine, a second frame. Photograph by Bonnie Yap.
Two small plates held out through torn dark-blue paper.
Two small plates, mid-reveal. Photograph by Bonnie Yap.
A bowl course held in both hands through torn dark-blue paper.
A bowl course, lifted to the light. Photograph by Bonnie Yap.
A course on a stacked white vessel held through torn dark-blue paper.
A course on a stacked vessel. Photograph by Bonnie Yap.
Composite portrait of James Won: serious three-quarter pose, the Mortlach M and a mosaic of dishes, bottles and Mortlach Room moments behind him.
The Mortlach years, looking back. Photograph by Bonnie Yap.
Composite portrait of James Won: eyes closed, half-smile, the Mortlach 16 bottle in the mosaic.
Ageing as a kitchen practice. Photograph by Bonnie Yap.

Selected Press

Full archive →

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Single malt whisky, questions answered →

Mortlach taught me that ageing belongs to the structure of a dish. The room has closed. I still cook by it.

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Try Krug Chef's Table, Mortlach, Locally Sauced, Mérite Agricole, Ryoutei, or Serumpun Osaka.