Charles Dickens spelt it whiskey in Martin Chuzzlewit but used both whisky and whiskey in The Pickwick Papers. But then he didn't quite know which city he was in, did he?
At least 82 nations/nation-states around the globe are trying their hand at making and selling whisky. This goes to show that there can be no claim on Aqua Vitae, the water of life, being limited to just Scotland, Ireland and the USA. There is room in the world of whisky for everyone to enjoy a peg or two made in their own country.
Of these countries, all but four spell Aqua Vitae ‘Whisky’. The term ‘Whiskey’ is used in Ireland, Mexico and Peru and for most, but not all American brands.
Albania, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Corsica, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kosovo, Latvia, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mongolia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Congo, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Tasmania, The Philippines, Uruguay, Vietnam, Wales, Zimbabwe, Zambia & possibly a couple more spell it Whisky.
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The distillery sells two different expressions of its whisky in a format similar to the international best-selling Scottish brand – a 40% ABV “Black Label” and a 42% ABV “Red Label”. There had to be some difference somewhere, I suppose. Its 45% ABV expression which was announced as part of the family is not yet available. The bottles present an unusual volume, 620 ml. Apart from this figure and the ABV, nothing is written in English.
With 78 out of 82 entities using Whisky, there is a strong case for stating that the global spelling of this spirit is whisky.
The first Scotch ever to sell for six figures ($160,100) was the aptly named Dalmore 64 Trinitas, one of just three bottles of this Scotch whisky ever made. Rare stocks are combined in each bottle, containing spirits dating from 1868, 1878, 1926 and 1939.
Eimverk Distillery in Iceland is dedicated to making premium Icelandic spirits from 100% local ingredients. Their whisky is named Flóki after one of Iceland's first explorers, Hrafna-Flóki (Flóki of the ravens). Eimverk produces three whiskies, one Young Malt, one unique sheep-dung smoked malt whisky and one 3-YO Single Malt Whisky using locally grown Icelandic barley.
Pakistan's only distillery at the Murree Brewery is owned by a Parsi, Minoo Bhandara.
The vast majority of whisky exported from Scotland is blended, not single malt.
White Horse is a mildly smoky Blended Scotch today. First produced by James Logan Mackie in 1861, it was particularly noted for its free use of the heavily smoked Lagavulin single malt Scotch whisky.
The name "White Horse" comes from an ancient inn in Edinburgh's Canongate.
The White Horse Blended Scotch Whisky of today contains 40 percent malts including Talisker and Linkwood.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the advertising slogan of White Horse Whisky was "you can take a white horse anywhere", accompanied by a white horse in various settings, such as a garden party.
During the Prohibition era in the USA (1920-33), there was a loop-hole in the law which allowed import and production of liquor for ‘medicinal and sacramental’ purposes. White Horse whisky could be imported as a medicinal spirit.
Despite its smokiness, Ardbeg is renowned for its delicious sweetness, a phenomenon that has affectionately become known as ‘the peaty paradox’.
In a change from the usual one-off Committee Releases, Ardbeg 8 Years Old will be around for a while – not forever, but long enough to give you more than one chance to get hold of a bottle.
The spooky ageing warehouse of Highland Park Distillery in the Orkney Islands is believed to house the ghost of Eunson Magnus, a long-deceased Orkney man.
An aged ex-Sherry whisky is new territory for Ardbeg, so they wanted some opinions, producing the 8 YO For Discussion expression July 2021 for that express purpose. The Ardbeg Committee’s experienced palates are expected to provide the said opinion.
Ardbeg is the world’s most highly awarded smoky single malt whisky this century. Since 2008, Ardbeg has won more than 50 gold and double gold medals in key whisky competitions.
Ian Hunter was the last of the Johnston family to own and manage the Laphroaig distillery, between 1908 and 1944.
In 2019, Laphroaig released a new Scotch whisky, The Ian Hunter Story Book One: Unique Character in a novel manner, in the form of a heavy tome that, after a few pages, revealed a neat slot with a bottle holding liquid 30 years old and at 46.7% ABV nestled therein. It was also the first chapter of a series of rare and collectable aged whiskies that honour the legacy of Ian Hunter.
15 such volumes are planned for annual release, covering the history behind Laphroaig and the characters that created it.
They will all be 30 YO or older, unchillfiltered, 70 Cl and bottled at around the 47% ABV mark.
Over time, the original smokiness of Laphroaig’s bottlings, including this 30 YO whisky has become less of an assault on the senses.
The second release of Ian Hunter’s series has come in 2021. Book Two: Building An Icon is at 48.2% ABV.
Book Three: Source Protector 70 Cl ABV 49.9% will be a 33 Year Old, bottled at 49.9% ABV.
Indian Amrut is not the only Fusion Whisky, just the first. The Glover Fusion Whisky will be the second.
The second title in the fusion whisky series, The Kincardine, is a 7 YO blended malt whisky at 52.9% ABV and a fusion of the Indian Amrut single malt whisky and Scotch from Glen Elgin and Macallan distilleries.
The E&K 5 YO Blended Malt 57.8% ABV is the third, a fusion of Scotch whisky from Ardmore and Glenrothes distilleries and malt whiskies from Amrut Distillery in India.
The Glover Fusion Whisky Ltd. was originally formed as a small enterprise for Thomas Blake Glover, TBG & Co. To honour his achievements and role in the historical relationship between Scotland and Japan, independent bottler, Adelphi Distillery Ltd., was asked to create a blend of Japanese and Scotch malt whiskies.
Adelphi was offered the chance to select a single refill ex-sherry hogshead from one of the few remaining casks from Hanyu Distillery. It was shipped to England for marrying with a carefully determined volume of Scotch whisky from two single casks: 35% from an American oak ex-sherry hogshead distilled at Longmorn, and a minor percentage from a Spanish oak ex-sherry butt distilled at Glen Garioch.
The final ratio was assessed through extensive trial vattings by Alex Bruce and Charles MacLean. It was launched as a 22 year old malt whisky in 2015 at an ABV of 53.1%.
The Winter Queen is the next in the series of iconic blends from Fusion Whisky and Adelphi, created in honour of the Scottish princess, Elizabeth Stuart. It is a blend of Scotch malt whisky from Longmorn and Glenrothes distilleries and malt whisky from Zuidam Distillery in the Netherlands at 52.9% ABV.
The Brisbane 5 YO Blended Malt 57.5% ABV is a fusion of Scotch malt whisky from two Spanish oak ex-sherry hogsheads distilled at Glen Garioch, Highland, part of an ex-sherry butt distilled at Glen Grant, Speyside and three ex-Apera casks distilled at Starward Distillery, Melbourne.
The Glover 5th Edition Fusion by Adelphi 4 YO Cask Strength 54.7% ABV contains two of the most exciting single malts in the world: Chichubu from Japan and Adelphi's own Ardnamurchan Distillery.
Today, Jameson is the best-selling Irish whiskey in world.
By the beginning of the 20th century, Irish whiskey was firmly positioned as the best-selling whisky in the world. Its global market share has been estimated at around 70%.
It was the best-selling imported whisky in the U.S., outselling both Canadian whisky and the then fledgling Scotch whisky industry. Irish whiskey even outsold Scotch whisky in England.
The “big four” Dublin based distillers, John Jameson, John Power, William Jameson and George Roe, dominated the whisky trade with an annual capacity of over five million gallons of whisky a year.
By the end of the century, roughly 40% of Dublin’s work force was employed in the brewing and distilling industry.
Derry, Cork and Belfast were also major distillery centres.
Ardbeg 8 Years Old for Discussion is the answer to the question ‘what if, in an alternative universe, Ardbeg Ten Years Old was not the distillery’s “flagship” aged expression?’
Deanston is the only distillery in Scotland that is self-sustaining for electricity, being equipped with a dam and a turbine.
Wallace Liqueur is named after the famous William Wallace of 'Braveheart'; this excellent liqueur is comprised of Deanston single malt blended with Scottish berries and herbs. It has gone out of production now.
The Malt Whisky Yearbook compiled by Ingvar Ronde is strictly focussed on malt whisky, primarily malt whisky from Scotland but also from other distilleries across the globe. You won’t find coverage of blended scotch, Scottish grain whisky, bourbon, rye, Irish whiskey (aside from Irish single malt), etc.
The 2022 edition contains articles from Charles MacLean, Gavin D. Smith, Ian Wisniewski, and others on topics such as roasting levels in malt (something American producers have excelled at), how whisky-related law has shaped the spirit in the past and continues to shape it in the present, and the effects that the global pandemic have had on the whisky industry.
John Glaser, the whisky wizard behind Compass Box and creator of some of the finest blends and blended malts in the modern age of Scotch, intends to bring good blended Scotch whisky back to the masses. To that end, Compass Box has launched a new brand – Great King Street, after the street on which Compass Box is headquartered – and its first release is called “Artist’s Blend.”
The blend contains just over 50% Lowland grain whisky aged in first-fill American oak barrels. The rest (just under half) is malt: around 7% from Speyside and the rest from two northern Highland distilleries. It’s aged in a combination of 10% first-fill sherry butts, 27.7% oak barrels fitted with new charred French oak ends (heads), and the rest in first-fill American (ex-bourbon) barrels.
Sadly, the preponderance of poorly made, inexpensive Blended Scotch Whiskies on the market lead people to assume any bottle of Scotch bearing the term ‘blended’ is somehow inferior.
The Artist’s Blend, with nearly 45% malt, bottled at 43% ABV with no chill filtration or caramel colouring proves otherwise.
GlenDronach is a classically sherried whisky. The meaty, sturdy spirit distilled near the Dronach Burn in Speyside is naturally suited to long aging in ex-sherry casks. Most of the products on the shelf are bottled from the stocks of maturing whisky distilled by the previous owners.
The Benriach Distilling Company took it over in 2008, so we can expect to begin seeing offerings from this distillery that both enforce the “sherry monster” reputation, as well as explorations into new avenues of expression. The 15 YO expression went out of circulation but is back at twice the price.
Benromach Distillery in Speyside has launched a new limited-edition single malt, Benromach Cara Gold, with just 6,000 bottles available globally.
This is the first time Benromach Distillery has used Cara Gold malted barley, a low colour roasted caramel malt more commonly found in breweries which produces rich fruity and toffee flavours.
Even though it was built in the late 1960s, Deanston has retained some old-style features in kit and distilling regime.
Its mash tun is open-topped for example, while the way it is run – low gravity worts, long fermentation, slow distillation – helps to produce a new make style which is in the waxy quadrant. This represents a switch back to the original style.
In the Invergordon era, Deanston had conformed to a modern style of production, making a light dry ‘nutty-spicy’ make.
Today organic barley is also run through the stills and, in common with all of Burn Stewart’s single malts, it is bottled without chill-filtering or caramel tinting.
Macduff Highland Single Malt Scotch whisky distillery has a classic, clean and functional Delme-Evans design, with the stillhouse being the most intriguing part of the engineering.
In here are five stills – two wash and three spirit – all of which have upward-tilting lyne arms that have a right angled kink in them.
The spirit stills also have horizontal shell and tube condensers. The character is nutty (slightly sulphury at new make stage), with quick mashing, short fermentation and cold condensers. It is this last technique which adds weight to the spirit. It could well be that the kink in the lyne arm helps create just enough reflux to contribute a balancing fruitiness.
Macduff whisky is bottled by its owner as either Glen Deveron or The Deveron.
Between 1966 and 1972, it became part of William Lawson, the whisky arm of Martini & Rossi.
Passport is a Speyside-influenced blended Scotch whose key markets are Brazil, Angola, Mexico, India, Russia and Eastern Europe.
The blend recipe for Passport was developed by Chivas Brothers’ blender Jimmy Lang during the 1960s.
It was a classical Chivas blend in that it embraced the company’s Speyside single malts, including Strathisla and Glen Keith. Indeed, Glen Keith was long promoted as the ‘Home of Passport’, with a banner replicating the bottle label displayed in the distillery entrance.
During the 1970s malt from the newly-built Allt-a-Bhainne and Braes of Glenlivet (now Braeval) distilleries began to appear in the Passport recipe.
Jimmy Lang served as master blender for Seagram’s Scottish subsidiary Chivas Brothers 1971 - 1989.
As well as his role in the creation of Passport, Lang developed the 100 Pipers blend and was responsible for Seagram’s key Scotch brands Chivas Regal and Royal Salute.
Roseisle Speyside Single Malt Scotch whisky distillery is a ‘flexible’ distillery. Six of its seven pairs of stills can switch between stainless steel or standard (copper) shell and tube condensers.
If a light grassy spirit is required, long fermentation (in excess of 90 hours) is used, along with slow distillation with air rests, and condensing in the copper condensers.
If a heavy style is needed then the stainless steel condensers will be used. The lack of extended copper ‘conversation’ will add the requisite weight to the spirit.
A nutty (malty) style could also be produced by shortening mashing and fermentation regimes.
The grassy style which is currently produced is different noticeably to that from other Diageo sites such as Glen Ord or Royal Lochnagar.
Starlaw grain whisky distillery (often wrongly called The Glen Turner distillery) opened in 2010 and is owned by French drinks group La Martiniquaise, as part of its Scottish subsidiary Glen Turner Company. Along with Glen Moray distillery in Speyside (acquired from Glenmorangie in 2008), it provides whisky for the company's Cutty Sark, Sir Edward’s and Label 5 blended Scotch whisky brands.
Starlaw, Scotland’s first new green-field grain distillery was completed in 2010. With a capacity of 25 million litres, the plant produces both grain whisky and grain neutral spirit (for vodka). Both Cameronbridge and Girvan grain distilleries produce ~110 million litres per year.
Cork’s West Cork Distillers, which owned the North Mall and Midleton distilleries, the latter the predecessor to Irish Distillers Ltd (IDL) New Middleton distillery where Jameson whiskey is produced today, had a capacity of 1.5 million gallons.
Derry’s Watts distillery, where the Tyrconnell brand of whiskey was produced, had a capacity of two million gallons.
Belfast’s Royal Irish Distillers had a capacity of 2.5 million gallons and produced Dunville’s, the best-selling Irish whiskey in the U.S. They also had the largest inventory of ageing whiskey in Great Britain.
The Tyrconnell brand is produced today at the Cooley distillery, a subsidiary of Beam Suntory, while the Dunville brand is produced by the Echinville distillery.
By comparison, most Scotch whisky distilleries had a capacity of less than 100,000 gallons. The Glenlivet distillery, the largest Scottish distillery at the time, had a capacity of 200,000 gallons.
Robert Burns, Scotland’s bard, in his late eighteenth century poem Scotch Drink, called the native whisky of Scotland “. . . my Muse! guid auld Scotch Drink . . .”
The greatest threat of violence to legal distillers from smugglers in the Glenlivet area existed when shipments of legal whisky wended their way south to Perth and Dundee through the desolate glens and hillsides. The most dangerous was the “Spittal of Glenshee.”
In 1868, the laird of Aberlour[fellow legitimate distiller James Gordon], presented George Smith with a pair of hair-trigger pistols for ten guineas.
George Smith came to be known later on in life as “Old Minmore.”
The real Glenlivet. became the subject of a popular verse: Glenlivet it has castles three Drumin, Blairfeldy, and Deskie, And also one distillery More famous than the castles three.
James Chivas was well aware of the already legendary malt whisky made at George Smith’s Drumin Glenlivet Distillery, the one people called “the real Glenlivet.” James, therefore, made the stocking of this top-notch malt whisky a priority and a personal mission.
In 1975, Chivas Brothers was instructed to remove the Royal Warrant from Chivas Regal by that year’s end, 132 years after the first appointment.
Beyond the direct positive effect of the Royal Appointments, the queen’s influence and powerful persona encouraged the evolution of a whole new stratum of customers for Stewart & Chivas.
Stewart & Chivas and their famous victuals had become such a phenomenon that by the 1860s their business reached far south into England as the nobles returned home in the autumn.
The affluent English likewise brought with them a fervent, unquenchable thirst for the whisky of Scotland, but made it clear to James that they fancied a tamer, smoother whisky than that offered by most of the Highland malt distillers.
James spent more time in his office mixing various sample whiskies in an attempt to find a proprietary blend worthy of the Stewart & Chivas name as well as a blend that would fulfill the desires of the moneyed English.
On the heels of the implementation of the landmark Illicit Distillation (Scotland) Act of 1822 and the Excise Act of 1823, an explosion of licit malt distilleries mushroomed all over Scotland.
Following the path of George Smith’s Drumin Glenlivet Distillery, other fabled malt whisky distilleries like Macallan, Fettercairn, Longrow, Balmenach, and Mortlach, also began in 1824.
Ben Nevis, Port Ellen, Strathisla, Kippen, Glencadam, and Glenury opened in 1825.
Aberlour and Pulteney opened in 1826.
In 1835, only one single malt distillery, Lochruan, was licensed.
Longmorn has been available as a single malt since the launch of a 15-year-old in 1993. It is a regular sight on independent bottlers’ lists and, deservedly, has built up a cult following, particularly in Japan.
Longmorn was built by a 19th century whisky entrepreneur, John Duff. He worked at GlenDronach, and after designing nearby Glenlossie in 1876, headed to South Africa to try and start a whisky industry there and failed. He headed to the US to try his hand there and failed again. He returned home and, undeterred, built Longmorn in 1893. Five years later he built another plant next door – Benriach.
He failed yet again and, in 1899, sold out to James Grant. Although Duff’s business was not sound, his whisky was and by the start of the 20th century Longmorn was a prized malt, used in a variety of blends including VAT 69 and Dewar’s.
In 1920, the young Masataka Taketsuru, one of the fathers of Japanese whisky and founder of Nikka, spent a short period working in the distillery. The stills at Nikka’s two distilleries are said to be modelled on Longmorn’s.
In 1970, the Grant family and blender Hill Thompson (which had a long relationship with Longmorn) merged with The Glenlivet & Glen Grant Distilleries Ltd to create The Glenlivet Distilleries Ltd. This was bought by Seagram in 1977 and (minus Glen Grant) is now part of Chivas Brothers.
Hill Thompson was the primary creator of Something Special blended Scotch, a remarkably successful whisky. Since Something Special ate into Chivas’ market, it was sent to Latin America to immense success.
Originally sold as 12 and 15 YOs, they went NAS in 2015 and re-emerged as Something Special and Something Special Legacy.
The Highlands’ notoriously combustible Era of Smuggling was largely doused by 1840, to the relief and gratification of both Parliament and the Highland land barons. The near two-century-long epidemic of illicit whisky making had been eradicated through the slow-dripping antidote of legislation.
George offered customers two varieties of Drumin Glenlivet at different “proof” levels in the 1830s and 1840s, ~65% & 72% ABV.
In the nineteenth century, all malt whiskies, including George’s prized Drumin Glenlivet, were dispensed straight from the barrel to the goblet without any reduction in strength.
The English invented the idea of proof in the seventeenth century for the purpose of assigning accurate duties according to alcoholic potency. The higher the alcoholic content, the stiffer the duties.
From the mid-1600s to 1818, excise officials routinely determined the alcoholic strength of beverages by mixing a portion with gunpowder, lighting it and gauging the intensity, the colour and the duration of the flame.
In 1816, Bartholomew Sikes, an excise official, perfected the hydrometer, a device that measured the specific gravity of liquids. From 1818 on, excise officials calculated alcoholic strength with a hydrometer.
To the British, a “proof spirit” contains 57.1 % alcohol and 42.9 % water.
In the US, proof signifies 50 % alcohol, 50 % water, a much simpler set up.
George’s popular frontline Drumin Glenlivet whisky, sold at a per gallon price of 10 shillings, registered at 11 % higher than proof, which probably meant that it hovered at from 60 to 65 % alcohol. This robust whisky, hardly a timid wallflower, was George’s best seller and was almost certainly cut with water by the majority of malt whisky drinkers.
For people with even stronger constitutions and perhaps cast-iron intestines, he also sold a flamethrower, high-octane version of Drumin Glenlivet at what was depicted as “25 % over proof” for 12 shillings and sixpence per gallon. About 70-71% ABV.
Actor Humphrey Bogart commented during a slump in his film career, “I never should have switched from Scotch to martinis.”
Entertainer and famed Scotch admirer Joe E. Lewis quipped, “Whenever someone asks me if I want water with my Scotch, I say ‘I’m thirsty, not dirty.’”
Since the first half of the nineteenth century, the Scotch whisky industry’s visionary, if pragmatic, captains piggybacked its exportation onto a never-before-seen juggernaut, the rapidly expanding British Empire.
George Smith stopped for a night in a heavily frequented inn in Spittal of Glenshee and saw one nasty smuggler named Shaw and his band of thugs eyeing him. George dozed off into a light sleep, both pistols cocked and ready, one in each hand. Shaw apparently pulled out a large butcher knife, leaned over George and softly uttered, “This gully [knife] is for your bowels.” A fully awake George uncovered the pistol in his right hand and aimed it directly at Shaw’s forehead, saying, “And this for a hole between your eyes.” George then discharged the pistol in his left hand into the fireplace across the room, causing Shaw to flee.
The most significant outcome of first Stein’s and later Coffey’s system started to take shape in the late 1840s and 1850s when pioneering whisky blenders, such as Andrew Usher, John Haig, John Walker, Matthew Gloag, George Ballantine, William Teacher, John Dewar, and Francis and Walter Berry, began combining the ethereal whiskies from column stills with meatier, more charismatic Highland malt whiskies from pot stills.
Royal Warrants had expiration dates, which may explain why some of the Warrants first granted Stewart & Chivas and then Chivas Brothers appear to be renewed.
