EM&C Distillería Argentina

About the distillery

EM&C in Luján, Buenos Aires, works with Pampa Single Malt Whisky—an Argentinian single malt project with Scottish imported malt, copper distillation, and maturation in American oak barrels. It’s a small, clearly craft-oriented house, where Classic and a peated, smoky edition show two different sides of the same distillery: on one side, sherry-influenced sweetness and vanilla, and on the other, a pronounced smokiness.

History

The Mignones family history begins in Luján, where Emilio Mignone was born in 1880, after the family had settled there in 1867. In 1917, the family founded Emilio Mignone & Cía, which worked with trade in ramos generales, food, and drinks. The distillery’s own story links the single malt project to this family tradition, and from 1983 the work is described as a continuation of the legacy from the old Mignone corner and storage. In 2015, the goal is stated clearly: to make the best single malt, with a focus on quality, good ingredients, and enough time in the process to bring out the best in the whisky. It’s a story that ties together a trading heritage, local roots, and modern whisky-making in one house.

Ingredients and production

Pampa Single Malt is made in Argentina, but with malt imported from Scotland. The distillery works with two malt expressions, Distilling and Heavily Peated, and the mash is made in mash tuns, where part of the grist is mixed with water and becomes wort. Fermentation is described briefly and concretely as the point where yeast converts sugars into alcohol and congeners. Distillation takes place in stills made entirely of copper and assembled with copper welding, providing a classic copper-influenced starting point for the spirit. It’s a production that places emphasis on the quality of the raw materials, a controlled process, and a clear connection between Scottish malt and Argentinian distillation.

Maturation and cask types

The whisky matures in American oak barrels, and the house works with both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry, first fill. This creates a tension between the sweeter, more vanilla- and wood-character side and the more vinous sherry character. The documented releases also show that casks are actively used to mark the differences between Classic and Peated, and that the batch labels Edición 2023 and Edición 2024 correspond to the individual releases.

Whiskies

The range shown here centers on Pampa Single Malt Classic and Pampa Single Malt Peated. Classic is the more sherry-influenced and classically rounded version, while Peated adds smoke and a darker, more direct expression on top of the same single malt base. Both are bottled at 43%, and they stand as clear, separate interpretations of the distillery’s style. This results in a small, easy-to-overview selection, where the difference between the two bottles primarily lies in malt character and cask selection.

The whiskies’ style and tasting profile

Classic shows vanilla, fruit-pass, and dry sherry sweetness, while it also has menthol and a clearly oak-influenced character with nut, coconut, and ripe banana. The peated edition goes another direction with pronounced smoke, carbonaceous tones, and associations with grilling and barbecue. Together, they paint a style where sweetness, fruit, and wood go hand in hand with either sherry richness or heavy smoke.

Visit the distillery

There is a shop where you can buy the whisky online, and the distillery is connected to Luján in Buenos Aires. The available page does not describe a public visit program with tours, tastings, or a visitor center, so the focus is on contact and purchases rather than guest visits.

Philosophy and craftsmanship

EM&C formulates a very clear ideal: to make the best single malt they themselves can stand behind. Quality is prioritized over profitability, and emphasis is placed on the best available raw materials as well as a process with enough time to get the most out of them.