Following the landmark Illicit Distillation (Scotland) Act of 1822 and the Excise Act of 1823, an explosion of licit malt distilleries mushroomed all over Scotland. Between 10 October 1823 and 9 August 1824, no fewer than 79 new stills were commissioned. The number of licensed distilleries in operation grew swiftly from 111 in 1823 to 263 by 1825.
In 1860, Guinness’s Extra Double Stout sold for 4 shillings, 6 pence per bottle; rum ranged from 9 to 14 shillings per gallon, while brandy garnered a steep 32 shillings per gallon because of stiff duties. Ordinary Highland malt whisky sold for 6 shillings 6 pence per gallon; finer malt whisky at 11 percent over proof brought in 8 shillings per gallon; and the malt whisky from George Smith’s new Glenlivet distillery at Minmore, considered Scotland’s crème de la crème, sold for 20 to 22 shillings per gallon.
James married an attractive young woman Joyce Clapperton at the mature age of 44. They had 4 children, Julia, Alexander, Williamina and Charles James.
Entrepreneurs William Hespeler and George Randall established the Granite Mills & Waterloo Distillery in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada- the company that Canadian whisky magnate Joseph Emm Seagram would purchase in 1883, marking the official beginning of the Seagram legacy in the annals of beverage alcohol.
In December 1882, Charles James Joyce Chivas married Emma Grosskopf in his adopted US city of Milwaukee.
Charles James Joyce Chivas was paid a monthly retainer as part of his father’s Will.
The water for the distillery came from a pristine subterranean source, called Josie’s Well, the same water source used in the distillery today.
In 1863, the Strathspey Railway opened a station in the village of Ballindalloch, a mere eight miles from Minmore. A train traveled daily from Ballindalloch south to the town of Tomintoul. Casks of The Glenlivet were soon being transported to the railway station at Ballindalloch on wagons. Running southeast to northwest, the Strathspey Railway also connected the hamlets of Boat of Garten and Craigellachie.
By the last quarter of the 1800s, Scotch whisky was available in most ports of call around the world.
Today, Scotch whisky can be found in over 200 nations.
There are ~137 distilleries in operation in Scotland today.
The last ten NEW distilleries are crowd-funded.
Numerous entities are promoting investment in whisky in Scotland and the UK.
Greater Scotland includes the 787 islands of the Inner Hebrides, Outer Hebrides, the Orkneys, and the Shetlands.
Of these rugged and windswept islands, 130 are inhabited. Six of the inhabited islands—Arran, Islay, Skye, Mull, Orkney, and Jura—currently produce single malt whisky.
Ben Nevis in the western Highlands is Scotland’s highest peak at 1,344 metres.
Today, only one percent of Scotland’s primeval forest remains. Deforestation likewise indirectly affected the Scotch industry, in that, with the forests gone, the main source of fuel in prehistoric Scotland became peat.
Scotland has no shortage of peat since peat bogs still cover an estimated 810,000 hectares (over 2 million acres) of the nation’s surface.
The Guild of Barber-Surgeons was a powerful professional entity in Edinburgh at the turn of the sixteenth century. Their mission, as royally sanctioned by the King’s “The Seal of Cause,” was to maintain and promote the highest standards of surgical practice.
The Guild of Barber-Surgeons was so highly regarded, in fact, that in 1505 King James IV bestowed on them the exclusive right to distill and peddle their aqua vitae for medicinal purposes within Edinburgh.
Glenlivet, or Gleann-liobh-aite in Gaelic, means “valley of the smooth flowing one.
The brewing and distilling industry in the USA organised dozens of anti-prohibition or pro-moderation counter-lobbies. Known as the “wets” as opposed to the pro-prohibition “drys,” the groups drew extensive support from Irish and German communities in the U.S., both of which were heavily represented in the brewing and distilling trades.
Prohibition had plenty of loopholes. There was a broad exemption for alcoholic beverages used in religious rituals, a factor that led to a dramatic rise in self-proclaimed priests organising their own congregations.
Prohibition had two other unintended consequences. The number of arrests from the violation of Prohibition skyrocketed, overwhelming the court system and resulting in multi-year long waits before cases could go to trial. In response, prosecutors introduced the then novel idea of the plea bargain to clear the backlog of cases.
The second unintended consequence was more far reaching. Taxes on alcoholic beverages had funded between 30% and 40% of federal spending. States relied on alcohol taxes, on average, for more than 50% of their expenditures. New York State, for example, derived more than 75% of its tax revenue from taxes on alcoholic beverages. Prohibition eliminated a significant source of tax revenue. The result is that the federal government decided to extend the personal income tax, originally instituted on a temporary basis to fund WW I expenditures, for the foreseeable future. Many states adopted their own income taxes to fill the deficit produced by Prohibition.
The Phylloxera boom would produce a corresponding bust. At the heart of that bust was the case of the infamous Pattison brothers.
Robert Pattison started in the Scotch whisky business by leasing the Teaninch Distillery from 1850 until 1869. In 1887, with his brother Walter and a number of other partners, he formed a blending company in Leith under the name Pattison, Elder and Co, and, at the peak of the Phylloxera boom, went public.
In 1896, the company became a distiller as well. The Pattisons now went on an acquisitions binge that saw the company, Pattison Ltd., acquire half of the Glenfarclas distillery, the Ardgowan distillery, and a substantial part of the Aultmore-Glenlivet and Oban distilleries.
This expansion came against a background of easy credit from the banks and heightened investor interest in the Scotch industry.
In the 1890s alone, 33 new malt distilleries were built and even more distilleries were expanding their capacity.
At one point the company gave away 500 African grey parrots, which had been trained to shout out “buy Pattison whisky” and “Pattison whisky is the best” to their retail customers; the first example of in-store interactive advertising.
By 1899, however, the company fell apart. The collapse of Pattison Ltd. was just the most visible aspect of a much broader industry problem of increasing overproduction and over investment.
In 1898 Scotch whisky production had peaked at roughly 35.8 million gallons versus demand of 22.3 million gallons. Excess production had grown from two million gallons in 1891 to thirteen and a half million by 1898.
A new challenge emerged from Irish distillers. They argued that the blending of malt and grain whisky was not true whisky and should be banned. The Irish challenge prompted the establishment of a Royal Commission to investigate the industry and to determine once and for all “what exactly was whisky?” In 1909, after 18 months of hearings, the Royal Commission issued an exhaustive report confirming that the blending of malt and grain whisky constituted “real whisky” and recommending that these blended whiskies should continue to be produced and sold.
No sooner had this latest challenge to the Scotch whisky industry been averted, World War I would set the industry back for the better part of two decades.
The big Irish distillers opposed the Spirits Act of 1860, sparking a long running debate on what exactly was whisky. Notwithstanding the opposition of the big distillers, however, Ireland was producing a lot of grain whiskeys, and many Irish merchants and exporters began to dilute their whiskey, often excessively, by blending grain whiskey into their pot still whiskey. The issue was finally settled by a 1908 Royal Commission that concluded that blends of grain and malt whisky were in fact whisky.
The Spirits Act of 1860, also called the Scotch Whisky Act of 1860, is wrongly attributed to William Ewart Gladstone. He was the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Henry Temple's Govt in 1860.
The Spirits Act of 1860 had been crucial to the fortunes of the Scotch whisky industry, which boasted 111 operational distilleries in 1868, as it allowed for the first time the blending of spirits under bond without payment of duty, the storage of blended spirits in vats, and the filling of casks with blended spirit in bond.
Gladstone's budget of 1860 was introduced on 10 February along with the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty between Britain and France that would reduce tariffs between the two countries.
Blending of malt whiskies had been permitted in bond on payment of duty and holding fees since 1823. Bonded warehouses could be set up under supervision of the Town Clerk and required retention of barrels of spirits for two years, quickly changed to three.
Very few traders paid heed to this Act, with average retention time being as low as three months. The trader's word had to be accepted as to age and quality.
Blending of Grain whiskies with Malt whiskies was permitted in 1860, but limited to distillers only. The end result was a much milder and flavoursome spirit. The Irish malt whisky industry opposed the introduction of Grain whisky, refusing to even call it whisky.
The initial purpose of blending had been to reduce the cost of whisky, but it was soon discovered that in the hands of a skilful practitioner, a very drinkable and consistent product could be created.
Since most grocers and vintners were also dealers in spirits, they raised an outcry and were permitted to blend Grain and Malt whiskies in bond starting 1863 in an extension to the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty.
Further legislation during the 1860s aided the cause of blending, namely the fact that from 1864 spirit strength could be reduced using water in approved warehouses, and 1867 saw bottling whisky for domestic consumption in bonded warehouses.
A growing number of large distilleries in the Lowlands made grain spirit on an industrial scale, and one effect of the incipient blending boom, which would really take off during the 1870s, was a growing interest in malt whiskies produced in what we now call the Speyside region of production in north-east Scotland, but what was usually referred to in the 19th century as ‘Glenlivet.’
Apart from the famous Glenlivet itself, the area already had a reputation for fine whisky-making, being home to distilleries such as Aberlour, Cardhu, Glenfarclas, Glen Grant, Glenlivet, Macallan, Mortlach and Strathisla.
Speyside whiskies soon found favour among blenders, with commensurate expansion of distilling interests.
Campbeltown also grew steadily and in 1868, Benmore distillery became the 19th distillery to be established in the remote Argyllshire port. It was built by Glasgow-based distillers and blenders Bulloch Lade & Co, and boasted an annual output of 125,000 gallons (568,000 litres), making it one of the larger distilleries in the royal burgh.
In Edinburgh, the Caledonian distillery, which had been established in 1855 to distil grain whisky on a grand scale, was augmented by the installation in 1867 of two large pot stills alongside its existing Coffey apparatus, with the intention of making 'Irish-style whisky of the Dublin variety.'
Such a development was doubtless due in part to the large numbers of Irish nationals who migrated to work in Scotland and England as the economy flourished during the 1860s.
There was also a widespread appetite for Irish whiskey among the British public in the years before blended Scotch really established itself, due to its uniformity of character compared to the output of Scotland’s pot stills.
In Ireland, the blending revolution lagged behind that of Scotland, with many of the largest and most powerful distilling enterprises refusing to admit that ‘Irish’ whisky could be anything other than ‘pure pot still’ – made from a mash comprising malted and unmalted barley, distilled in a conventional copper pot still.
Aqua vitae (‘water of life’ in Latin) was the generic term for distilled spirits throughout the Roman Empire, widely used during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and translated into many languages. In Gaelic, it was uisge beatha, in Irish uisce beatha.
Whisky connoisseur Charles MacLean says that this was Anglicised from uiskie (c.1618) to whiskie (1715) to whisky (1746). F Paul Pacult, author of ‘A Double Scotch’, 2005, says that Aqua Vitae ultimately became Whisky in 1736.
The spelling Whiskey is found equally common in those days. In fact, the Hansard of 1896 uses the term Whiskey. Whisky or whiskey is by convention, not law: the Royal Commission on Whiskey and Other Potable Spirits (1908/09) spelt both Irish and Scotch with an ‘e’ throughout.
Gavin Smith writes in his A-Z of Whisky: "The first use of Scotch with the sense of specifically relating to whisky occurs in 1855, 'while malt liquors give our Scotch and Irish whiskies'”…
Silly rules of thumb like ‘countries without an e in their name…,etc. can be discarded.
is usually a time for celebration in the whisky world –Fèis Ìle, the Islay Festival of Malt and Music, a week-long celebration of Scotland’s most distillery-packed island, with whisky, music, dancing and more is held at the end of May.
In the long drawn out battle with the virus, the distilleries have again taken the party online– it’s time for The 2nd Virtual Fèis Ìle.
Festival week (Saturday-Saturday: a long week) is usually very simple: there are nine distilleries on Islay, and each gets a day of celebration – newcomers Kilchoman and Ardnahoe share the Wednesday.
Every year, Douglas Laing releases a new Big Peat whisky for the Fèis Ìle festival and the tradition was continued in 2020 with the new Big Peat 8 Years Old A846.
The A846 is a “legendary” road that links whisky fans to distilleries across the Scottish island of Islay before steering up through Jura.
The Big Peat 8 Years Old A846 is aged for eight years and bottled at 46% ABV.
In 1878, a polemical piece of writing called Truths about Whisky, was commissioned and published by the four most influential Irish distilling houses, Messrs John Jameson & Sons, William Jameson & Co, John Power & Son, and George Roe & Co, all based in Dublin.
George Roe’s establishment – had an annual capacity of some nine million litres. Even today, that would place it among the most productive handful of Scotland’s malt distilleries.
In total, 23 Irish distilleries were operational during 1868, ranging geographically from Bushmills on the north Antrim coast via Belfast and Londonderry to Cork in the south, Dublin in the east, and Limerick and Galway in the west.
Irish independence in 1922 hurt Irish whisky exports badly. Following independence, Irish distillers lost access to markets in the British Empire.
Before Prohibition, Irish whiskey remained the best-selling imported whiskey by the United States. Prohibition overturned Irish whiskey’s century long dominance of the American whiskey market in favour of the Scots.
Canada went through a similar experience with Prohibition as the U.S. The Dominion Alliance, an umbrella organisation of Canadian temperance groups, advocated for provincial wide bans on the consumption of alcohol.
During World War I many provinces banned the manufacture of “intoxicating” beverages as part of the war effort and then extended the ban following the end of the war.
Prohibition decimated the Irish whiskey industry. Many distilleries closed.
The period marked the beginning of an industry wide consolidation that would continue until the 1970s, a period that is sometimes referred to as the lost century of Irish whiskey.
The Chivas 100 Malts bottling: One hundred of Scotland's finest malts were vatted together to create the Chivas Century of Malts. It was released in 1995 and contains some of the rarest malts like Craigduff, Glenisla peated Glen Keith. A little accompanying booklet by Jim Murray describes all of the 100 distilleries in brief.
The 100 distilleries are Aberfeldy, Aberlour, Allt a `Bhainne, Ardbeg, Auchentoshan, Auchroisk, Aultmore, Balblair, Balmenach, Balvenie, Banff, Ben Nevis, Benriach, Benrinnes, Benromach, Blair Athol, Bowmore, (Royal) Brackla, Braeval, Brechin, Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila, Caperdonich, Clynelish, Convalmore, Cragganmore, Craigduff, Craigellechie, Dailuaine, Dallas Dhu, Dalmore, Dalwhinnie, Deanston, Dufftown, Fettercairn, Glen Albyn, Glenallachie, Glenburgie, Glencadam, Glen Craig, Glen Elgin, Glen Esk, Glenfarcles, Glenfiddich, Glengarioch, Glenglassaugh, Glen Grant, Glengoyne, Glenisla, Glen Keith, Glenkinchie, The Glenlivet, Glenlochy, Glenlossie, Glen Mhor, Glen Moray, Glenrothes, Glen Scotia, Glen Spey, Glentauchers, Glenturret, Glenugie, Glenury Royal, Highland Park, Imperial, Inchgower, Inchmurrin, Inverleven, Isle of Jura, Kinclaith, Knockando, Ladyburn, Lagavulin, Laphroaig, Ledaig, Linkwood, Littlemill, Longmorn, Macallan, Macduff, Mannochmore, Miltonduff, Mortloch, Mosstowie, Ord, Pittyvaich, Pulteney, Rhosdhu, Scapa, Speyburn, Springbank, Strathisla, Strathmill, Tamdhu, Tamnavulin, Teaninich, Tomatin, Tomintoul, Tormore and Tullibardine.
Glenfiddich, arguably the first single malt to be sold in its own right, was also the first to be sold in airport retail shops.
July 27th is National Scotch Day.
Deanston was a huge plant built on the banks of the fast-flowing River Teith in 1785 by Richard Arkwright who used it for the development of the Spinning Jenny. It also had what was claimed to be the largest water wheel in Europe.
Weaving continued here until 1964 when the buildings were bought by Brodie Hepburn who had also bought Tullibardine and Macduff.
It is one of the greenest distilleries in Scotland. All of its power is generated by a turbine house which processes 20 million litres of water an hour. The excess electricity is then sold to the National Grid.
Although single malt bottlings started relatively early – in 1974 – it is only recently that Deanston has been elevated to a front-line single malt brand. It has won international awards in the recent past.
Babute distillery is one of many lost distilleries in Argyll that was operational briefly in late 18th century.
Gallowhill Lowland Single Malt Scotch Whisky Distillery is a here-and-gone Paisley distillery, open from 1798 to 1799.
It was run by a partnership of James MacFarlane and Elizabeth Harvie, of the Harvies who operated Dundashill and Yoker distilleries in Glasgow.
The distillery sat in the Gallowhill area of Paisley, north of the town centre on Brewster Avenue, today part of a large housing estate not far from the M8 motorway and Glasgow Airport.
220 years ago, the area would have been very largely rural. Back then, a burn, now long culverted and vanished, probably flowed from Gallowhill down to the River White Cart.
Haig Whisky is the oldest of all Scotch whiskies and may even be the oldest whisky in the world.
Haig Gold Label, the flagship blend of John Haig & Co. was not just Britain’s most popular whisky, it was the first spirit to smash the million case barrier.
It dates back to the twilight years of the 19th century, and before long the packaging had settled on a dumpy, dark brown bottle with a plain white label and a string of medals at the bottom.
By 1939, Haig was Britain’s best-selling Scotch.
Alongside its deluxe Dimple expression, it was especially popular in Britain. By the millennium its UK sales, together with Dimple Haig, had crashed to just 7,500 cases.
The recipe includes Lowland malts like Glenkinchie with a heavy reliance on Cameronbridge grain.
‘D’ye ken John Haig?’ asked the early adverts, and the slogan was emblazoned on the mainsail of a yacht that would sail up and down the south coast of England to stoke up demand.
This gave way to the long-running ‘Don’t be vague, ask for Haig’ slogan.
John Haig set up the Kilbagie distillery in the 18th century, although his family were noted distillers some time before that.
His great-great-grandfather was busted in 1655 for distilling on the Sabbath.
His grandson (also called John) founded the Cameronbridge grain distillery in 1824.
Noted members of the Haig clan include WWI Field Marshal Douglas Haig, who was so magnificently lampooned by Stephen Fry in Blackadder Goes Forth.
Kelso Lowland Single Malt Scotch Whisky Distillery was a Borders distillery at Kelso in Roxburghshire that distilled from 1825-47.
Precisely locating Kelso distillery is difficult. One source places it at Rosebank – a mansion and former estate on the north bank of the Tweed on the outskirts of town where now a bridge on the main A698 road crosses the river.
Old maps show no buildings at Rosebank that might be, or might have been, the distillery.
Some way upriver, opposite an island called Kelso Anna, there is a pend with steps down towards the Tweed called Distillery Lane. It leads down to Chalkheugh Terrace and seems the more likely location.
Kelso distillery was opened and licensed to John Mason in 1825.
In 1830 it became a partnership of Mason & Nichol, which lasted until 1833 when John Mason became a sole trader again. Kelso continued under him until 1837 when he was sequestrated.
Whisky or Whiskey - what’s the difference? The Irish spell it with an ‘e’ whereas the Scots spell it without one. This is wrongly attributed to the variations between Scottish and Irish Gaelic.
Of the 82 nations/nation states, 78 spell it whisky. Only Ireland (since 1960), Mexico, Peru and most, but not all, of the USA spell it with an e.
The Irish, the largest producers of whisky, did not accept the “intrusion” of grain spirit, refusing to call it whisky.
They lodged a complaint with the powers that be that only Irish whisky should be allowed to call their spirit whisky.
The Brits couldn’t understand what the fuss was all about. Their Hansards show usage of both spellings as of 1909.
A Committee empowered to decide on the case ruled against the Irish that year.
The New York Times famously used the word ‘whiskey’ with an ‘e’ to encompass all forms of the spirit from all locations. This caused so much outrage amongst readers, they were forced to change their style guide to reflect the appropriate spelling for their regional distribution.
After numerous fires over the years had hurt distilleries markedly, most distilleries store about half their stock in sand alone warehouses.
Many distilleries use available space to store casks of whisky belonging to other brands and distilleries in their warehouses, on a quid pro quo or commercial basis.
A bottle of Macallan Fine and Rare 60-year-old 1926 was sold for £1.38 million in October 2019, setting a new world record for the most expensive bottle of whisky.
Whisky doesn’t age once it’s bottled. So there isn’t much point in saving it for a rainy day, just crack it open when you feel like it. Unless, of course, you plan to sell it decades later.
A Swedish distillery has started using AI to help generate the perfect whisky recipe based on past and current consumer trends.
India, the US and France are the three largest consumers of whisky.
When the TV show Mad Men hit the air, it spurred a significant spike in orders for Old Fashions at bars worldwide. In some areas, the demand for Canadian Club almost doubled.
Diageo, the world’s largest distiller, released a Game of Thrones collection of Whisky in 2019, in preparation for the final season of the hit TV show. They paired Scottish distilleries with the prominent family houses of the seven kingdoms. Each was matched up carefully, considering house traits alongside distillery history.
The term ‘dram’ widely adopted in the Scottish vernacular, is believed to have evolved from an apothecary’s units of measurement, one eighth of an ounce.
There are claims to the contrary. The word itself, though never officially pinned to a particular measurement, is unofficially measured as ‘the amount you could swallow in one mouthful’.
The origins of the word can be traced back to Ancient Greece, and the word Drakhme, used in reference to coins. In the Bible, it is used to describe a unit of treasure.
This particular use of the word can be seen in some of William Shakespeare’s most famous works.
Quite how it became so popular in Scotland or why it made the transition from quantifying solids to quantifying liquids, no one can be sure.
Though currently defined by Scottish licencing legislature as 25ml (1/28th) of a 700 ml bottle, or 35 ml (1/20th) of a 700 ml bottle, there has been a push starting in Scotland for their precious spirit to have a measure of its own, of 30 ml, since, post-Brexit, bottles may return to their earlier 750 ml capacity and a dram will be 1/25th of a bottle.
Of all the old blends, Mackie’s Ancient Scotch could be one of the most precious for its link to the mythical Malt Mill distillery.
Sir Peter Mackie, famously described as ‘one-third genius, one-third megalomaniac and one-third eccentric,’ gave his name to this precious blend.
He owned the Islay distillery of Lagavulin, and was agent for its neighbour, Laphroaig.
Losing the contract for Laphroaig after a bitter dispute, he built a replica distillery in the grounds of Lagavulin and called it Malt Mill. It was designed to make precisely the same style of whisky as Laphroaig – a feat it never really achieved.
The whisky produced at Malt Mill disappeared entirely into Mackie’s blends, particularly White Horse. Or did it?
The distillery is named on bottles of Mackie’s Ancient Scotch, although there is no mention of it being a ‘blend’ or ‘blended’… could it contain single malt from Malt Mill?
Little is known of Mackie’s blend that occasionally surfaces on auction websites, although there were two versions of the whisky.
In the UK there was Mackie’s Ancient Scotch, bottles of which do tantalisingly mention Malt Mill beneath the brand owner, White Horse Distillers Ltd.
The bottling for the US market, called Mackie’s Ancient Brand, does not.
Assuming they are the same whisky, it must date from some time between 1908 when Malt Mill was fired into life, and 1962 when it closed for good.
Whisky writer Serge Valentin has described Mackie’s Ancient Brand as ‘the peatiest blend I have ever tried,’ and speculated that ‘there was quite possibly more than 50% Malt Mill’ in the blend.
Auchmedden distillery (also spelled Auch Madden, Auch Medden and Auchmeddin), an Aberdeenshire distillery, was based on a farm now called Mains of Auchmedden, west of Aberdour Bay, above the picturesque harbour village of Pennan and in the shadow of the ruined Auchmedden castle. The property belonged to the Baird family from 1568, but it was acquired by the Earls of Aberdeen, Gordons, in the mid 18th century.
Two events, the Phylloxera epidemic at the end of the nineteenth century and the imposition of Prohibition in the United States in the early twentieth century, proved pivotal in the growth of the Scotch whisky industry, and led to its ascendency and its current dominance of the spirits market.
In France, production and quality wine were at a peak by the mid-1800s when the first of three tragedies that would cripple the wine industry, and its related brandy industry, struck. The combined effect proved devastating.
The first blow was Odium—specifically uncinula necator—a fungus that causes powdery mildew on grapes. Originating in North America, certain varieties of European wine grapes proved to be particularly susceptible to it. The disease was crippling, but not devastating, it would significantly reduce wine production. This mildew was brought under control in less than a decade.
Just as vintners breathed a sigh of relief the second and even more crippling North American invader—the Phylloxera epidemic—hit them. Phylloxera was caused by a tiny insect, an aphid, sometimes referred to as the grape louse, which attacked the roots of the domesticated, Vitis vinifera, grapevines in Europe.
Native to North America, Phylloxera had not been a problem to European wine makers, notwithstanding the fact that samples of American grape varieties had been exported to Europe for centuries. The advent of steamships completely transformed the potential threat. With fast steamships cutting transatlantic travel to two weeks, insect pests could now survive a transatlantic voyage.
Beginning in 1863, in the French province of Languedoc, French vintners began noticing that a mysterious blight was killing their vines. It was not until 1868 that the grape Phylloxera aphid was discovered as the source of the epidemic, and it was not until 1870 that the solution was discovered.
In that 15-year period, some 40 percent of France’s vineyards were destroyed and the industry was set back for decades. There was worse to come. “Downy” mildew, the third tragedy to hit the European wine industry, came while the French were still looking for a cure for Phylloxera.
Downy mildew was a parasitic fungus that attacked the leaves of grape plants, eventually destroying the leaf tissue of the infected plant. This third plague was remedied at amazing speed, but the damage done by three consecutive blights was catastrophic. In roughly 30 years, wine production in France fell three quarters, and 75 to 85 percent of Europe’s vineyards were obliterated.
It took the French wine and brandy industry almost thirty years to recover. During that period, French Cognac production virtually ceased. Scotch whisky was on its upward incline.
Auchmedden distillery was operated by William Grant – one of countless William Grants in the history of distilling – from 1826-33.
Cabrach Distillery was a farm distillery in the Cabrach, Aberdeenshire, one of few legally sanctioned sites in the area. In the 1800's, the Cabrach was notorious for its illicit distilling of whisky and its ability to evade customs and excise raids due to its inaccessible and inhospitable lands. Some claim the Cabrach as one of the birthplaces of Scottish malt whisky.
Taking its name from the region, Cabrach distillery stood at Haddoch farm, about half a mile north of Upper Cabrach village. The Cabrach Trust was set up to enable the regeneration of this remote upland area. Located in rural Moray, in Northeast Scotland, the Cabrach, is defined as one of the 30 most remote regions in Scotland. A new distillery is planned for this site.
The Cabrach Trust plans to convert the steading buildings at Inverharroch Farm into a historic distillery and heritage centre which will showcase the rich culture and heritage of this haunting and mysterious landscape.
Ardbeg, established in 1815, has led an on and off existence for over 180 years since.
It was not until the brand was purchased by The Glenmorangie Company in 1997 that the Distillery was saved from extinction.
The legacy of the whisky was safeguarded in 2000 by the formation of the Ardbeg Committee, made up of thousands of Ardbeg followers worldwide who are keen to ensure that “the doors of Ardbeg never close again”.
Today there are more than 100,000 members of the Ardbeg Committee in over 130 countries.
Ardbeg is the world’s most highly awarded smoky single malt whisky. Since 2008, Ardbeg has won more than 50 gold and double gold medals in key whisky competitions.
In 1853, when Commodore Matthew Perry sailed his big black ships to Edo harbor, forcing the reluctant samurai rulers to open Japan to trade, he brought with him a few barrels of whisky to keep himself and his crew warm on the long voyage across the Pacific.
He also presented the Emperor a 110-gallon barrel of his finest whisky.
Circa 1875, the Japanese began importing whisky, and local brewers also started making their own versions. This early “whisky” was actually just alcohol with a similar colour to whisky.
The problem today has assumed huge proportions. A large amount of the liquor isn’t actually made in Japan. Some of it isn’t whisky at all.
Unlike most whisky-producing countries, Japan has few rules about what constitutes whisky, let alone what makes it Japanese. Companies can buy spirits in bulk from abroad, bottle and label it “Japanese whisky,” and ship it back out.
Imported by the metal barrel, Scotch or Canadian whisky is watered down, mixed with ethanol and sold as Japanese whisky.
The first modern Japanese whisky distilleries, including Yamazaki, didn’t open until the 1920s.
While they were modeled on Scottish operations and often produced high-quality spirits, they did little to change the overall character of Japanese whisky, which, following World War II, was aimed at everyday salary-men looking for a quick drink after work.
The Japanese government introduced formal definitions for domestic whisky in 1989, but by then the industry was dominated by a few big distilling companies that wanted to keep the rules loose.
After 1989, for example, whisky sold domestically had to contain at least 10% aged malt whisky; the rest could be unaged alcohol, typically made from imported molasses.
Interest in Japanese whisky began to pick up in the early 2000s, snowballing through the next 15 years as the industry’s premium brands, like Hibiki and Yamazaki, racked up global critical acclaim.
Analysts point to fast-growing imports of Scotch and Canadian whisky into Japan in recent years, even as the retail sales of those whiskies remain flat — implying that most of the imported spirit is being bought by distilleries and relabelled as Japanese.
The Japan Spirits & Liqueurs Makers Association announced a new set of industry-wide regulations on 16 February 2021, effective 01 Apr 2021. However, whisky brands have until 31st March 2024 to adhere to them.
The only raw ingredients allowed for use in production are malted grains, other cereal grains, and water extracted in Japan. Malted grains must always be used. Fermentation, distillation, and saccharification must take place in a distillery located in Japan, with the alcohol volume of the distillate not allowed to go above 95% in strength.
Wood casks with a maximum capacity of 700 litres must be used for the maturation of the distilled product and have to be matured in Japan for a minimum of 3 years. Bottling must take place in Japan, and the whisky has to have a minimum ABV of 40%.
Plain caramel colouring (also known as E150a) can be added; this is a common practice in whisky around the world.
Scotch Whisky exports to the US were valued at £1.07bn in 2019 – the industry’s first billion pound market.
In the International Whisky Competition 2021, highlighting the best whiskies for 2021, Scotland has – unsurprisingly – managed to lock out the Top 3 spots with the Ardbeg Uigeadail officially crowned the King of the Casks, Glenmorangie Vintage 1997 in second place (95.1 points), followed by Dewar’s Double Double 32 YO in third (95 points).
Taiwan has been staking their claim, placing fourth with the Kavalan Artist Series: Paul Chiang Peated Malt Single Cask Strength Single Malt Whisky (94.6 points), and placing in three other spots within the Top 15.
Best blended whisky (all categories, all countries), all three top spots were bagged by Dewar. 1st Place: Dewar’s Double Double 32 Year Old; 2nd Place: Dewar’s Double Double 21 Year Old; and 3rd Place: Dewar’s Double Double 27 Year Old.
Illicit distillers and whisky smugglers played a constant battle of cat and mouse with excisemen, or gaugers. The canny Scots came up with a variety of creative ways of hiding their precious bounty, including transporting it in coffins!
Illicit stills were common all over Scotland. In Edinburgh their smoke was disguised by the thick sooty chimney smoke that characterised the era. One such distillery was discovered in the lower cellar of the Tron Kirk on the Royal Mile – not a very reputable sideline for a place of worship!
Robert Burns, Scotland’s Bard became an exciseman after falling on hard times in 1788. He took up the post of Excise Officer for Dumfries; in February 1792 he was promoted to the Dumfries Port Division, an appointment that carried a salary of £50 per annum. The pair of pistols which he carried for his personal protection can still be seen today in the National Museum of Scotland.
The continued flouting of the law prompted the Duke of Gordon, on whose land some of the illicit whisky was being produced- with his prior knowledge and tacit permission- to propose in the House of Lords that the Government should make it profitable to produce whisky legally.
In 1823 the Excise Act was passed, which authorised the distilling of whisky in return for a licence fee of £10, and a set payment per gallon of proof spirit.
Smuggling disappeared almost completely over the next decade, paving the way for the Scottish whisky industry we know today.
It’s worth noting that many present day distilleries stand on sites used by the smugglers over two centuries ago – a modern day continuation of a by-gone practice.
In 1831 Aeneas Coffey invented the Patent Still which enabled a continuous process of distillation to take place, leading to the production of grain whisky, a less intense spirit than the previous malt whisky.
This invention was first exploited by Edinburgh distillers Andrew Usher & Co who, in 1860, blended malt and grain whisky together for the first time to produce a lighter flavoured whisky - extending the appeal of Scotch Whisky to a wider market.
In the 1880s the vineyards of France were devastated by the Phylloxera beetle, which wiped out the crops for wine and brandy production. Their disaster was the Scots fortune however - by the time the French industry recovered, Scottish whisky had taken the place of brandy as the preferred spirit.
Since then, Scottish whisky, especially blended whisky, has gone from strength to strength. The tipple is enjoyed worldwide, supports tens of thousands of jobs in Scotland and plays an important part in the Scottish tourism sector.
With its proximity to the shore, Leith was Edinburgh city's whisky district. Having been a centre for the storage of wine and brandy in the 16th century, with access to as many as 100 bonded warehouses, in the early 1820’s Leith was granted one of only six licences issued to ports in Scotland allowing them to store whisky under bond.
The Phylloxera beetle, which had ravaged crops for wine and brandy in France in the 1880’s, meant that the warehouses of Leith that had previously housed this product, were now lying empty. Seeing a gap in the market, whisky makers quickly moved in.
The Vaults in Leith, home to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, was originally a wine warehouse dating back to the 18th century.
Many of the whisky industry’s most famous brand names started out as licensed grocers who began to blend whisky in the 19th century.
One such was George Ballantine, who opened his first shop in the bustling trade district of Cowgate, which is situated under South Bridge.
Ballantine’s reputation soon grew, as did his success. He soon moved to smarter premises in nearby Candlemaker Row, then later to a prestigious location just off fashionable Princes Street.
Today, Ballantine’s is the second biggest selling Scotch whisky worldwide.
Today there are the still the remains of long-gone distilleries across Edinburgh, with the buildings taking on a new lease of life.
The Caledonian Distillery, Easter Dalry Wynd. Situated close to Haymarket Station, The Caledonian Distillery was built in 1855. The distillery closed its doors in 1988 with much of it being renovated and transformed into housing. Today, its 300ft chimney stack remains as a reminder of the building’s history.
Edinburgh distillery stands in Sciennes in the city of Edinburgh. In 1849, Alexander Pearson remodelled a brewery that was built in 1430 and established this distillery. The distiilery was called West Sciennes distillery in those days.
The owner changed several times. Also the name changed from Newington (1851-56) to Glen Sciennes (1856-59). After being taken over by Andrew Usher & Co. in 1859, it was renamed Edinburgh Distillery. It closed in 1925 and is thought to be the last distillery in Edinburgh to have produced single malt.
Dean Distillery, Dean Village. Smaller than the city’s other distilleries, Dean Distillery opened in 1881 and was housed in a converted flour mill on the Water of Leith. Closed in 1922, part of the building remains today and is used as offices.
Brothers John and Andrew Usher were born to the whisky trade. Their father, Andrew Usher Sr, had started out as a spirits dealer in Edinburgh in 1813 and the two brothers became partners in the family business, buying the afore-mentioned Glen Sciennes Distillery in 1859.
During the 1860s, the brothers began promoting new whisky brands for the flourishing UK market. Pioneers of creating blended whisky, they were also among the first to recognise the enormous opportunities for exporting whisky around the world.
The brothers left quite a legacy in Edinburgh – one that you can still smell on the city’s streets.
Andrew Usher never saw the hall that took his name, dying in 1898, 16 years before his dream was realised. The Usher Hall was opened by his widow in 1914 and remains one of the most impressive venues in the city. Despite being built upon the proceeds of Scotch whisky, the hall did not have a bar until the 1980’s!
Holyrood Distillery: Edinburgh’s first single malt distillery for almost 100 years is set within a 180-year-old building next to Holyrood Park and within easy walking distance of the city centre, Holyrood Distillery opened its doors to the public for the first time in July 2019.
Glenkinchie Distillery, situated just 15 miles from Edinburgh in the rolling farmland of East Lothian, houses a museum about malt whisky production, an illicit still, a large scale model of a distillery and various other whisky-related displays to grab your attention.
When prohibition ended and Americans were once again able to quench their thirst for whiskey, Irish distillers lacked the stocks to meet this new, now legal, demand. The Scot’s had plenty of whisky, and they leveraged their stocks and their reputation for quality into a dominant position in the American whiskey market at the expense of the Irish distillers.Daftmill is one of the very few truly self-sufficient distillery in Scotland.
At the end of the 19th century, Dailuaine was the largest single malt distillery in Speyside and also one of the most innovative in terms of design.
A small percentage of their farm crop (around 100 tons) is diverted for their own use. The process water comes from their own artesian well, and the draff produced after mashing is then fed to their prize beef herd.
Only 20,000 litres are produced during two x three-month seasons, one starting after the end of the busy spring period on the farm and stopping before harvest, the other during the fallow winter period between November and February.
These sixth-generation farmers reckon that they are only the third family to have farmed Daftmill in 1,000 years of existence.
It was only in 2003 that the idea of whisky making began to form in the minds of the owners.
It is the first member of the now burgeoning small-scale distilling movement in Scotland.
None of the maturing stock has yet been released, though samples from casks show that it is mature, balanced with a gentle herbal note, and very much ready for sale. Rarely seen as a single malt bottling (the occasional Flora & Fauna from owner Diageo, (sporadic independent offerings), Dailuaine is one of the many hard-working distilleries which quietly provide fillings for blends.
It produces a heavy ‘meaty’ make given its long fermentation, rapid distillation and the use of stainless steel in the condensers to cut down on copper interaction. That Flora & Fauna bottling (from ex-Sherry casks) shows this mix of richness and sweetness at its best.
A complete rebuild in 1884 saw the installation of Scotland’s first pagoda on a kiln whose pitch was deliberately steep to minimise the contact time between peat smoke and drying malt, one of the clearest indications of how the old ‘Strathspey’ style was changing.
In 1898, it merged with Talisker to form Dailuaine-Talisker Distilleries Ltd.
Dallas Dhu Distillery designed by Charles Doig is now little more than a museum.
Dallas Dhu Speyside single malt Scotch whisky is rarely seen, but when it does emerge from the shadows it shows a sweet fruited edge, some honey, oiliness and a wisp of peat smoke.
Banff is the most onomatopoeic Scotch distillery and among the least lucky!
On the night of 16 August 1941, Banff distillery was strafed and bombed by the Luftwaffe. A warehouse exploded, sending casks flying into the air and a river of whisky flooding out over the fields and into the river. There was considerable devastation and tales of drunken cows that were incapable of being milked the next day.
Clynelish’s is one of a number of ‘Clearance’ distilleries (Talisker is another example) which appeared in the earlier part of the 19th century. Some landowners forcibly moved tenant farmers from their ancestral lands. The most brutal of these perpetrators were The Duchess and Duke of Sutherland. The Duke established a distillery which he called Clynelish. All were staffed by former farmers who were paid in coin which could only be redeemed at the company’s shops – whose profits went to the Duke. The distillery built a reputation only in 1896 when blenders Ainslie & Heilbron bought it in partnership with John Risk, who was to become the outright owner in 1912. By the end of the century it had become the most highly-priced single malt.
This Act, when published, was limited to distillers only.
It took a further three years till grocers could carry out such blending on premises and sale under their own label legally, under an Extension to the French Treaty Act 1863.
In these three years, many other grocers got into the business full time—John Walker, George Ballantine, Peter Thomson of Beneagles, William Teacher and the Berry brothers are good examples. Matthew Gloag III of the Famous Grouse followed later.
The Chivas Brothers company came into being only in 1857, when John Chivas joined his elder brother James in his grocery, wine shop and luxury goods emporium in Aberdeen.
The Forbes-Mackenzie Act permitting vatting of whiskies when in a bonded warehouse was passed in 1853. A larger variety of blended malts were now available to vendors to sell.
In 1915, when WW I was on, the whisky industry came under governmental pressure to help defray finances. David Lloyd George, the teetotaler Chancellor of the Exchequer, attempted to double the duty on spirits. He backed down after the whisky industry agreed to release its wares only after a minimum of three years’ maturation.
In those days, most whisky was bottled at between 15 and 22 degrees under UK proof as it was then known (48.6-44.6% abv in today’s terms).
In 1915, the Government Control Board permitted whisky to be sold at 35 degrees under proof (37.2% abv).
The same year, the Board tried to further reduce the strength of their spirit sold in military bases and urban areas to 50 degrees under proof (28.6% abv). The whisky industry protested and reached a compromise which standardised the strength of whisky everywhere in the UK at 42.9% abv (25 degrees under proof).
On 01 February 1917, the Government, with Lloyd George as Prime Minister, ruled that whisky had to be sold at no more than 30 degrees under proof (40% abv).
The aromatic complexity of a whisky is markedly different between 40% and 43%.
Sanity was restored by PM Ramsay MacDonald in 1929, who allowed registered Scotch Whisky to be sold at any strength up to cask strength, usually 63-65%, with increased duty for higher strength expressions.
The strength of whisky everywhere in the UK was standardised at 42.8% abv. Distillers had the option to use 40% abv if so desired.
Ballantine’s is comprised of some 50 single malts – mostly from Miltonduff and Glenburgie – and four grain whiskies.
The brand’s flagship blend – Ballantine’s Finest – was launched in 1910. Interestingly, the flagship brands of both Johnnie Walker & and Chivas Regal, viz., Johnnie Walker Black Label & Chivas Regal 25 YO were launched in 1909.
The business was sold to Barclay and McKinlay in 1919, who retained the Ballantine’s brand name in favour of Talisker.
In 1935, the group was sold to Canadian distiller Hiram Walker-Gooderham & Worts.
Hiram Walker began purchasing several distilleries, including Miltonduff and Glenburgie – both in 1936, and built the mammoth Dumbarton complex, which housed the largest grain distillery in Europe at that time.
In 2002, the Dumbarton plant was closed down and production shifted to Strathclyde grain distillery, although a large bonded warehouse complex and bottling plant still exist in Dumbarton.
The core portfolio consists of Finest, Limited, 12, 17, 21, 30 and 40-year-olds, while a lime-flavoured extension, Ballantine’s Brasil, was launched in 2013.
After a successful trial at Inverleven, the malt whisky distillery within the firm’s Dumbarton distillery complex in Dumbarton, it was decided to install a Lomond wash and spirit still at Glenburgie in Moray in 1958.
Christened Glencraig, its newmake spirit was distinct from Glenburgie’s, and gave Hiram Walker another malt for its blends without having to invest in a whole new distillery.
Glencraig was produced throughout the 1960s and ‘70s at Glenburgie on Speyside as a blending malt on a pair of Lomond stills.
While independent bottlings of Glencraig occasionally appear, it was never intended as a single malt in its brief life.
The Lomond stills were abandoned at Glenburgie in 1981.
The real Glen Isla is one of the famous Angus glens than runs north to the ski resort of Glenshee. On the other hand, the eponymous malt whisky was a short-lived experiment to produce a smoky Speyside malt at Glen Keith – the Speyside distillery Seagram built next to its Stathisla distillery in Keith in the late 1950s.
Glen Keith was experimental from the start, testing out triple distillation and gas-fired direct heating for its stills.
Among very rare bottlings of Glenisla, hardly any peat was found in a 1977 release from Signatory.
This was because Glenisla was peated in a very peculiar way. Under Seagram, Chivas Brothers had been sending 45-gallon drums of peated water from Stornaway to Glen Keith, where it was run through an angled condenser to concentrate the phenols. Apparently it was added 10 gallons at a time to the wash charge and its impact on the whisky must have been considerably less than using well-peated malt in the traditional way.
Glenisla was only produced in the 1970s, and then only for a couple of years.
The whisky was blended away, most notably in Chivas’ Century of Malts (a vatting of 100 different malt whiskies) in the 1990s.
Mosstowie was one of a handful of short-lived malt whiskies produced on Lomond stills within another distillery – in this case Miltonduff, near Elgin.
Lomond stills, compared to traditional pot stills, were a lot more versatile – you could adjust the position of the lyne arm and the number of rectifying plates in the neck to vary the amount of reflux and thus heaviness of the spirit.
It was deemed perfect for the company’s flagship blend – Ballantine’s Finest, and so Lomond stills were installed at Hiram Walker’s Inverleven, Glenburgie, Scapa and Miltonduff distilleries.
The whisky produced using Miltonduff’s Lomond stills was named Mosstowie, and while the majority was used for the Ballantine’s blend, there have been occasional independent bottlings as a single malt.
Seagram’s 100 Piper’s blend was once a popular brand in the UK, and claimed to be the fourth most popular Scotch in Scotland in 1988. Four years later it was decided to co-opt a famous Scottish regiment into the brand and rechristen it the ‘100 Pipers of the Black Watch,’ just in the UK.
There was just one piper on the label, and in due course the brand became simply The Black Watch blend.
The Small Stills Act of 1816 abolished the distinction between the industries in the Highlands and the Lowlands. In addition the Act legalised stills holding 48 gallons and above, as well as a weaker wash. This Act, allowed the smaller producers to operate legally and increase the number of the legal distilleries from 36 in 1816 to 125 three years later.
The Excise Act of 1823 which gave a lot of incentives like tax-free warehousing and free export, multiplied the legal distilleries and reduced the illegal trade. By the end of 1825, the licensed distilleries under the new Act were doubled from 111 to 263.
The first license under the new law was obtained by Captain George Smith, the founder of The Glenlivet Distillery.
During Prohibition (1920–33), Bill McCoy fell on hard times and took to rum running on his schooner Henry L. Marshall. As he prospered, he bought a bigger schooner, the Arethusa.
He is credited with inventing the "burlock" – a package holding six bottles jacketed in straw, three on the bottom, then two, then one, the whole sewed tightly in burlap. It was compact and easy to handle and stow.
Bill McCoy pioneered a method of packing liquor(burlock) and could store up to 5,000 cases on the Arethusa. The expression “The Real McCoy” was used by fellow bootleggers to describe unadulterated spirits, particularly Scotch, because of the pride McCoy took in maintaining the quality of the name-brand liquors he transported.
Placing the schooner under British registry to avoid being US jurisdiction, Bill renamed the vessel Tomoka (after the river that runs through his hometown Holly Hill).
When the Coast Guard discovered McCoy, he established the system of anchoring large ships off the coast in international waters and selling liquor to smaller ships that transferred it to the shore. McCoy also smuggled liquor and spirits from the French islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon located south of Newfoundland.
On November 23, 1923, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Seneca, had orders to capture Bill McCoy and the Tomoka, even if in international waters. When the Tomoka was boarded under cover of the Seneca's guns, he immediately set sail and ran away with the boarding party – one lieutenant, one bos'n and thirteen seamen – and only upon their pleas did he heave to and put them back on the Seneca. He surrendered after the Seneca had fired four-inch shells at him.
The Chivas Brothers company came into being only in 1857, when John Chivas joined his elder brother James in his grocery, wine shop and luxury goods emporium in Aberdeen.
Mysteries surround Loch Ardnahoe: no one is quite sure how deep it is, while others say there’s a ghost of a charging white steed that rises out of the Loch on a full moon.
Ardnahoe is the 9th Islay distillery.
Ardnahoe – which means “Height of the Hollow” in Scottish Gaelic and gives Ardnahoe Distillery its name, is situated on the North-East coast of Islay, equidistant between Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain Distilleries.
Aber Falls Distillery (Aberfall Distyllfa Whisgi)in Abergwyngregyn, Wales, launched its first 100% Welsh single malt whisky on 17 May 2021.
Their copper stills are appropriately named Golchi, meaning wash in English and Gwirod, meaning spirit.
Douglas Laing & Co, the family firm behind the “Remarkable Regional Malts” Scotch Whisky range, unleashed Timorous Beastie “Meet the Beast”, a limited edition of the sleekit dram to amplify the flavour experience of their Highland Malt brand end May 2021.
Offered at a natural cask strength of 54.9% and matured exclusively in ex-American Bourbon barrels, the spirit is said to be a “massive amplification” of the original.
Douglas Laing’s Remarkable Regional Malts, the Ultimate Distillation of Scotland’s Malt Whisky Regions, encompasses The Epicurean Lowland Malt Scotch Whisky, Timorous Beastie (Highlands), Scallywag (Speyside), The Gauldrons (Campbeltown), Rock Island (Islands) and Big Peat (Islay). Beyond its Blended Malts expertise, the award-winning Douglas Laing portfolio also includes Provenance, Premier Barrel, Old Particular, Xtra Old Particular and XOP Black, collectively known as the firm’s “Exceptional Single Casks”.
In 2019, Laphroaig released a new Scotch whisky, The Ian Hunter Story Book One: Unique Character. It was presented in a novel manner, in the form of a heavy tome that, after a few pages, revealed a neat slot with a bottle holding liquid 30 years old nestled therein.
It was also the first chapter of a series of rare and collectable aged whiskies that honour the legacy of Ian Hunter. He was the last of the Johnston family to own and manage the Laphroaig distillery, between 1908 and 1944.
15 such books are planned. Each release is to contain an aged Laphroaig, set into a crafted book that would document a part of Ian’s legacy. Every year, a new chapter would be told, uncovering the history behind Laphroaig and the characters who created it.
Indian Amrut Fusion is not the only fusion whisky. The Glover Fusion Whisky Ltd. was originally formed as a small enterprise- TBG & Co- with the aim of producing a Scotch whisky to raise awareness of entrepreneur Thomas Blake Glover’s role in shaping modern Japan and celebrate Scotland’s historical, economical, cultural and social links to Japan.
5 blended malts have been made with Scotch and Japanese single malts, two with India’s Amrut single malts and one each with Australia and Holland.
Although the profile of Caol Ila as a single malt has been enhanced in recent years, the main function of the distillery is still the production of malt whiskies for the Johnnie Walker blends. Among single malt whisky lovers, Caol Ila is known as a relatively clean peated whisky - but the whisky that is used for blends is actually UNPEATED.
Caol Ila is the largest distillery on Islay by far, producing roughly a quarter of all the malt whisky that is distilled on the isle of Islay. As such, Caol Ila's capacity dwarfs better known malt whisky brands like Longmorn, Glenfarclas and Laphroaig and Lagavulin.
The 'Classic Malts' range of Diageo used to contain only six different single malts (Cragganmore, Dalwinnie, Glenkinchie, Lagavulin, Oban & Talisker).
In 2005, Cardhu, Clynelish and Glen Elgin were added.
In 1830, the Irishman Aeneas Coffey, a former Inspector General of Excise, patented his improved column still. The efficiency of the technique and the smooth characteristics of the grain whisky have changed the drinking map of the world during the next centuries.
The magic formula which helped the whisky to conquer the British elite and the world in the following years was the blending of the rougher malt whiskies with the softer grain whiskies and prolonging the maturation process.
Johnnie Walker used captains of passenger ships as his sales agents.
In 1917, during World War I, malt whisky production was forced to shut down due to shortage in the supply of grains.
During the 1920s, the alcohol prohibition in the United States and the Great Depression led to decline of production and increase in illegal alcohol trading.
In 1877, The Distillers Company (DCL), a company which played an important role in the evolution of the whisky industry was formed by a group of Scottish column still distillers. DCL is now part of Diageo.
In 1898, Pattison, Elder & Co, a blending company which had penetrated the whisky market for almost a decade with aggressive marketing and financing, filed bankruptcy. This fact created financial problems to a lot of distilleries which used to be their suppliers and created a crash in the whisky industry.
Britain's involvement in World War II played a significant role in spreading the whisky in Europe, America and Asia.
In 1962, Grants decide to start selling the 8 Year Old Glenfiddich "straight malt" which was the pioneer for the rebranding of Single Malt Whisky.
In China, Scotch drinkers like to mix their scotch with green tea, in Japan with water and ice, in Spain and France with cola and in the UK, with a little bit of water.
In 1962, Grants decided to start selling the 8 Year Old Glenfiddich "straight malt" which was the pioneer for the re-branding of Single Malt Whisky.
A beer lover or enthusiast is called a cerevisaphile.
Collecting beer mats is called tegestology.
The oldest brewery in the United States is supposedly Yuengling in Pottsville, Pennsylvania - founded in 1829.
There are only 12 Master Blenders of whisky in the entire world.
Unopened, a bottle of scotch can last more than 100 years.
2020 should see 124 malt and 4 grain distilleries in operation.
An aged female soothsayer cursed the parsimonious laird of the Isle of Jura distillery, Archibald Campbell, on eviction and prophesized that the last of the Campbell family to finally depart from the island would have only one eye and all of his earthly belongings would be carried in a cart pulled by a lone white horse. In 1938, Charles Campbell fell on hard times. Blind in one eye as a result of a World War I injury, he was seen walking his white horse and all his possessions to the pier, leaving Jura for good.
Bruichladdich and Arran Bere Barley is an idiosyncratic barley variety that has survived in some of Scotland’s remotest outposts for up to 6,000 years, nearly became extinct 20 years ago, and is now undergoing a resurgence.
The distillation process, the key segment of whisky production was invented around four thousand years ago in the ancient civilizations of Babylon and Mesopotamia.
It’s a common misconception that single malt whisky is the product of one cask. In fact, it is the product of a single distillery and may actually come from several casks therein, a blend of malts of that specific distillery.
Efforts began as early as the 1960’s to eliminate the confusing fractions brought about by the pint, quart, and US/Imperial gallon measurements and by the late 1970’s efforts were underway to convert liquor bottle sizes to the metric system. They managed in both the UK and the US, thank goodness.
Eden Mill became Scotland's first combined brewery and distillery when they began the production of Scotch whisky and gin in 2014.
By 2010 only Tamdhu still used Saladin boxes for malting, in which a lot of malt can be produced in one batch since the malt layer can be up to 1 metre high. Tamdhu produced the malt for Macallan, Glenrothes and other distilleries in the corporate group.
Distilleries with their own maltings are: Balvenie, Bowmore, Glen Garioch, Glen Ord, Highland Park, Laphroaig, Speyburn, Kilchoman, Laphroaig, Benriach and Springbank.
The Athenaeum Hotel in London sells a whisky called “The Athenaeum Speyside Blended Malt Scotch Whisky”. The label mentions that the whisky also contains Highland whisky. This is indefensible, but their argument is that The Macallan is geographically as Speyside as you can get, but the distillery uses “Highland” on the label.
In America, “Whiskey” is the most common spelling, but well-known brands like Maker’s Mark or George Dickel use the “whisky” spelling. The official US regulations for distilled spirits use “whisky” throughout.
The last runnings of the distillation, called feints, are led back into the wash still.
- 1 Quarter cask = 33 us. gal. (125 Litres)
- 1 Barrel = 41.7 us. gal. (158 Litres)
- 1 ASB = American standard barrel = 52.8 us. gal. (200 Litres)
- 1 Hogshead = 66 us. gal. (250 Litres)
- 1 Butt = 132 us. gal. (500 Litres)
- Puncheons (or Pungeons) and pipes 158.5 – 184.9 us. gal.: (600 – 700 litres) are used only rarely.
- Ballechin Distillery between 1810 and 1927
- Blair Athol, originally Aldour
- Glenturret, originally Hosh
- Auchnagie
- Aberfeldy
- Deanston
- Edradour
Cragganmore means "large rock" in Gaelic.
The Glen Garioch 46YO is the oldest official bottle from the distillery.
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The Clynelish distillery uses water piped down from Clynemilton Burn.
The primary single malts in Chivas Regal are Strathisla, Braeval and Allt-a-Bhainne. The Glenlivet 12 YO also features in the mix.
Aultmore is one of the many victims of the infamous Pattison crash.
The original distillery ran in tandem with the new distillery under the names of Clynelish A and Clynelish B.
James Buchanan formed his own whisky company in 1884 after five years with blender Charles Mackinlay & Co. His flagship whisky was The Buchanan Blend, a light, smooth unpeated expression designed specifically to appeal to the English palate.
The expression, which initially incorporated Dalwhinnie, Clynelish and Glendullan malts, was named the Buchanan Blend and became an instant hit in London.
It was picked up by the Members Bar at the House of Commons in London. Buchanan renamed the blend Buchanan’s House of Commons Finest Old Highland whisky, and presented it in a dark glass bottle with a striking white label.
Before long, drinkers began ordering ‘that Black & White whisky’, and in 1902 the name was officially changed again to Black and White.
The brand was exported across the world, and in 1907, it was being ordered by the emperor of Japan.
By 1909, it had become the most popular blend in England.
While under the auspices of the DCL during the 1920s, the Black & White terriers began featuring more heavily in the brand’s advertising, quickly becoming iconic ambassadors for Buchanan’s flagship blend.
In 2013 the brand was given a contemporary makeover, and the terriers made the move onto the bottle’s label for the first time.
It is the fastest rising standard Blended Scotch over the last decade.
Sotheby’s announced it will present “The Ultimate Whisky Collection” on September 27, 2019 in what it is calling “the most valuable collection of whisky ever to be sold at auction.”The collection is expected to fetch about £4 million.
Independent whisky bottler Douglas Laing & Co has moved into distilling with the acquisition of Perthshire-based single malt Scotch producer Strathearn Distillery.
Established in 1948, Douglas Laing’s Scotch whisky portfolio includes brands such as Xtra Old Particular (XOP), Old Particular, Timorous Beastie, Scallywag, Rock Oyster, Big Peat and The King of Scots.
Each Glenlivet gets its own colour.
Initially triple distilled, Talisker reverted to double distillation in 1928.
In 1960, a fire destroyed the stillhouse. The five stills lost in the fire were replaced by replicas still heated by coal in two years.
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Talisker House & Pershal More
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The Glenlivet has often had a starring role on the silver screen. The whisky has appeared in films such as Anchorman, Grosse Pointe Blank, Birdcage and The Mummy.
Traditionally the majority of the spirit was aged in Oloroso casks, however since the recommencement of production in 2002 bourbon casks have been used, meaning that future releases will have a different flavour profile to the batches being released today.
Dalmore managed to generate lots of free publicity with hefty price tags on many of their older releases, but some of those bottles remained unsold and kept gathering dust on the shelves of luxury liquorists around the world.
Abbotshaugh distillery (1825-28), located in the grounds of an abbey, is one of 18 lost distilleries in the Falkirk area.
The Iona brand was created around 1905 and was immediately widely advertised in the UK national and local (West of Scotland) press.
James Ainslie & Co. was founded as a wine and spirit merchant in Leith, Edinburgh in 1868. A very successful company, it purchased the Clynelish distillery in 1896 and completely re-built it within two years.
The series concept was to introduce three differing styles of blended malt whisky that could be consumed before, during and after dinner. Anchor Bay with its light blend of Speyside malts, was aimed at the aperitif end of the spectrum.
Only Anchor Bay survives today.
Auchnagie blended malt is a considered recreation of the style of whisky thought to have been produced by the lost Perthshire distillery of the same name.
The blended malt is one of several homages to lost distilleries to be introduced by The Lost Distillery Company. With its citrus, black pepper and cereal notes, the expression is as close as we’ll get to tasting the real thing.
Auchnagie is available in three expressions as part of TLDC’s Classic, Archivist and Vintage series.
Auld Acrimony, a 12-year-old Highland blended malt, was produced during the late 19080s/ early 1990s by Grant and Webster Distillers exclusively for British supermarket chain, Safeway. Available only at auctions today.
Born on the island of Islay, blended malt Big Peat is a smoky, oily whisky, with sweetness from Caol Ila, the fruitiness of Bowmore, a medicinal quality from Ardbeg and an earthy tone from Port Ellen.
A medium-weight single malt, Aberlour’s character balances malt, fruit and a distinctive blackcurrant note. It is a whisky which gains in weight and toffee-like sweetness as it matures and has sufficient depth to be able to cope with Sherry cask maturation.
Aberlour’s cult following is for the small batch, 100% Sherry-matured, cask-strength variant A’Bunadh which has run since 2000.
Aberlour was one of the first distilleries to offer a ‘bottle your own’ whisky to visitors.
The first distillery in the village of Aberlour was established in 1825 by James Gordon and Peter Weir. Weir withdrew in 1826.
The distillery was leased in 1826 and ran until 1833, when the co-lessees James and John Grant left to build their own distillery, Glen Grant, in Rothes.
The current distillery was the brainchild of James Fleming who built it in 1879 using water from St. Drostan’s Well, named after an early Columban monk, which is situated on the site.
Like many Victorian distilleries, it burnt down in 1879 and had to be rebuilt. Robert Thorne bought the distillery in 1892.
It burnt down again in 1898 and had to be rebuilt.
Achenvoir was a lost Islay distillery that was open only briefly in the 1810s. No farms or crofts named Achenvoir are listed currently or historically on Islay, so the exact location of the distillery remains a mystery.
Achlatt is one of countless lost Perthshire distilleries, near Moulin, Pitlochry.
Ailsa Bay is a case study in how style is not dictated solely by geographical location.
Ailsa Bay is in the Lowlands, on the Clyde coast.
Its eight stills however produce a wide variety of styles of makes.
This flexibility is deliberate as the distillery was built to both replace ‘Balvenie-style’ malt for Grant’s blends and offer other flavour possibilities. Given this, not surprisingly, the stills are shaped the same as Balvenie’s.
Four different characters are made: estery, nutty, fruity and heavily peated.
During World War II, when the distillery was on short-term working, locals used to smuggle wash up the Aberlour burn and distil illicitly under the Linn Falls.
The distillery became part of Campbell Distillers in 1945, passing into the Pernod Ricard stable in 1974, the year after it had been expanded from two to four stills and wholly modernised internally.
Its ownership has long given it a strong following in France.
It is now part of Pernod’s whisky division, Chivas Brothers.
There is a long history of malt distilleries being built within grain plants: Inverleven at Dumbarton (1959-1991), Ben Wyvis at Invergordon (1965-1977), Glen Flager and Killyloch at Garnheath (1965-1985), and Ladyburn at Girvan (1966-1976).
All of them were built by blending firms and came into being at a time when an increase in production was deemed necessary. All then closed when a downturn in demand occurred.
A slightly different dynamic prompted William Grant & Sons in 2007 to build Ailsa Bay on the same Girvan site where Ladyburn had once stood. This time not only were the Grant’s blends (the Family Reserve range and Clan MacGregor), both growing, but so was demand for its two flagship malts Glenfiddich and Balvenie.
Pressure on the latter was the main reason for the construction of this eight still, 5m litres per annum capacity site. After eight years of production, Ailsa Bay's first official bottling as a single malt was a no-age-statement heavily peated whisky released in February 2016.
The expression unleashed the full flexibiility of Ailsa Bay's production set up, combining innovative techniques in the way of spirit cut points, vatting, maturation and even 'sweetness measurement'.
Ainslie's is the proprietary brand of what became Ainslie & Heilbron (Distillers) Ltd, an old DCL subsidiary.
Ainslie’s was bottled as an ‘Old Liqueur Whisky’ soon after Leith-based wine and spirit merchant James Ainslie & Co. bought Clynelish (the original one, also known as Brora) at the end of the 19th century.
Early bottlings were likely to have featured some Brora malt whisky, though exactly how much is uncertain.
The Ainslie’s brand has featured many blended expressions over the years, including King’s Legend, Royal Edinburgh Specially Selected De Luxe, plus a handful of regional single malt bottlings from unnamed distilleries.
The Exceptional series by Sutcliffe & Son, a subsidiary of US producer Craft Distillers, consists of three expressions: The Exceptional Blend, Grain and Malt, of which several editions have been released over the years.
The editions are designed to vary from batch to batch, with no two the same owing to the variety of whiskies and casks used.
Although each is bottled without an age statement, the constituent whiskies are listed on the back of each label.
The first release, which came in 2013, was The Exceptional Grain, followed by The Exceptional Malt in June 2015 and The Exceptional Blend in 2016.
A Vietnamese collector, Viet Nguyen Dinh Tuan, has been confirmed by Guinness World Records as the proud owner of the most valuable whisky collection.
He has amassed 535 old and rare Scotch whiskies in 20 years, which has been valued at a ‘hammer price’ of £10,770,635 (£13,032,468 adding 21% buyers premium if the collection were sold through a UK auctioneer such as Sotheby’s), by valuation firm Rare Whisky 101.
The collector’s hoard includes the 1926 Macallan Fine and Rare – the world’s most expensive bottle of whisky – which fetched £1,200,000 (£1,452,000 including buyer’s premium), in a sale at auction house Sotheby’s last month. Only 40 bottles of The Macallan’s 1926 were ever released. Viet owns three.
The collector also owns one of only 12 bottles of the oldest Bowmore ever released, which also happens to be both the most expensive Bowmore and the most expensive Islay malt in the world. A similar sold for £300,000 at auction.
In another case, a private 3,900 bottle whisky collection, thought to be the largest to be sold at auction with several bottles valued at over £1 million, will go under the hammer next year at Perthshire-based Whisky Auctioneer.
Called ‘The Perfect Collection’, the bottles were amassed by the late Richard Gooding, an American private whisky collector from Colorado, who spent over 20 years travelling around the world to source the spirits.
It is collectively estimated to achieve an auction price of between £7 and £8 million.
Until recently, the bottles were housed in Gooding’s ‘pub’ – a dedicated room in his family home.
The collection includes highly sought-after bottlings from The Macallan, Bowmore and Springbank, some of which are valued at over £1 million.
It is reported that the collection includes the largest selection of The Macallan ever to go to auction, including the 1926 Valerio Adami (estimated hammer price: £700,000 – £800,000) and 1926 Fine & Rare 60 Year Old bottlings (estimated hammer price: £1,000,000 – £1,200,000).
Other rare whiskies in the collection include bottlings from some now closed distilleries, including Old Orkney from Stromness Distillery and Dallas Dhu, some of which have never appeared at auction before.
Other highlights include Ardbeg 1967 Signatory Vintage 30-Year-Old / Dark Oloroso Butt #578 (estimated hammer price: £3,000 – £5,000); Bowmore 1964 Black Bowmore 29-Year-Old 1st Edition (estimated hammer price: £12,000 – £17,000); Bowmore 1967 Largiemeanoch 12-Year-Old (estimated hammer price: £10,000 – £15,000); Glenfiddich 1936 Peter J Russell (estimated hammer price: £3,000 – £5,000); Glenfiddich 1937 Rare Collection 64-Year-Old (estimated hammer price: £50,000 – £60,000); Glenfiddich Pure Malt circa 1950s (estimated hammer price: £3,000 – £4,000); Highland Park 1958 40-Year-Old 75cl / US Import (estimated hammer price: £3,000 – £5,000); Springbank 1919 50-Year-Old (estimated hammer price: £180,000 – £220,000); The Balvenie 1937 Pure Malt 50-Year-Old 75cl / Milroy’s of Soho (estimated hammer price: £18,000 – £23,000); and The Macallan 50-Year-Old Lalique Six Pillars Collection (estimated hammer price: £90,000 – £100,000).
Abhainn Dearg was The Isle of Lewis’ only legal distillery, in its capital Stornoway (and named after it), but only ran for two years in the 1850s. After that, Lewisians had to import their Scotch from the mainland, or maybe source it from illicit local operations.
In 2008, Marko Tayburn built a distillery at Abhainn Dearg [Red River] on the western coast of the island making this officially the most remote whisky-making site in Scotland.
He designed and built the stills himself, modelling them on an old illicit still he had discovered.
In December 2018 the distillery launched its first 10-year-old single malts – the oldest whisky to be produced by a legal distillery in the Outer Hebrides.
In 2010,he launched his first single malt, the 3 YO Spirit of Lewis.
It wasn’t until Matthew Gloag III inherited the business from William in 1896 that the company registered its first blended Scotch, the Brig o’ Perth.
A year later, The Famous Grouse was released at the same time as The Grouse Brand.
Originally, The Famous Grouse was priced lower than the Grouse Brand. In a little over 10 years, the reverse would be true thanks to the popularity of The Famous Grouse.
When US Prohibition came into force in January 1920, the company’s distribution to markets close to the United States such as Canada, Latin America and the West Indies suddenly shot up.
When William Gladstone passed a law allowing Scotch Whisky to be matured tax-free until ready for sale in 1860, Punch magazine celebrated with the cartoon of the Dancey Man.
The Loch Katrine Adelphi Distillery was built in 1826 by Charles and David Gray on the banks of the River Clyde just south of Victoria Bridge on the northern edge of the Gorbals.
In 1880, ownership of Adelphi changed to Messrs A Walker and Co, owners of two existing distilleries in Liverpool and Limerick. Walker and Co injected new capital and expand the works to include the making of grain spirit as well as malt. A new Coffey Still installed.
1971: Demolition of the Loch Katrine Adelphi Distillery.
1984: Glasgow Central Mosque erected on former site of Adelphi Distillery.
1994: Jamie Walker acquires copyright for Punch Magazine’s cartoon of William Gladstone and The Dancey Man is officially adopted as Adelphi’s mascot.
2014 : First spirit produced at Ardnamurchan Distillery. Ardnamurchan Distillery officially opened by HRH The Princess Royal on 25th July 2014.
2016: The first bottling is released, the Ardnamurchan 2016 AD. 2500 bottles available to the world and it was sold out overnight.
2017: Second bottling released, the Ardnamurchan 2017 AD. Again, there were 2500 bottles and was well received around the world.
If some shipments made their way into the States, then so be it.
Gordon & MacPhail announced the release of an 80-year-old Glenlivet in September 2021. This will be the oldest single malt whisky ever to be bottled: It will be part of the Generations Series.
On February 3, 1940, cask number 340 was placed in Gordon & MacPhail's warehouse by George Urquhart and his father John. On February 5th, 2020 it was decided that the moment of truth had come and this Glenlivet Single Malt Scotch Whisky would be bottled.
The yield of the cask will 250 decanters at 44.9 % ABV.
Such a unique whisky deserves a unique decanter with unique packaging. Gordon & MacPhail has asked internationally renowned architect and designer Sir David Adjaye OBE to design the decanter and an oak box for the Generations 80 Years.
The Generations 80 Years will be unveiled in September 2021.
Decanter number 1 will be auctioned by Sotheby’s in October. The proceeds will be donated to the Scottish charity Trees for Life, whose mission is to return the lost wild glory of the Caledonian forests.
The Macallan is considered by aficionados as the most highly collectible whisky, producing stunning examples of cask-matured single malts from Speyside, particularly their highly prized and exceedingly rare single-cask, limited edition bottlings and Fine & Rare Collection.
However, The Macallan 60-Year-Old 1926 takes this rarity to a higher level and is the 'Ultimate Goal' for collectors of The Macallan whisky. 40 bottles of the 1926 were bottled from cask 263 after the whisky had spent 60 years maturing in ex-sherry casks, and is undoubtedly the finest and most collectable single malt produced in the 20th century.
Peter Blake, the renowned artist responsible for the album cover of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Valerio Adami were asked to design a label each for this special bottling, and 12 individually numbered bottles from each artist were released at staggering prices.
Less well-known was that one bottle of this ultra-rare elixir was hand-painted by Irish artist Michael Dillon, famous for his historical decorations. The bottle painting was commissioned and offered for sale through Fortnum & Mason in London in 1999. Christie’s are delighted to be offering this unique Macallan 1926 60-Year-Old Michael Dillon bottle, which is unquestionably the 'Holy Grail' for whisky collectors as it is truly one-of-a-kind.
The bottle which depicts the Easter Elchies House of The Macallan and the Scottish Highlands is offered in a luxurious “The Macallan 60 Year Old” wooden presentation case with a certificate of authenticity from The Macallan. It was sold on 29 Nov 2018 for £1.2 million.
The second batch Glenmorangie’s Cadboll Estate 15-year-old limited edition single estate whisky 43% ABV was released in June 2021.
Airdrie, also known as Tobermore, was a successful and relatively long-surviving distillery. Airdrie is listed under six owners over a 60-year lifespan from around the 1780s to 1852.
It is possible that some owners or operators may have changed the company name on one or more occasions.
Airdry was an elusive North Lanarkshire distillery, possibly the precursor to East Monkland distillery, which sat close to the Monkland Canal and River Calder. However, older maps show no distillery in that area.
Some grain whisky from the lost North of Scotland distillery was bottled under the name ‘Alloa’.
Although there was an Alloa distillery, this whisky actually came from the lost North of Scotland grain distillery in Tullibody, three miles west of the town. The whisky produced there was intended for blends but some 40-year-old casks from 1964 have been bottled by Hart Bros and the German independents Jack Weibers Whisky World and Alambic Classique.
Also known as the Grange distillery, it fell silent in 1851 and is buried under Diageo’s Carsebridge site in Alloa.
In 1958 George Christie set up the North of Scotland distillery just down the road on the site of the old Knox Forth Brewery to give blenders another source of grain whisky.
For a year it also produced a malt whisky called Strathmore from a pair of pot stills, but it seems Christie decided the future lay in grain whisky.
A few old casks evaded the blenders and were acquired after the millennium by a handful of independent bottlers, which released the whisky under the name Alloa. Other well-aged expressions have since been released by indie bottlers as North of Scotland grain whisky.
The North of Scotland distillery was eventually closed in 1980, with the silent site sold onto the DCL in 1982.
Hedonism Lowland Blended Grain Scotch Whisky’s creator John Glaser dreamed of creating a Scotch that showed off the spectrum of flavour grain whisky is capable of. As the spirit is naturally mellower than malt whisky, Glaser chose a variety of styles and levels of maturity to create layers of flavour and complexity, which journey through vanilla cream, toasted coconut and soft toffee.
Named after the Roland TR-808 Drum Machine – one of the first affordable and widely available drum machines launched in the early 1980s – 8O8 blended grain is aimed at an entirely non-traditional market sector: the young, club and cocktail set.
All Bacardi products carry an age statement and are caramel-free.
Chivas Regal signed a three-year sponsorship deal with the British Premier League football team Manchester United in August 2018.
As a follow up in October 2019, it has created a special Manchester United-themed 13 year old blended Scotch whisky in honour of former team manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
Partly matured in ex-rye casks, this expression has been created exclusively for the US where Manchester United is said to have over eight million fans.
Some grain whisky from the lost North of Scotland distillery in Tullibody north of Alloa township was bottled under the name ‘Alloa’.
The whisky produced there was intended for blends.
Some 40-year-old casks from 1964 have been bottled by Hart Bros and the German independents Jack Weibers Whisky World and Alambic Classique.
Way back in 1795 a certain Alexander Glen was running the Alloa distillery.
Also known as the Grange distillery, it fell silent in 1851 and is buried under Diageo’s Carsebridge site in Alloa.
In 1958 George Christie set up the North of Scotland distillery just down the road on the site of the old Knox Forth Brewery to give blenders another source of grain whisky.
For a year it also produced a malt whisky called Strathmore from a pair of pot stills, but it seems Christie decided the future lay in grain whisky.
A few old casks evaded the blenders and were acquired after the millennium by a handful of independent bottlers, which released the whisky under the name Alloa.
Other well-aged expressions have since been released by indie bottlers as North of Scotland grain whisky.
The North of Scotland distillery was eventually closed in 1980, with the silent site sold onto the DCL in 1982.
The warehouses were absorbed by the Cambus grain distillery.
AD Rattray is a family-run independent bottler and retailer, with plans to create its own distillery.
In the late 1800s, A Dewar Rattray was an agent for Stronachie distillery.
In 2004 Tim Morrison, formerly of Morrison Bowmore Distillers, revived the Dewar Rattray company first established by his ancestor Andrew Dewar Rattray, to bottle single cask, single malt whisky.
The firm also developed Stronachie, a single malt sourced from Benrrinnes distillery on Speyside, and intended to replicate whisky produced at the now long lost Stronachie distillery, located on the old Perthshire/Kinross-shire border.
Andrew Dewar Rattray set up in business in Glasgow during 1868, trading as an importer of French wines, Italian spirits and olive oil, as well as blending and retailing Scotch whisky.
Ultimately the firm was sold to the whisky broker William Walker, but was brought back into family ownership by Tim Morrison, who created the ‘new’ Stronachie in 2002.
Morrison also established the Cask Collection label for single cask bottlings, and in 2011 the peated blended malt Cask Islay was released, being transformed into a single malt two years later.
2012 saw the release of a five-year-old blend named Bank Note.
Another of Speyside’s workhorses, Allt-a-Bhainne was one of the first distilleries designed to be operated by one person.
All the equipment is contained in a single room with the mash tun at one end and four stills at the other.
Originally designed to produce a light, estery malt for blending requirements, in recent years it has also occasionally produced a heavily-peated variant.
Allt-a-Bhainne is only very occasionally seen as a single malt bottling.
Its modernist design singles Allt-a-Bhainne out as an oddity within Speyside.
It was built by Seagram in 1975 during a period of growing optimism in the Scotch industry when the Canadian firm (which at that time owned Chivas Regal) was increasing its production capacity.
It has had a chequered history with periods of being placed into mothballs (the most recent being between 2003 and 2005).
With global demand rising, owner Chivas Brothers has it in full production once more.
Altduanalt was a short-lived distillery in the village of Rhu, on the east shore of Gareloch.
Altduanalt was licensed in 1833 to Messrs Paul & Hunter but seems to have closed that same year.
The distillery at Rhu, then spelled Row, in Dunbartonshire is mysterious and hard to locate.
Ambassador, the ‘world’s lightest Scotch’ was a blended whisky with a large following in the US.
Ambassador is a discontinued export blend first created by Glasgow blender Taylor & Ferguson Ltd, which was a big success in the US but unknown elsewhere.
With Benriach, the name itself means ‘speckled mountain’.
Scotch whisky lost a decade of growth in 2020 to Covid and US tariffs.
Global exports of Scotch whisky fell by more than £1.1bn during 2020. The export figures are the lowest they have been in a decade, hit by the combined impact of Covid-19 and the 25% tariff in the United States.
The 25% tariff on Single Malt that the industry is forced to pay to the US is in large part a result of a continuing dispute between the EU, UK and US governments over subsidies granted to Airbus and Boeing.
The export value of Scotch whisky exports fell 23% by value to £3.8bn.
The number of 70cl bottles exported fell by 13% to the equivalent of 1.14bn.
The closure of hospitality and travel restrictions impacting airport retail globally saw export values fall in 70% of Scotch whisky’s global markets compared to 2019.
The impact of tariffs by the USA on imports of single malt Scotch whisky has caused the most significant losses.
The United States is Scotch whisky’s most valuable market, valued at over £1bn in 2019 when it accounted for a fifth of global exports.
Exports of Scotch whisky to the US fell by 32% to £729m, a loss of £340m compared to 2019.
The SWA celebrated with a silent song and dance when Trump lost the US Presidency and President Biden scrapped Trump’s cursed tariff early 2021.
Export volume of Scotch whisky in 2020 was the equivalent of 1.14bn 70cl bottles, down 12.6% compared with 2019.
Exports have fallen in 127 of 179 global markets.
Sales to the European Union saw sales figures dropping by 15%.
There are signs that as pandemic restrictions ease up, sales could see a potential quick rebound.
Sales figures from Pernod Ricard, which owns brands including Chivas Regal and Glenlivet, show that eastern European and Asian sales of Scotch have seen significant growth compared to the first half of 2020.
Over the years it was available as De Luxe, De Luxe 8-year-old, 12-year-old and Royal 12- and 25-year-old.
It is likely that the constituent malts included Scapa and Glen Scotia at some point due to the brand’s ownership.
It is not known what its make-up was and is very much an auction item now.
Taylor & Ferguson Ltd was incorporated as a blender in 1931 and its history is entwined with two distilling companies, one Scottish and the other Canadian.
The company’s major brand was Ambassador blended Scotch, and as blending company Bloch Brothers expanded its business after WWII, Taylor & Ferguson Ltd was absorbed.
Ambassador was then bottled for export either under the Bloch Brothers name, or Taylor & Ferguson’s.
In 1954 Bloch Brothers was acquired by Canadian group Hiram Walker & Sons after the Bloch brothers decided that distilling was not for them. A failed attempt to resurrect Glengyle distillery in Campbeltown had affected them and they were both getting on in life.
The tagline on the 1970s labels was ‘Scotch at its World’s Lightest’.
Anchor Bay is the last remaining whisky in Lombard Brands’ dinner-oriented Illustration Malts series.
A blend of Speyside malts bottled at 40% ABV, Anchor Bay is a light, finessed whisky with a fresh, vanilla nose. It’s designed as an aperitif dram owing to its light body and good balance.
It was introduced as part of owner Lombard Brands’ Illustration Malts series, and is currently available in Russia, Europe and the UK.
Lombard Brands is the Isle of Man-based spirit, wine merchant and bottler owned by the Lombard-Chibnall family.
While the Lombard-Chibnall family can trace its roots in alcoholic beverages back some 300 years, it wasn’t until the mid-1960s that Lombard Brands was founded by its current CEO, Margaret Lombard-Chibnall.
Originally a supplier of bulk whisky for blenders, Lombard moved into blending and bottling its own whiskies, the first of which was Lombard Gold Label, their flagship blend.
With a considerable expertise in laying down commissioned single malt reserves since the 1960s, Lombard drew heavily on its own stocks to create Gold Label.
Anchor Bay is the last remaining whisky in Lombard Brands’ dinner-oriented Illustration Malts series.
A blend of Speyside malts bottled at 40% abv, Anchor Bay is a light, finessed whisky and designed as an aperitif dram owing to its light body and good balance.
Anchor Bay was introduced in 2001 alongside Golden Harvest and Smoking Ember as part of the Illustration Malts series.
The series concept was to introduce three differing styles of malt whisky that could be consumed before, during and after dinner.
Unlike its two Illustration stablemates, which were discontinued in 2013, Anchor Bay was redeveloped and remains available as a solo artist.
Lombard Gold Label was the first Scotch whisky brand to be released by the Isle of Man-based blender and bottler Lombard Brands in the 1970s.
Described as ‘big and chewy’ with a ‘peaty aroma’, the 40% abv blended Scotch reflects Lombard’s desire to ‘recreate the pre-war image of whisky, and re-establish traditional whisky values’.
The economy blended Scotch whisky produced by Lombard Brands is the Golden Piper.
Although kitsch in design, Golden Piper is a relatively modern blended Scotch whisky produced as part of Lombard Brands’ core range.
The 43% abv, no-age-statement expression is bottled under Lombard’s Isle of Man retailer outlet, Whisky Shack, and exported to the US and Equador.
Its whisky components originate from the Highlands, and the blend is described as peppery, creamy, long and warm.
Golden Piper was first introduced in 2011 to the US market as an economy brand.
Whisky Shack launched the brand in the UK in April 2017.
Abhainn Dearg Distillery, an Island Single Malt Scotch Whisky, is the first legal distillery in the Outer Hebrides in 200 years.
The Isle of Lewis’ only legal distillery, in its capital Stornoway (and named after it), only ran for two years in the 1850s. After that, Lewisians had to import their Scotch from the mainland, or maybe source it from illicit local operations.
In 2008, Marko Tayburn built a distillery at Red River [Abhainn Dearg] on the western coast of the island making this officially the most remote whisky-making site in Scotland till displaced from that perch by the Isle of Barra distillery in 2020.
Tayburn designed and built the stills himself, modelling them on an old illicit still he had discovered.
The stills have elongated necks which look a little like witches’ hats and thin descending lyne arms which run into external worm tubs. A mix of unpeated and peated spirit is made.
In December 2018 the distillery launched its first 10-year-old single malts – the oldest whisky to be produced by a legal distillery in the Outer Hebrides.
Anchor Bay was the last remaining whisky in Lombard Brands’ dinner-oriented Illustration Malts series.
Lombard Gold Label is the flagship blend from Isle of Man blender and bottler, Lombard Brands.
Lombard Gold Label is the first Scotch whisky brand to be released by the Isle of Man-based blender and bottler Lombard Brands in the 1970s.
Following 300 years in the wine and spirit trade, Lombard Gold Label was the family's first whisky brand. Aimed at a pre-war standard of excellence, the finest whiskies of Scotland, are hand selected and blended together.
Described as ‘big and chewy’ with a ‘peaty aroma’, the 40% ABV blended Scotch reflects Lombard’s desire to ‘recreate the pre-war image of whisky, and re-establish traditional whisky values’.
While the Lombard-Chibnall family can trace its roots in alcoholic beverages back some 300 years, it wasn’t until the mid-1960s that Lombard Brands was founded by its current CEO, Margaret Lombard-Chibnall.
Select distilleries were commissioned to produce ‘new fill’ and from date of distillation, Lombard took full control over the maturation of its stocks.
Originally a supplier of bulk whisky for blenders, Lombard diversified into blending and bottling its own whiskies, the first of which was Lombard Gold Label. Bottling and blending is within the central region of Scotland.
Lombard continues to invest heavily in the Scotch Whisky industry.
The formidable and expanding portfolio of Blended Scotch Whiskies is a perfect complement to its rare, single cask, single malts. Today, Lombard is in a stronger position than ever to meet the increasing global demand for its whiskies.
Early records (Edward the Confessor 1042-1066) show the family deriving from the village of Chebenhale. At this time, the Chibnall name was ‘de Chebenhale’. In 1351, the English king, John I, bought a cottage in Chebenhale as a pied-a-terre. The royal connection is shown in the family Coat of Arms by a Ducal crown which is engrossed on the dragon's neck – a sign of royal blood !
In 1762, records showed the Chibnall family owning a Wine Merchants, a cooperage business and the local pub. Several predecessors were Wine merchants, but interests expanded via marriage, to cork plantations in Portugal and a cork manufacturing business in London called G. Lombard.
The company has more than 50 years experience of bottling Scotch Whisky.
Lombard’s Golden Piper, like the bagpipes, originates in the Highlands where the character of its whiskies are often a reflection of the wild and rugged landscapes.
Lombard Storm Malt Whisky is a single cask single malt whisky, taken as new make from a coastal distillery.
Dailuaine was built by a farmer called William Mackenzie in 1851. Following the founder's death in 1865 his wife Jane leased the distillery to a banker called James Fleming, who went into business with Mackenzie's son in 1879. After rebuilding work in 1884, Dailuaine became one of the largest distilleries in the Highlands at the time.
The Ancnoc brand came into existence just a few short years after Inver House Distillers bought Knockdhu distillery from United Distillers in 1988.
While its Highland home is more than 100 years old, Ancnoc only came into being in the early 1990s and is flourishing under the guidance of Inver House.
The retention of Knockdhu’s two originally-designed pot stills means Ancnoc’s signature fruity, citric and honeyed flavour is very similar in style to the whisky produced by the distillery more than 100 years ago.
Ancnoc is matured in a mixture of ex-Bourbon and Sherry casks, while the final whisky is free of chill filtration and added colour, lending weight to the malt’s light fruitiness.
Having brought the distillery out of mothballs in the February following its purchase, Inver House set about establishing a brand for its first Scotch whisky plant. It was felt that the distillery name was too confusingly similar to Speyside distillery Knockando, and so Ancnoc [meaning black hill] was chosen as the brand to represent its single malt.
The original Annandale Distillery was built in 1830 by former Elgin-based excise officer George Donald, who named the site after the valley in which it is situated.
Using water from the Middleby Burn for the whisky and the Guillielands Burn for cooling and power, the distillery produced single malt whisky for 90 years.
The first official bottling of Ancnoc was released in 1993, although the brand never really took off until 2003 when it was relaunched with a 12-year-old bottling as its flagship.
In the years that followed a series of vintages and age statements were released, and by 2013 the core range consisted of the 12-year-old alongside a 16, 18, 22 and 35-year-old.
A number of expressions appeared in the Peter Arkle collection – a collaboration with the renowned illustrator who designed the packaging – which was launched as a limited edition range in 2012.
While Knockdhu’s malt is renowned for its light, fruity style, the distillery has been producing a small amount of peated spirit for several years, which was finally released as part of a new collection in 2014. The peaty range comprises of Rutter, Flaughter, Tushkar and Cutter, all of which are named after peat-cutting tools and have been matured in ex-Bourbon casks for between eight and 12 years.
Ancnoc notes the phenol content of all four, which ranges between 11 and 20ppm, as a first, based on the new make itself rather than in the barley.
Annandale’s two signature single malt whiskies won’t be mature until at least 2018, although fans can still pick up a cask in the meantime.
The modern Annandale distillery produces two types of single malt whisky, both matured in American oak barrels – an unpeated spirit that’s described as “smooth and sophisticated”, while a peated version is depicted as “strong and powerful”.
The contrasting styles are a reflection of the Lowlands’ peated whisky past, and its modern reputation as a region that produces softer styles.
Donald ran the distillery until 1883 when it passed to John S. Gardner & Son, the namesake of which kept cows, pigs and horses on-site, feeding the animals on the draff and leftover grain from the distillery. Under Gardner’s tenure the distillery underwent a modest expansion, and at the height of its production was making 28,000 gallons of spirit annually.
In 1896, John Walker & Sons purchased the site for £2000, but the now renowned whisky group had grander ideas up its sleeve. In 1919 the company decided to abandon Annandale to concentrate on developing its signature blended whisky, Johnnie Walker. By 1921 the distillery was closed, its fittings stripped for use elsewhere.
In 2007, the site was purchased by the Annandale Distillery Company, led by husband-and-wife owners David Thomson and Teresa Church. The duo set about painstakingly returning the site to its former glory over a seven-year period that cost in the region of £10.5 million.
Production of two significant whisky styles began in November 2014, named Man O’ Words after the poet Robert Burns, and Man O’Sword after Scottish warrior Robert the Bruce.
Casks of both are available to purchase before the spirit is mature enough to be called whisky.
The Annandale Distillery Company put a price tag of £1 million on the first cask filled on 15 November 2014.
The Antiquary is a historic Victorian blend identifiable by its unique gemstone-shaped bottle.
Named after the 1816 gothic novel by Sir Walter Scott, The Antiquary is a Victorian blend with Edinburgh roots that is under Japanese ownership.
Early bottles featured a caricature of one of Scott’s main characters (likely the antiquary himself, Jonathan Oldbuck) on the label.
Today The Antiquary is sold as a no-age-statement, 12-year-old and 21-year-old, as well as a limited edition 35-year-old. A high proportion of Highland and Speyside malts (45%) provide typical citrus and vanilla notes, while a dash of Islay malt accounts for its light smokiness.
The unique diamond-esque bottle shape, which is now synonymous with the brand, was introduced in the mid-20th century and has been retained through subsequent changes in ownership.
James Hardie set up as a tea, wine and spirits merchant in Picardy Place, Edinburgh in 1861. His sons John and William soon joined him in the business and like so many other merchants in the city, moved into blending in 1880 as J&W Hardie Ltd.
The business established its own steady supply of grain whisky as one of the founding shareholders in Edinburgh’s North British distillery in 1887. The following year the brothers registered one of their blends – The Antiquary – as a brand.
J&W Hardie sold The Antiquary brand in 1917 to J&G Stewart, which was itself taken over by the DCL in the same year as recovery of a pending loan.
The brand and its founder were reunited when, in 1948, J&W Hardie was also absorbed by the DCL and the licence for The Antiquary returned to its original producer.
By the early 1980s The Antiquary had become a global sensation, widely available in countries such as Venzuela, Paraguay, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Japan and Andorra.
In 1996 J&W Hardie was bought by the Tomatin Distillery Co. Ltd, which had been under Japanese ownership since 1985. The move signalled the owner’s confidence in entering the premium blended Scotch whisky market with an established and reputable brand.
The Antiquary was given a makeover in 2015 to modernise the brand for a younger audience and highlight its unique bottle shape.
Today the blend counts France, Portugal, Russia, Angola, the UK and the US among its most successful markets.
Ardincaple, an Islands Single Malt Scotch Whisky, was a short-lived distillery on the Island of Seil, south of Oban. The distillery was licensed for just one year in 1798 to Duncan Anderson.
Ardincaple is a mansion, still inhabited today, in extensive grounds at Clachan-Seil in the north-west of the island. Its distillery was one of many such sites established in the grounds of castles and country houses in the 18th and 19th century, although Ardincaple’s was rather short-lived.
Ardiseer Distillery was one of countless short-lived distilleries in Inverness-shire, also known as Ardersier.
Pinpointing Ardiseer distillery’s location is difficult, it would logically have sat beside one of the two burns that converge just south of the village, before flowing into the firth.
A large Victorian distillery, Ardmore has a heft and scale which is surprising given its rural surroundings. It is also a rarity in terms of style – a peated Highland malt.
It was the second-last distillery to retain coal fires under its stills.
The peatiness (it comes across as woodsmoke) is balanced by a gentle apple/floral lift, the product of a regime which insists on clear wort and very long fermentation in wooden washbacks.
The fires which once raged under the stills added a heavy, mid-palate weight, as did the downward facing lyne arms.
When the fires came out, the distillery team spent seven months creating new steam coils with kinks in them to replicate the ‘hot spots’ in the stills which had contributed this flavour.
Since the steam has come in, an unpeated variant, called Ardlair after a nearby stone circle, has also been made.
In 1898, Adam Teacher, son of Glasgow blender William Teacher, decided that the family firm needed its own malt whisky distillery.
The site he chose, on the outskirts of the village of Kennethmont in rural Aberdeenshire, had water, peat and home-grown barley.
Ardmore has remained in the Teacher’s stable ever since, providing smoke and also top notes to a blend which still sells over a million cases globally.
Its main markets today are India and Brazil.
In 2014, it became part of the new Beam Suntory portfolio.
The Ardmore Triple Wood is a complex and rewarding travel retail exclusive Highland malt. Triple matured in American Oak barrels, quarter casks and puncheons, this non-chill filtered expression at 46% ABV, is rich in traditional Highland peat smoke notes.
Ardnahoe distillery has Scotland’s longest lyne arms at 24.5ft.
Everything at Ardnahoe is set up to produce a heavily peated, richly fruity spirit with a creamy, slightly oily consistency.
Barley is peated to 40ppm. The fermentation is long, lasting between 60 and 70 hours to allow the yeast to produce fuller fruit flavours. In the still house, the two copper pot stills are run slow, allowing for greater copper contact as the spirit travels through the lanky lyne arms and into 77 metres of copper coiling in the worm tub condensers.
Legal distilling was unknown on the remote Ardnamurchan peninsula until independent bottler Adelphi opened its distillery there in 2014.
This is not the first distillery to bear the Adelphi name.
The original was built in the Gorbals district of Glasgow in 1826, passing into the hands of Archibald Walker in 1880, making the firm the only distiller to make whisky in Scotland, Ireland and England.
One of many small licensed distilleries that sprang up in Perthshire over the decades, Ardtalnaig was located in the village of the same name, probably next to the Allt a Chilleine river that flowed into Loch Tay.
Ardtalnaig distillery was licensed to Alexander McDougall & Co. in 1830. Two further owners took on the distillery before it closed for good in 1840.
Arbikie has already secured a reputation as one of Scotland’s most experimental distilleries, despite holding back from releasing a whisky for 14 years.
Its whiskies – traditionally Highland in style with a coastal flair – will only be released at ages 14, 18 and 21 years old, with each bearing the vintage of its distillation and the field in which the barley was grown. That means its first release won't likely be until at least 2029.
the 2,100-acre estate is owned and operated by three brothers who first conceived the idea of building a distillery on the property over a few drinks on a night out in New York.
Their concept was to produce the finest malt whisky in Scotland using a farm-to-bottle process – they also own the fields and water source.
This is not the first time distilling has occurred at Arbikie. The family believe there to have been a distillery operational in the area as far back as 1720, although the earliest record of a site is a map from 1794.
In Sep 2015, master distiller Kirsty Black was producing single malt spirit, which will be laid down for a minimum of 14 years before being bottled as whisky.
Arbikie plans to build its own maltings before 2018, ‘closing the circle’ on its farm-to-bottle process.
It currently sources malted barley from Glenesk maltings in Montrose, just 7.5 miles down the road.
In the 1920s, the Lawson family took over Ardbeg before DCL and Canada’s Hiram Walker acquired significant minority stakes in 1959.
A rise in demand for peated whisky saw production increase in the 1960s and 1970s, with demand necessitating that the distillery bring in peated malt from Port Ellen from 1974.
or aficionados, the end of Ardbeg’s self-sufficiency was the end of an era – and a style. Seven years later, Ardbeg’s kiln was finally extinguished.
Hiram Walker took full control in 1979, buying out DCL’s 50% share for £300,000, and everyone else’s holdings at the same time. By that time, blends were once again on the slide and, to compensate for the drop in demand for smoky malt, an unpeated make (Kildalton) began to be produced.
In 1997, it was taken over by Glenmorangie, which paid £7m for the distillery and stock – or what there was of it.
The stock profile meant that its first age statement release was a 17-year-old, while it would take until 2008 for its own Ardbeg 10-year-old to appear.
From 2004, however, there had been incremental releases: ’Very Young’, ‘Still Young’ and ‘Almost There’ showed the work in progress.
The portfolio still concentrates on no-age-statement releases, some exclusively from (now very rare) old stock, others from new, some from a mix. Different oaks have also been used as part of a general improvement in the quality of casks used.
The range has been bolstered in recent years by the addition of core expressions Ardbeg An Oa (NAS) in 2017 and Ardbeg Traigh Bhan 19 Year Old two years later.
In the early 1890s, shortly after Charles Doig had installed the industy's first ever pagoda-style distillery roof at Dailuaine, the partnership between Mackenzie and Fleming was rearranged, taking the name Dailuaine-Glenlivet.
The Dailuaine-Glenlivet was a principal component of the Mackenzie produced Phipson Black Dog.
By 1916, the company had not only merged with Talisker and Imperial, but also acquired the Bon Accord grain distillery in Aberdeenshire, renaming it North of Scotland.
After WWI, the Dailuaine-Talisker Company (as it was then known) was fully acquired by DCL in 1925.
Today, Dailauine is one of the largest distilleries in Diageo's portfolio in terms of potential production capacity. It needs to be - the malt produced at Dailuaine is a key ingredient in the Johnnie Walker stable, with only 2% of production being retained as a single malt. Despite being a very well-respected single malt, Dailuaine has never been a part of Diageo's Classic Malts range, and very few official bottlings have been released.
For the same reason, independent bottlings are few and far between. The Flora and Fauna 16 year-old bottling remains the main expression, and is much-praised for its assertive, sweet, richly-sherried profile.
All Banker Distillery products are 3 Year Olds.
Banker Distillery’s Ruby Collection is a 3 Year Old Blended Grain Scotch Whisky.
Banker Distillery’s Amber Collection is a 3 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky influenced with Malt (10%).
Its Emerald Collection is a 3 Year Old Scotch Blended Malt Whisky.
In the 1960s Abbot’s Choice ceramic monks filled with Scotch sold as far afield as Peru. Today, the blend based on Linkwood, lives on as an occasional oddity in whisky auctions.
The White Horse Blended Scotch had the smoky Lagavulin as one of its constituents.
Consequent to a drop in demand for smoky malt, Ardbeg introduced an unpeated make called Kildalton.
Ardincaple Distillery was a short lived Islands Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Today, Ardincaple is a mansion, still inhabited today, in extensive grounds at Clachan-Seil in the north-west of the island, near Oban. Its distillery was one of many such sites established in the grounds of castles and country houses in the 18th and 19th century, although Ardincaple’s didn’t last long.
Ardmore’s peatiness comes across as woodsmoke and is balanced by a gentle apple/floral lift, the product of a regime which insists on clear wort and very long fermentation in wooden washbacks.
When steam replaced coal, an unpeated variant called Ardlair- after a nearby stone circle- has also been made.
One of many small licensed distilleries that sprang up in Perthshire over the decades, Ardtalnaig was located in the village of the same name, probably next to the Allt a Chilleine river that flowed into Loch Tay.
It was possibly also called Lochtayside.
Arngibbon distillery operated in Kippen, Stirlingshire, for six short years in the early 19th century. Arngibbon itself was an estate of at least four farms and one country house, located southwest of Arnprior.
Arngibbon distillery was first licensed to John Morrison in 1825, but was closed in 1831.
Although the Arran distillery is relatively new (production started in 1995), the island in the Firth of Clyde has a long history of whisky-making.
A fertile place, the farmers in the south of the island had plenty of raw materials to work with, and when home distillation and small stills were effectively banned in the late 18th century, they simply went underground.
A buzzing island with over 50 whisky distilleries, the island of Arran was home to only one until recently, which claims its water, sourced from Loch Na Davie, is the purest in Scotland.
As an island whisky, it might be thought that Arran would always have been peaty. Instead, it started as a non-smoky ‘Highland-style' malt. Like any new build distillery, the equipment is in an easily managed single tier space with a small semi-lauter mashtun, wooden washbacks and two pairs of small stills.
A legal distillery ran at Lagg from 1825, but it closed in 1837.
Bottling started with a limited edition three-year-old in 1998 and the range has continued to expand, although today there are fewer ‘finished’ variants than in the past.
A peated expression, ‘Machrie Moor’, has also been introduced.
Parent company Isle of Arran Distillers opened a second distillery, Lagg, in the south of the island in 2019, then revamped the Arran range with clean, modern packaging plus the introduction of new core expressions.
Ascot House was an export-only blended Scotch produced by Kintocher Whisky Co Ltd, a trading subsidiary of the Rum Company Ltd of Basel. Its main market was Italy.
Its core expression did not carry an age statement, although a 12-year-old was also produced.
Ascot House was produced during the 1960s and is now extremely rare.
The Rum Company of Basel (now based in Reinach) owned Kintocher Whisky Co though its Glasgow-based subsidiary Acredyke Whisky Ltd of Bothwell Street, which was registered in August 1960. Kintocher Whisky Co. was struck off the companies register in 1985.
Auchentoshan’s claim to fame is that it is the only distillery in Scotland which exclusively uses triple distillation.
Legal whisky-making started here on the banks of the Clyde in 1817 when the Duntocher distillery was built by John Bulloch. Like many early start-ups it had a chequered early history and Bulloch went bankrupt soon after.
It wasn’t to put his family off however. His grandson co-founded one of the 19th century’s most famous blending and broking firms, Bulloch Lade.
The wash still operates as per normal, while the spirit coming from the intermediate still is split into two, with only the high-strength ‘heads’ being carried forward for the final distillation. The 'tails,’ or feints, which have very little alcohol and a lot of fusel oils, are mixed with the next distillation from the wash still. Feints are also called aftershots.
The ‘heads’ are then mixed with the ‘feints’ from the previous spirit still distillation and a cut with an average strength of 81% is taken.
A short fermentation gives Auchentoshan a cereal note which acts as a grounding flavour during maturation as well as balancing the high-toned citric notes.
Its high strength means that it can easily be overpowered by oak. Consequently, the older the expression, the more ‘relaxed’ the wood influence is.
Over the years Scotch whisky has been bottled in everything from miniature golf bags to models of Nessie and Big Ben.
According to the yellow, parchment-style labels of Abbot’s Choice, John McEwan & Co was established in Leith in 1863. The firm owned other blended whiskies including King George IV and Chequers, all of which have since been inherited by Diageo.
The brand was originally called ‘McEwan’s Whisky – the Abbot’s Choice,’ and dates from some time before World War II.
Among its European markets was Italy where it was imported by the Brescia-based firm of Samaroli, while it was also exported to Latin America. Abbotshaugh is one of 18 lost distilleries in the Falkirk area.
Abbotshaugh was located in the grounds of an abbey that has long since vanished. It was possibly on or beside West Mains of Abbotshaugh, a farm close to the Forth-Clyde Canal that had opened in 1790.
Abbotshaugh distillery opened in 1825, licensed to the Abbotshaugh Distillery Co. However, the site closed in 1828 when Mr A McFarlane, a major investor, withdrew from the venture.
Technically a Lowland distillery, Aberargie eschews regional style with its rich and fruity whisky.
Its sole use of Golden Promise barley – grown entirely on its own farms – gives an inherent waxiness to the new make spirit, while the distillery is set up to nurture a fruity quality, with a smoky characteristic from the occasional peated run.
Aberargie is designed as a ‘barley to bottle’ operation – every process bar the malting will take place on-site.
Every drop of spirit produced at the distillery is destined for Aberargie single malt, although some may be commandeered as fillings for Morrison & Mackay’s Bruadar whisky liqueur.
Aberargie marks a return to distilling for the Morrison family.
Whisky broker Stanley P. Morrison had owned Bowmore during the 1960s, his distilling, blending and brokering business forming the basis for Morrison Bowmore, now owned by Beam Suntory.
In 2005 the Morrison family – later renamed Morrison & Mackay – moved into blending and bottling Scotch whiskies under the Carn Mhor range, and re-established the Old Perth brand in 2014.
The Morrison family secured a majority stake in the Scottish Liqueur Centre in Bankfoot, Perth, where it nurtured the Bruadar and Columba Cream liqueur brands. A separate distillery to be owned and operated solely by the Morrison family, The Perth Distilling Company will include all three brands.
One of the sweetest single malts, Aberfeldy’s characteristic honeyed note is the result of very long fermentation, coupled with slow distillation.
John Dewar & Sons is typical of many of the blending firms which were founded in the 19th century.
Dewar himself, though born in humble surroundings in a croft at Shenvail, became a wine merchant in Perth and by the middle of the century had started to blend whisky. It was however his sons, John Jr and Thomas (Tommy), who made the family firm a globally recognised name.
In the 1890s, they decided to go into whisky production and built a distillery at Aberfeldy, only two miles from where their father had been born.
The site had originally been a brewery and some distillation had taken place in the early part of the century.
Fed by the Pitilie Burn [where gold is still panned], Aberfeldy became the malt at the heart of the firm’s blends.
A private railway line linked the plant with the firm’s operational hub in Perth.
Dewar’s joined DCL in 1925 and in 1973 the Aberfeldy site doubled in capacity to its present size.
In 1998, the Dewar’s estate [the blends, plus Aberfeldy, Aultmore, Craigellachie and Royal Brackla] were bought for £1.1bn by Bacardi-Martini.
The value of Scotch Whisky exports to the US grew from £280m in 1994 to over £1bn in 2018.
By value, 33% of Scotch Whisky exports to the US in 2018 were Single Malts (a value of £344 million, or $463 million).
The US market accounted for 22% of global value, and 10.7% of global volumes of Scotch Whisky exports in 2018.
Global exports of Scotch Whisky fell by more than £1.1bn during 2020. The export figures are the lowest they have been in a decade, as the combined impact of Covid-19 and the 25% tariff in the United States hit distillers hard.
In 2020, the export value of Scotch Whisky exports fell 23% by value to £3.8bn. The number of 70cl bottles exported fell by 13% to the equivalent of 1.14bn.
The value and volume of exports to most of Scotch Whisky’s top 10 markets fell as countries went into lockdown to combat the spread of Covid-19 during 2020. The closure of hospitality and travel restrictions impacting airport retail globally saw export values fall in 70% of Scotch Whisky’s global markets compared to 2019.
Exports to the EU 27, the industry’s largest regional export market, fell by 15%.
It is the continued impact of tariffs by the USA on exports of Single Malt Scotch Whisky thereto that has caused the most significant losses. The United States is Scotch Whisky’s most valuable market, valued at over £1bn in 2019 when it accounted for a fifth of global exports.
In 2020, exports of Scotch Whisky to the US fell by 32% to £729m, a loss of £340m compared to 2019, and accounting for around one third of total global export losses.
The SWA celebrated with a silent song and dance when prize goof Diaper Don lost the US Presidency and the new President scrapped Trump’s cursed tariff early 2021.
The 25% tariff on Single Malt that the industry is forced to pay to the US is in large part a result of a continuing dispute between the EU, UK and US governments over subsidies granted to Airbus and Boeing.
The Scotch Whisky industry has now paid over half a billion pounds in tariffs on behalf of the UK government because of the subsidies that the government granted to the aerospace sector in breach of World Trade Organisation rules.
Export volume of Scotch Whisky in 2020 was the equivalent of 1.14bn 70cl bottles, down 12.6% compared with 2019.
Exports have fallen in 127 of 179 global markets.
Exports by value are now at their lowest level since 2010 when £3.48bn was exported.
Scotch Whisky exports to the US were valued at £1.07bn in 2019 – the industry’s first billion pound market.
Compared to Scotch Whisky, other spirits categories, including tequila, mezcal, Cognac and American whiskey, performed positively in the US market during 2020.
The Scotch Whisky industry directly employs about 11,000 people in Scotland, and many more indirectly through its supply chain. Over 7,000 of these jobs are in rural areas of Scotland.
An advertisement in the 1867 Aberdeen Journal illustrated Glenlivet’s popularity: “Glenlivat Whisky. Mr Sheed begs to call attention to his large stock of matured old and very old Glenlivat (sic) Whisky from the celebrated distillery of Mr George Smith, which is acknowledged to be the finest spirit made, and unrivalled in the trade. Forwarded, in cask or in bottle, to all parts of the United Kingdom and abroad free of duty.”
Whisky distilleries in neighbouring districts like Morayshire, however, were unrepentant about copying the flavour traits of The Glenlivet.
New Speyside distilleries were often merely imitators; at Craigellachie, for instance, ‘The Glenlivet’ characteristics, which were much admired, were reproduced—namely, the ‘pineapple’ flavour which was the original old Glenlivet style from the sma’ still days.
Scottish Judge Robert Macqueen,
circa 1750, is credited with having thriven on a " stintless regimen of
beef, brandy, and claret," being firmly persuaded that a point of law will
be more easily studied after drinking a bottle of the favourite beverage than
by abstemiousness. He was elevated to peerdom as Lord Braxfield in 1776.
The Persian judiciary were
required to first discuss and argue a case twice, first when sober and then
when fully inebriated. In vino veritas.
In 2017, the UK Supreme Court
ruled that Scotland could set a minimum price for alcohol, rejecting a
challenge by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA).
Scotland’s national drink
in the 1700s was French Claret, preferred to the Port of the English.
For centuries, ever since
the signing of the Auld Alliance in 1295, Scotland had been importing Claret
from France. Because of the Auld Alliance, Scottish merchants had the privilege
of selecting the first choice of Bordeaux’s finest wines - a privilege which
was eagerly protected for hundreds of years, much to the annoyance of English
wine drinkers who received an inferior product.
The whisky boom of the
1960s resulted in a brief fashion for malt distilleries being ensconced within
grain distilleries: Kinclaith in Strathclyde; Glenflagler and Killyloch from
Moffat; Ben Wyvis in Invergordon; and Inverleven & Lomond in Dumbarton.
Ladyburn was another.
Ladyburn Distillery:
Lowland Single Malt Scotch Whisky: An incredibly rare whisky, Ladyburn has only
been bottled on two occasions by its owner. Independent bottlings are equally
hard to find. It appears to have been a straight down the line malt with some
delicate floral/lemon notes and a crisp finish.
Ladyburn Distillery was
built within William Grant & Sons’ Girvan grain complex in 1966, its four
stills destined to produce fillings for the Grant’s blends and also to free up
stock from Glenfiddich which was, by then, beginning to make a name for itself
as a single malt brand.
However, when the grain
side of Girvan’s operation needed to expand in 1975, Ladyburn was dismantled.
Its spirit lingers on because, in 2007, another single malt distillery opened
within Girvan – Ailsa Bay.
William Grant put his
entire life savings of £755 into the construction of Glenfiddich distillery in
1886. Five years later Balvenie was opened on the same site as Glenfiddich, and
almost a century later they were joined by Kininvie in 1990.
As Scotch whisky began an
upward trend in the early 2000s, William Grant & Sons combined malt whisky
from the three distilleries to create a new blended malt, Monkey Shoulder – one
of very few on the market at the time.
Launched in 2005, Monkey
Shoulder filled a gap in the category for a fun-yet-premium brand that
resonated with both consumers and bartenders alike.
In 2012 the brand launched
in the United States but due to its unforeseen rapid popularity in that market,
Monkey Shoulder fell into short supply for much of 2014.
Now that whisky produced
by William Grant’s Lowland distillery Ailsa Bay is mature, the group has
revealed intentions to cease communicating the provenance of Monkey Shoulder’s
malts, allowing for the potential to utilise stocks of its full malt portfolio.
In early 2016, Monkey
Shoulder was named the ‘trendiest’ Scotch whisky brand in the world in a poll
of the world’s best bars by trade title Drinks International.
By 2018, the same poll
also named Monkey Shoulder as the best-selling Scotch whisky among the world’s
leading high-end bars, usurping long-time leader Johnnie Walker from the top
spot.
Glenfiddich was the first
whisky to be marketed worldwide as a Single Malt in 1963.
Cadenhead’s Whisky Shop on Canongate, when owned by the Cadenhead family, was Scotland’s oldest independent bottler. It was taken over by J & A Mitchell & Co. Ltd., in 1972. The name remains unchanged, even though Mitchell & Co. bottle and sell Springbank, Longrow, and Hazelburn single malt whiskies, along with Campbeltown Loch and Mitchell’s 12 YO. Its unique selling point is that customers can have a custom bottle poured straight from a cask and labeled with their name. When sealed it has a label with the “born on date.” Since whisky stops aging as soon as it leaves the wooden barrel each bottle is a unique expression, www.wmcadenhead.com or in London www.whiskytastingroom.com.
North Korea's Samilpo has two blends, Black Label @ 40% ABV and Red Label @ 42% ABV in 620 ml bottles that resemble the Johnnie Walker bottles, except for that odd volume. Their third brand at 45% ABV is expected soon. Other than volume and ABV, nothing is in English; whisky would then be right, since Kim loves Trump! Or would it be the concerned writer’s choice?
78/82 should be above par for concluding that the global spelling of this type of alcoholic beverage is whisky.
There are over 25 descriptive terms for the colour of whisky.
Whisky gains as much as 60% of its flavour from the type of cask used in the ageing process.
There are currently 133 operational distilleries across Scotland, 8 grain and 125 malt.
Diageo invested £10 million in its state of the art Cambus Cooperage to make it a completely up to date operation combining innovation with traditional skills.
Scotch is sold in more than 200 markets globally.
Total amount of Scotch released for sale to the UK market was 90m bottles of 70 cl. each.
Scotch sells three times its nearest foreign whisky rival.
The industry generated about £3 billion in tax revenue to the UK government.
Scotch whisky accounts for a quarter of UK food and drink exports.
Export of Scotch whisky has increased by 87% in the past decade.
A closed bottle of Scotch can be kept for 100 years+ and will still be good to drink.
After opening, a half-full bottle of Scotch whisky will remain good for six to eight months.
The most expensive bottle of Scotch whisky today is Isabella’s Islay ($6.2 Million).
The oldest Scotch whisky on the market is the Aisla T’Orten 107 Years old, distilled in 1906 and available for $ 1.43 million (£870,000). Probably an April Fool's Day prank.
The highest price paid at an auction for a Scotch Whisky is £288,000 (for a 64-year-old 42.5 % Macallan malt whisky).
Glenfiddich is the largest selling single malt in the world, followed by the Glenlivet.
Johnnie Walker Red label is the world's largest selling Scotch whisky.
The Famous Grouse is the most popular Scotch whisky in the UK.
Glenmorangie is the largest selling malt whisky in Scotland.
The Glenlivet is the most popular single malt Scotch whisky in the US.
Experts advise you to drink Single Malt whisky neat or with a tiny bit of water. The water supposedly ‘Releases the Serpent’ from the whisky.
If there is a serpent, there is also an Angel. As it ages, 2.0-2.5 % of the whisky maturing in a barrel is lost to evaporation every year. Distillers refer to this as the ‘angel’s share’.
But the Devil has the last word. Besides the loss due to ageing as stated earlier, the term also includes the fact that the larger the barrel used to mature whisky, the more the spirit that is absorbed by the wood and lost, called by distillers the ‘Devil’s Cut’. The professional term for it remains INDRINK.
Maturation of the new make has to be done in a wooden oak cask not exceeding 700 L capacity.
The most expensive first world country in which to buy Scotch is New Zealand. In the EU, Austria and Switzerland are the most expensive.
Although their proof differs, standard drinks of beer, wine and spirits (liquor) contain an equivalent amount of alcohol – 0.6 ounces each. They’re all the same to a breathalyzer.
Glenturret is the oldest distillery in Scotland (1775), followed by Bowmore (1779).
Glenturret, Oban and Glenlivet are the three oldest malt whiskies currently sold.
William Lawson’s blended Scotch, a relatively unknown brand, is a bestseller in Russia.
18,000 litres of Scotch whisky worth over $800,000 (£ 500,000) were accidentally flushed down the drain at the Dumbarton bottling plant of Chivas Brothers in March 2013.
There are a total of 133 distilleries in Scotland, 125 malt and 8 grain or multipurpose, according to the research briefings and fact sheets presented to the UK Parliament.
In the UK, the six most popular Scotch blended Whiskies are The Famous Grouse, Bell’s, William Grant’s, Teacher’s, J&B and High Commissioner.
LVMH’s Glenmorangie distillery is one of the smallest in the Highlands and employs just sixteen craftsmen – ‘The Sixteen Men of Tain’ - who have become synonymous with the Glenmorangie brand all over the world.
Edradour was the smallest distillery in Scotland - Three people run the entire operation.
Strathearn distillery claims to hold that distinction. It is temporarily closed today.
Loch Ewe is the smallest distillery in Scotland; the owner is a one-man show.
Releases of Scotch whisky from bond for sale in the UK in the first half totaled 37.3 million bottles, down about 5.5% on the corresponding figure of 39.5 million in the opening six months of 2012. The SWA blamed the domestic excise duty regime, and called for UK Government help in this regard.
The fastest growing Scotch whisky in the world over the last five years was Black Dog. Not any more after a lawsuit was filed against Diageo and USL for falsification and fabrication of facts. Read about The Black Dog at https://noelonwhisky.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-intriguing-history-of-black-dog_10.html / You may have noticed the totally changed gold-coloured and black cover describing its history.
The Australian Wine Research Institute has introduced a measure called a standard drink. In Australia, a standard drink contains 10 g (12.67 ml) of alcohol, the amount that an average adult male can metabolize in one hour.
Japanese owned Tomatin is the largest capacity distillery in Scotland.
Haig’s Pinch (Dimple) is the fourth largest blended Deluxe Scotch whisky in the world.
Persian overlords were required to rule twice on a case; once when stone cold sober and again when intoxicated, in the belief of ‘in vino veritas’.
UK Whisky Cheaper in Europe: The price of a bottle of whisky, including the Excise Duty, has been subject to Value Added Tax since 1973. The EU mandated size of the Scotch bottle is 70 cl or 700 ml, minimum 40 per cent ABV. In a single European market, Scotch actually costs less in Europe than in the UK. A 70cl of the average blended Scotch whisky might sell for £10.70 in the UK. Tax would take £7.07 or 66% of the retail price. In 10 out of 15 European countries, lower taxes mean that the same bottle is sold for less. Look at the list below:
Spain about £4.50 about 40%
Italy about £4.85 about 40%
Greece about £ 5.50 about 44%
Germany about £6.40 about 49%
France about £6.60 about 55%
Andorra about £ 3.75, about 35%
Age Mentioned on a Blended Whisky Label: A blended whisky contains anywhere from 15 to 50 different malt whiskies. The skill of the blender is to create character and consistency in the product – and to choose only the whiskies that complement each other. The age of the blended Whisky mentioned on the bottle refers to the youngest whisky in the blend. If it says 10 years it means that the youngest Whisky has been matured for a minimum period of 10 years in oak casks. The same holds good for Single Malt Whiskies as well.
Dewar’s Adds Honey to Scotch: Bacardi, in an attempt to woo the younger generation, unveiled a brand called Dewar’s Highlander Honey, which the company describes as a Scotch whisky “infused with Scottish heather honey filtered through oak cask wood.” The Scotch Whisky Association argues that this Dewar’s product is not Scotch whisky and that under EU law, it has to be sold under the sales description ‘Spirit Drink’. The label may refer to Scotch whisky as one of its constituents.
The first malt whisky ever to be exported to Australia was the Dalmore, in 1870.
The Dalmore is the only distillery permitted to source Matusalem sherry wood casks for finishing its single malt at Gonzalez Byass.
Cadenhead’s Whisky Shop on Canongate, when owned by that family, was Scotland’s oldest independent bottler till taken over by J & A Mitchell & Co. Ltd. in 1972. The name remains unchanged, even though Mitchell & Co bottle and sell Springbank, Longrow and Hazelburn Single Malt whiskies, along with Campbeltown Loch and Mitchell's 12 year old. Its USP is that customers can have a bottle poured straight from a cask and labelled with a person’s name. When sealed it has a label with the ‘born on date’, as whisky stops aging as soon as it leaves the wooden barrel so each bottle is a unique blend.
The source of the name Auchentoshan is Gaelic. It means 'corner of the field'.
Auchentoshan was probably started by Irish settlers, led by the MacBeathas.
Some sources claim that these Irish whisky distillers brought the Irish custom of triple distillation with them. Auchentoshan uses triple distillation.
Antique records from the year 1800 mention an (illegal) Duntocher distillery, which may have been a predecessor to the legal Auchentoshan distillery. A license for distillation was obtained in 1823.
The ‘e’ in whiskey: Scotch whisky is always spelled without an ‘e’? Four other nations, Ireland (since 1960), Peru, Mexico and most but not all brands in the United States call their similar spirits Whiskey. Be sure you never add the ‘e’ when writing to a Scotsman.
Bruichladdich’s The Octomore 08.3 is “the most heavily peated Octomore to date”, containing barley peated to 309 ppm. Octomore 2009 Edition 06.3, peating level is 258 ppm.
For over 220 years, Highland Park has smoked its barley over 4,000-year-old peat, hand-cut from Hobbister Moor, just 11 km from the distillery. From the heathery Fogg layer down through the dense, compacted Yarphie to the ancient coal-like Moss, the core of their peat dates back 4,000 years.
The GlenAllachie has released inaugural bottlings with its first ever Wine Cask Series.
After initial aging in American Oak ex-bourbon barrels, the whisky was transferred into the adroitly chosen wine casks to undergo almost two years of additional maturation: an 11-year-old Grattamacco Cask Finish, a 12-year-old Sauternes Cask Finish, and a 13-year-old Rioja Cask Finish.
The GlenAllachie launched its first ever blended Scotch whisky, White Heather 21 Year Old, early 2021.
The name comes from a blended whisky brand that was discontinued back in the 1980s, which was acquired by The GlenAllachie Distillers Company in 2017.
Aucherachan Distillery, a Speyside Single Malt Scotch whisky distillery went alternatively by Achorachan, Achorechan and Acherachan – such was the quality of spelling in the late 18th century – but also Glenlivat (sic).
As with so many early licensed distilleries, struggling against illegal distillers and heavy taxation, Auchorachan had mixed fortunes and several owners. However, in its day it played an important role in the history of Glenlivet and the whisky industry.
The distillery was originally registered in the 1780s under William Gordon, who died in 1790.
Aucherachan distillery was briefly operational in the following decade but then lay unused for around 40 years until Captain William Grant (not of Glenfiddich fame) re-opened it in 1833.
The distillery is noted as ‘operating’ in 1851, but after Captain Grant suffered a serious fall in 1854 the business began to suffer, although some claim his misfortunes were down to the work of some angry fairies.
2018 was a year littered with auction records, particularly for 60-year-old Macallan featuring labels designed by artists Sir Peter Blake and Valerio Adami – but they were all capped by the £1.2m spent in November on a bottle hand-painted by Irish artist Michael Dillon.
Japanese whisky is sought-after as never before, from the hordes of Highballs consumed in the bars of Tokyo to the cult bottlings of Karuizawa and Hanyu breaking auction records on a regular basis.
But there’s a dark side to this surge in interest. As stocks dwindle, bottlings such as Hakushu 12 and Hibiki 17 have been forced to withdraw from the market – and yet there is an apparently never-ending stream of new brands entering the fray.
The withdrawals came about because the rules governing Japanese whisky are so loose that all manner of hybrid and adulterated products can legally claim to be ‘Japanese whisky’, even though they are arguably neither of those things.
It doesn’t take much to stoke up a storm in the fevered world of social media, but Johnnie Walker’s US launch of a ‘female’ version, The Jane Walker Edition, prompted a backlash even before its release.
Speyside’s Kininvie distillery has released three new ‘experimental’ whiskies from its new innovation arm Kininvie Works, including a rye whisky, triple distilled malt and single-distillery blended Scotch.
Kininvie Works’ three whiskies, code-named KVSM001, KVSG002 and KVSB003, are the result of three different trials run by the William Grant & Sons-owned distillery.
Each code refers to the distillery (KV), spirit type (SM, SG, SB) and batch number (001).
KVSM001 is a triple-distilled single malt, the first of its kind released by Kininvie, which usually produces a double-distilled spirit.
KVSG002 is technically a single grain Scotch whisky distilled in copper pot stills using a combination of malted barley and malted rye. Distillers used a mash containing 11% malted rye, maturing the resulting spirit in virgin American oak casks for three years. The final product, which is bottled at 47.8% abv, is said to have ‘a distinguished toffee flavour along with the classic spiciness associated with rye’.
KVSB003 is a blend of double distilled malt whisky, and the Kininvie single grain malted rye and barley mash. All components of KVSB003 have been produced on-site.
Kininvie is situated on the same property as Balvenie distillery.
The launch of Kininvie Works marks a departure from the single malt brand’s focus on luxury whisky, which in recent years has included the release of the distillery’s ‘first drops’, a series of 25-year-old single casks sold for around £400 per 35cl bottle.
Bruichladdich Bere Barley is an idiosyncratic barley variety that has survived in some of Scotland’s remotest outposts for up to 6,000 years, nearly became extinct 20 years ago, and is now undergoing a resurgence.
In celebration of London Cocktail Week’s 10th anniversary in 2019, the Speyside single malt brand The Glenlivet created a range of edible/drinkable cocktail capsules in collaboration with Alex Kratena and Monica Berg of London’s Tayēr + Elementary, rated one of the world’s best bars after just nine months of operation, and capsule designer Notpla.
Three original cocktails ‘inspired by the elements and flavours of The Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve’ – Citrus, Wood and Spice – are filled into a biodegradable casing made from seaweed extract (called ‘oohos’) and presented to patrons in a bespoke gold box.
Ardnahoe – which means “Height of the Hollow” in Scottish Gaelic and gives Ardnahoe Distillery its name, is situated on the North-East coast of Islay, equidistant between Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain Distilleries.
Ardnahoe Distillery is the ninth malt whisky distillery on the world-renowned whisky island of Islay.
They draw the water to produce Ardnahoe spirit from Loch Ardnahoe nearby.
Loch Ardnahoe offers extremely soft water that has been filtered through peat and rock for thousands of years.
Mysteries surround Loch Ardnahoe: no one is quite sure how deep it is, while others say there’s a ghost of a charging white steed that rises out of the Loch on a full moon.
Tomintoul entered the Guinness Book of World Records by producing the largest bottle of whisky in the world, containing 105.3 litres of 14 year old Tomintoul malt whisky.
All about Royal Salute:
In 1953, Princess Elizabeth ascended the throne. An exquisite blend was created using whisky from Strathisla, the oldest working distillery in the Scottish Highlands. It was given the name Royal Salute – after the famous 21-gun-salute.
To this day, Royal Salute has marked each significant event in the lives of the British Monarchy and is unique in having only ever used whiskies aged at least 21 years in its blends.
All Royal Salute whiskies are at 40% ABV in 70 cl bottles.
Over the decades, Royal Salute master blenders have collected and stored whiskies of immense distinction behind locked doors in legendary storehouses across Scotland.
Sandy Hyslop is the fifth Master Blender in the history of Royal Salute.
The Signature Blend 21 YO: This blended Scotch whisky started it all – a whisky fit for a queen. This is a classic, unchanged since 1953, with a flavour and fragrance that is unforgettable.
The Malts Blend 21 YO: Royal Salute’s first malts-only blend, it harmonises 21 precious single malts, each matured for a minimum of 21 years, from the five regions of Scotland.
The Lost Blend 21 YO: At the heart of The Lost Blend are rare whiskies rescued from distilleries that have vanished into the mist. Many of these whiskies are lost forever and finding a Royal Salute Lost Blend may be beyond the pale.
In the Royal Salute vaults lie its own “crown jewels” – rare and precious whiskies, under lock and key. This whisky features the finest blends, aged for 25 years or more, and expertly combined to create an exceptional liquid with a glorious flavour. The Treasured Blend is available exclusively in travel retail.
The Polo Estancia Edition 21 YO: The first edition of a new collection which aims to celebrate iconic polo destinations, The 21-Year-Old Polo Estancia Edition pays homage to what is universally known as the ‘home of polo’ – Argentina. It is a bespoke 21-year-old blend fully finished in the finest Argentinian Malbec casks.
The Malbec: Argentinian Malbec wine is characterised by its deep colour and intense fruity flavours. The Polo Estancia blend was fully finished in top of the range Malbec wine casks from the high altitude ‘boutique terroir’ of Cafayate.
The Finish: A meticulous process that requires a talented Master Blender to reach the exact desired profile and ensure the strength of flavours of the Malbec do not overpower the more delicate aged notes within the Royal Salute whiskies.
The Inspired Blends comprise of the Union of the Crowns, Stone of Destiny and 62 Gun Salute.
Royal Salute Union of the Crowns: This 32 YO celebrates a remarkable coming together – the Union of the Crowns, which saw Ireland, Scotland and England united by the British monarchy. This blend is itself a powerful union of precious whiskies from all five regions of Scotland, aged for 32 years or more.
Stone of Destiny: The bedrock of the British monarchy, the Stone of Destiny has been the coronation seat of kings and queens for centuries. The Stone of Destiny comprises an extraordinary collection of rare and fine whiskies, all matured for at least 38 years.
62 Gun Salute: The spectacular 62-gun salute is the highest ceremonial honour, reserved for the most significant royal occasions. 62 Gun Salute is presented in a midnight blue, hand-crafted Dartington Crystal decanter, adorned with 24-carat gold and crowned with a cut crystal stopper, complete with a book describing the creation of the blend. The whiskies used to make the blend are aged for at least 40 years. It was launched in June 2010, for the Queen’s birthday celebrations. The few bottles available have 50 YO malt and grain whiskies.
Royal Salute 29 Year Old PX Sherry Cask Finish: A limited-edition 29-year-old blended whisky from Royal Salute, matured exclusively in Pedro Ximénez sherry casks. 70 cl at 40% ABV.
The first blended grain whisky in the Royal Salute portfolio, the Snow Polo Edition evokes the spirit of the spectacular sport from which it takes its name. It is carefully crafted to a higher than usual ABV of 46.5% to match the exact latitude of St Moritz, the Swiss resort where snow polo was first played against the backdrop of pristine, white mountain peaks.
The Royal Wedding Edition: This expression commemorates the wedding of HRH Prince Henry to Ms Meghan Markle. Every whisky in this exquisite blend has been matured entirely in American oak casks as a tribute to Ms Meghan Markle’s American origins. Only 70 bottles were made, in individually numbered, hand-blown crystal decanters and presented in a handcrafted American oak box.
The Peats Beast family has grown. Along with the Standard 46% single malt whisky un-chillfltered, no additives, no colouring, the range now includes: a batch strength version finished for 9 months in Pedro Ximinez casks.
Timorous Beastie represents “ultimate distillation of the Highlands” in a small batch marriage of Single Malts distilled at Glengoyne, Glen Garioch, Blair Athol and Strathearn Distilleries, amongst others.
Douglas Laing & Co, the family firm behind the “Remarkable Regional Malts” Scotch Whisky range, unleashed Timorous Beastie “Meet the Beast”, a limited edition of the sleekit dram to amplify the flavour experience of their Highland Malt brand end May 2021.
Established in 2014 by Douglas Laing & Co, Timorous Beastie represents “ultimate distillation of the Highlands” in a small batch marriage of Single Malts distilled at Glengoyne, Glen Garioch, Blair Athol and Strathearn Distilleries, amongst others.
Macallan: Macallan is likely derived from the Gaelic magh, which translates to fertile ground and ellan, which is a reference to an Irish-born monk 8th century Christian monk named St. Fillan.
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| The Famous Grouse outside Glenturret Distillery |
Oban: Oban distillery, was constructed in 1994 along the rock-filled harbour of the same name. Because of its location, it has characteristics of both the Highland and Island whiskies.
Women in Scotch Whisky HISTORy
2021 June’s relaunch of Benriach’s entire core range, accompanied by many new releases, is Barrie’s most significant stamp of authority. Dr. Barrie believes that Benriach 10 is the personalisation of Sammy Davis Jr’s song, Rhythm of Life.
Jill Boyd, Whisky Maker at Compass Box, was the first woman to join the Compass Box team and has recently over seen the release of Hedonism: The Muse, their Blended Grain 50.3% ABV limited edition expression celebrating International Women’s Day.
Margaret Gloag may be credited with getting her family into the liquor business.
The three granddaughters of The Highland Distilleries Company plc’s first chairman William Robertson, Agnes, Ethel and Elspeth, combined their business interests under a holding company, Edrington, and created a charitable trust to be its principal owner and distribute its dividends to charities in Scotland.
Glenfiddich was the first distillery to use cartons for their bottles
Whisky bottles must be stored upright, since the cork doesn't close as tightly as a wine cork. Whisky corks are designed for multiple uses, whereas wine corks are disposable.
Bottles with screw-tops must be retightened by hand regularly, since they always loosen on their own, which leads to increased evaporation.
Opened whisky has a shelf life of between six months and two years.
Avoid using a decanter. Not many high-quality decanters remain truly tight over a prolonged period of time. The decanter must have a plastic seal or a ground glass joint.
The Royal Commission, headed by one Lord James of Hereford, interviewed 116 witnesses over 17 months.
The primary single malt in James Munro's King of Kings is the Dalwhinnie 15.
With the signing of the Treaty of Perpetual Peace between England and Scotland, King James IV lifted the ban on golf emplaced by James II in 1457. He made the first recorded purchase of golf equipment, a set of golf clubs from a bow-maker in Perth, and is the first Royal golfer on record.
Scotland’s malt distillers argued that the light spirits mass-produced in column stills were not genuine whiskey “except when made in Scotland and blended or mixed with 50% of Scotch malt whisky.” Lowland column still producers and merchants who employed master blenders, on the other hand, countered the malt whiskey distillers’ assertions by claiming that grain whiskey had become so widely accepted by the drinking public, in particular when combined with malt whiskey, that it deserved to be recognised as “real whiskey” as much as spirits made from malted barley in pot stills.
The power achieved by the Lowland distillers was epitomised
by the Distillers Company Ltd. or DCL, a massive amalgamation of about a dozen
grain whisky producers that since 1877 had become the most influential entity
in the trade.
The Commission, in their 27-page report sided largely with
the Lowland/DCL grain whiskey producers and blenders
Their general conclusion was that ‘whiskey’ is a spirit obtained
by distillation from a mash of cereal grains saccharified by the diastase of
malt; the ‘Scotch whiskey’ is whiskey, as above defined, distilled in Scotland.
Until blended Scotch whisky took the world by storm in the
later years of the 19th century, Irish whiskey was a far more popular drink
than single malt Scotch, both at home and abroad.
It was perceived as being smoother and more consistent than
its Scottish counterpart, partly due to the large size of Irish pot stills
compared to those used in Scotland.
Mark Twain: “Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough.”
“Give an Irishman lager for a month, and he’s a dead man. An Irishman is lined with copper, and the beer corrodes it. But whiskey polishes the copper and is the saving of him.”
Both Glencadam and Auchentoshan distilleries are located opposite a cemetery.
Glendronach Distillery had a traditional rake and plough mash tun, wooden washbacks and four stills which were coal fired until 2005, the last in Scotland to be heated in this way. Today there is just a quiet susurration of steam in the stillhouse, but the oddly shaped wash still and the plain sides of the spirit still cut back on reflux, helping to build weight in the spirit.
Big, bold and most commonly Sherried, Glendronach is an old-style whisky which echoes the substantial Victorian buildings in which it is made.
GlenAllachie’s whisky was predominantly used by past owner Chivas Brothers for blending, but under new ownership is emerging as a single malt.
Peated runs now account for 20% of production, although peated GlenAllachie won't appear on shelves for a number of years yet.
One of the results of the US-fuelled 1960s whisky boom, GlenAllachie was built in 1967 by Scottish & Newcastle Breweries’ distilling subsidiary, Mackinlays.
It is notable for being one of the distilleries designed by William Delmé-Evans who was also behind Macduff, Tullibardine and Jura.
In 1985, Mackinlays became part of own-label specialist Invergordon Distillers which flipped Glenallachie to Campbell Distillers/Pernod Ricard four years later, during most of which it had been mothballed.
Raymond Chandler: “There is no bad whiskey. There are only some whiskeys that aren’t as good as others.”
Johnny Carson: “Happiness is having a rare steak, a bottle of whisky, and a dog to eat the rare steak.”
Joel Rosenberg: “I’m a simple man. All I want is enough sleep for two normal men, enough whiskey for three, and enough women for four.”
Abraham Lincoln: “Tell me what brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals.”
Errol Flynn: “I like my whisky old and my women young.”
Compton MacKenzie: “Love makes the world go round? Not at all. Whisky makes it go round twice as fast.”
Nguyen Cao Ky: “Americans are big boys. You can talk them into almost anything. Just sit with them for half an hour over a bottle of whisky and be a nice guy.”
Ava Gardner:”I wish to live to 150 years old, but the day I die, I wish it to be with a cigarette in one hand and a glass of whisky in the other.”
W.C. Fields: “Always carry a flagon of whisky in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake.”
“Drown in a cold vat of whisky? Death, where is thy sting?”
Noah “Soggy” Sweat: Sweat gave his famous “If-by-whiskey” speech to the Mississippi legislature in 1953, “I had not intended to discuss this controversial subject at this particular time. However, I want you to know that I do not shun controversy. On the contrary, I will take a stand on any issue at any time, regardless of how fraught with controversy it might be. You have asked me how I feel about whiskey. All right, here is how I feel about whiskey.
If when you say whiskey you mean the devil’s brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster, that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean the evil drink that topples the Christian man and woman from the pinnacle of righteous, gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation, and despair, and shame and helplessness, and hopelessness, then certainly I am against it.
But; If when you say whiskey you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the ale that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and laughter on their lips, and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer; if you mean the stimulating drink that puts the spring in the old gentleman’s step on a frosty, crispy morning; if you mean the drink which enables a man to magnify his joy, and his happiness, and to forget, if only for a little while, life’s great tragedies, and heartaches, and sorrows; if you mean that drink, the sale of which pours into our treasuries untold millions of dollars, which are used to provide tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitiful aged and infirm; to build highways and hospitals and schools, then certainly I am for it."
The Ileach is a young and peaty single malt from an unnamed Islay distillery, available in 40% abv and cask strength (58% abv) expressions.
Bottled by Highlands & Islands Whisky Co. Ltd, ‘the man from Islay’ is extremely popular in Sweden, where it’s the second best-selling single malt. .
Brian Crook established bottling company Vintage Malt Whisky Co. Ltd in 1992 upon leaving Morrison Bowmore Distillers, launching the business with new brands such as Finlaggan and Glenalmond .
The Ileach wasn’t launched until 1997, when Crook created Highlands & Islands Whisky Co. Ltd as a sister company. The single malt’s cask strength expression was introduced three years later, and the brand given a redesign in 2013.It will celebrate its first centenary next year.
The Scotch Whisky Industry Record reported the total amount of recorded spirits as measured in litres of alcohol made in Scotland during the 1820s:
· 1820: 8,506,745 litres ( 1,869,620 Imperial gallons)
· 1823: 8,001,721 litres ( 1,758,620 Imperial gallons)
·
1824: 15,332,228 litres ( 3,369,720 Imperial gallons)
· 1825: 21,343,374 litres ( 4,690,850 Imperial gallons)
· 1828: 26,253,737 litres ( 5,770,050 Imperial gallons)
This output in 1828 was less than a third of Ireland-produced whisky.
Distilling totals crossed the 30 million litres (6,593,400) mark only in 1850.
The high output post 1824 caused a glut in the market and many distilleries were forced to shut down.
Scotsmen started to drink the once expensive rum, imported from Ireland.
George Smith was clandestinely bailed out by the Duke of Gordon in 1828 at the point of closing shop forever, with a loan of £ 500. Had he notd one so, the history of Scotch would be totally different. From here on, The Glenlivet grew from strength to strength.
A common ditty from those days:
Glenlivet it has castles three
Drumin, Blairfeldy and e'Deskie,
And also one distillery
More famous than the castles three
The Glenlivet was distilled at Drumin, Minmore and Cairngorm-Delnabo. A fire put Drumin out of commission in 1858. The distillery was rebuilt at Minmore with the equipment from the sister distilleries and modernised to become the sole The Glenlivet Distillery.
A short-lived Lowland lost distillery, the East Monkland distillery at Airdrie, Lanarkshire, distilled for five years under two licensees.
East Nevay was one of several short-lived Highland distilleries that appeared at the start of the 19th century. It was situated on a farm at Balkeerie, near Newtyle in Angus, between 1825-26. East Nevay sat in the Vale of Strathmore close to the Balkeerie Burn and a feeder stream. The farm still exists today.
Ferintosh was a 19th-century malt distillery near Dingwall, known as Ben Wyvis until 1893.
Ferintosh was a giant for its time, spread across three acres of land and with an annual output of 725,000 litres of spirit from its two large stills. It even had its own rail sidings.
With no water source nearby, its founder D.G. Ross built a 3.5-mile pipeline to Loch Ussie, the water of which was apparently lauded by revered chemist Dr Stevenson Macadam.
The distillery was built with two very large copper pot stills, both of which ran into shell and tube condensers.
Gallowhill was a here-and-gone Lowland Paisley distillery, open from 1798 to 1799.
It was run by a partnership of James MacFarlane and Elizabeth Harvie, very probably related to the Harvies who operated Dundashill and Yoker distilleries in Glasgow. The distillery made way for Glasgow Airport.
However, 220 years ago the area would have been very largely rural. Current maps show no stream or other water source nearby, but back then a burn, now long culverted and vanished, probably flowed from Gallowhill down to the River White Cart.
Imperial Distillery's history is littered with periods of closure, until it was finally demolished to make way for the giant Dalmunach.
Kelso Distillery was a Lowland Single Malt distillery at Kelso in Roxburghshire that distilled from 1825-47. It is not possible to locate the distillery exactly, with one source placing it at Rosebank without any proof. Some distance away, opposite an island called Kelso Anna, there is a pend with steps down towards Chalkheugh Terrace and seems the more likely location. Information on the distillery equipment and whisky is nil.
Kelso distillery was opened and licensed to John Mason in 1825. In 1830 it became a partnership of Mason & Nichol, which lasted until 1833 when John Mason became a sole trader again. Kelso continued under him until 1837 when he was sequestrated.
Oban’s still house, like that of Royal Lochnagar's, points to it being a heavy, sulphury site. But Oban’s make is light rather than heavy. The stills are small and onion-shaped and condensation takes place in worm tubs.
The distillery does not run every day. In fact, Oban produces significantly less than it could. The reason for this is to retain its character.
The light new make means a lot of copper contact is needed – tricky in a small still/worm tub site.
The solution – as with Royal Lochnagar – is to run the worms hot, which extends the amount of copper available, and also to open the doors of the stills after distillation to allow oxygen to rejuvenate the copper.
Harvey's Special blended Scotch whisky is a venerable old Glaswegian blend with a distinctive ‘thin red line’ down the label. John & Robert Harvey was an old, if not the oldest, whisky business in Glasgow, and dated back to 1770.
Not to be confused with Harvey’s Lewes blend of whisky from the Harvey’s brewery in Sussex, this age old brand of Scotch refers to John & Robert Harvey Ltd of Glasgow who also owned the city’s Dundashill distillery.
Harvey’s Special blended Scotch whisky originally came in a dark bottle with an oval label that sometimes carried the words: ‘An English market blend’. This evolved into a plain white label with a thin red line leading to the image of a red wax seal.
Like many in the industry the firm suffered badly in the wake of the Pattison crash that began in December 1898, and approached DCL with a view to a merger.
In 1902, attracted by Harvey’s blending and exporting potential, the company – along with its closed Dundashill distillery – were acquired. Harvey’s became a fully owned subsidiary, although Dundashill was permanently closed in view of the DCL’s concerns around over-production at that time.
In the early 1980s John & Robert Harvey was still listed as licensee of Aultmore distillery near Keith, and with a Glasgow HQ which it shared with Bulloch Lade and John Begg, among others.
Harvey’s Special continued to be produced well into the mid-20th century.
Haig, the flagship blend of John Haig & Co. was not just Britain’s most popular whisky, it was the first spirit to smash the million case barrier.
Haig Gold Label was the mother brand of John Haig & Co. alongside its deluxe Dimple expression, and was a top-selling blend for much of the 20th century. It was especially popular in Britain where it became the first spirits brand to sell a million cases.
By the millennium its UK sales, together with Dimple Haig, had crashed to just 750 cases.
The recipe has included Lowland malts like Glenkinchie and a heavy reliance on Cameronbridge grain.
Haig Gold Label dates back to the twilight years of the 19th century, and before long the packaging had settled on a dumpy, dark brown bottle with a plain white label and a string of medals at the bottom.
‘D’ye ken John Haig?’ asked the early adverts, and the slogan was emblazoned on the mainsail of a yacht that would sail up and down the south coast of England to stoke up demand.
This gave way to the long-running ‘Don’t be vague, ask for Haig’ slogan.
By 1939 Haig was Britain’s best-selling Scotch.
In 1971 it broke the million-case barrier.
Rathohall, also known as Ratho, was a Midlothian distillery established near Edinburgh in the 1820s.
Coordinates place the early distillery at Kirkton Farm, which still appears on modern maps, a short distance from the old Union canal.
A small burn in the vicinity would likely have supplied Rathohall with water.
Underwood was a Falkirk distillery that operated sporadically between 1780 and 1826. The distillery was located beside a lock on the Forth and Clyde Canal, south of a meander in the Bonny Water.
It stood west of what is now the M80 Glasgow-Stirling motorway, quite near the site of the noted but also long gone Bankier distillery.
Kilkerran is the single malt whisky brand produced at Campbeltown’s Glengyle distillery.
Kilkerran single malt was born from the rebirth of Glengyle distillery in 2004.
The Campbeltown distillery, which had closed in 1925, was reopened after the turn of the century by J&A Mitchell.
However, the Glengyle brand name had been previously sold to Bloch Bros, leaving the distillery’s new owners to consider an alternative name for its single malt. Kilkerran – Cille Chiarain in Gaelic – is the original name of Campbeltown.
Lightly peated and non-chill-filtered, the 12-year-old is matured 70% in ex-Bourbon casks and 30% in ex-Sherry casks. The result is a far cry from the traditional heavy malt distilled at Glengyle during the Victorian era.
The annual ‘Work-in-Progress’ releases were matured either in ex-Bourbon or ex-Sherry and were released in quantities of between nine and 18,000 bottles.
Passport is a Speyside-influenced blended Scotch whose key markets are Brazil, Angola, Mexico, India, Russia and Eastern Europe.
Passport’s net sales grew by 20% to reach a record 1.7m cases in the year ending in June 2015.
The blend recipe for Passport was developed by Chivas Brothers’ blender Jimmy Lang during the 1960s. It was a classical Chivas blend in that it embraced the company’s Speyside single malts, including Strathisla and Glen Keith.
Indeed, Glen Keith was long promoted as the ‘Home of Passport’, with a banner replicating the bottle label displayed in the distillery entrance.
During the 1970s malt from the newly-built Allt-a-Bhainne and Braes of Glenlivet (now Braeval) distilleries began to appear in the Passport recipe.
In July 2017, it was announced that Chivas Brothers had agreed to sell GlenAllachie to The GlenAllachie Distillers Company, operated by former BenRiach MD Billy Walker.
A capital ‘A’ was added to the distillery name, in keeping with the changes Walker made to BenRiach and GlenDronach under his stewardship.
The new owners relaunched GlenAllachie as a distillery known for its ‘big’, fruity malt whisky. GlenAllachie’s first core range of single malts was launched in June 2018.
Copper Dog is a Scotch whisky that sums up all that is good about Speyside.
Copper Dog is basically a Glenallachie product, a combination of eight single malts.
It is produced in association with the pub that shares its name, located in the historic Craigellachie Hotel in Speyside. The name of both the whisky and the pub refer to a makeshift device once used by distillery workers to illicitly sample and carry whisky from maturing casks.
For the Scottish and (Irish )distillers of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, information about the intricacies of distillation was limited in both scope and availability; and it was passed on solely by word of mouth from father to son, uncle to nephew.
The majority of Scotland’s early uisge beathas were, like those of Ireland, eyepopping moonshine whiskies notorious for their questionable safety records and ferocious personalities. Alcohol poisoning was common and sometimes resulted in a painful death.
The first book translated into English about distillation, Das Buch zu Destilliern (The vertuose boke of Distyllacyon) by Hieronymous Braunschweig, was printed in Europe in 1519 but didn’t appear in Britain until 1527.
Michael Brander, author of The Original Scotch, observes “According to this book aqua vitae was regarded as purely medicinal and distillation was defined as: ‘Distylling is none other thynge, but onely a puryfyeng of the grosse from the subtyll and the subtyll from the grosse’.”
In 1559, Peter Morwyng published a tome titled Treasure of Evonymous, that described distillation in detail and lauded uisge beatha as bestowing a stunning inventory of benefits to imbibers. “It sharpeneth the wit, it restoreth memori. It maketh men merry and preserveth youth. . . . It expelleth poison. The smell thereof burnt, killeth flies and cold creeping beasts. . . . It is most wholesome for the stomake, the harte and the liver . . . it taketh away sadness...”
Production was minute in comparison to modern times; the era’s pot stills ranged in size from a scant four to five gallons only up to, if rarely, fifty gallons.
Farmer-distillers in the early period of distillation selected an ancient strain of barley that had four rows of spikelets, called bere, as their grain of choice. An alternative variety was two-row barley, which made smoother ales and whiskies according to some distillers, but bere proved to be first among equals.
Bere provided reliably large crop yields in poor soils and rainy climates, and its early ripening tendency accommodated farmers.
George Smith’s father, Andrew Smith was a respected tenant farmer, or “tacksman” in the vernacular of the time and place, who leased his land from the Duke of Gordon. The lease agreements were referred to as “tacks,” hence the moniker conveyed on the leaseholder.
As a major landowner in the pastoral district of Banffshire, the Duke’s extensive land holdings in the eighteenth century included expansive tracts in the communities of Morinsh, Glenlivet, Strathavon, and Glenrinnes.
The Duke was the strongest proponent in the corridors of power in London of legalising distillation.
The defining topographical features of the Glenlivet area of Banffshire both in the 1790s and today are its three networking rivers, the fast-flowing Spey, the Avon, and the Livet.
The River Livet begins at the 1,100-foot high confluence of a couple of upland streams, the Suie and the Kymah Burns, then snakes for roughly nine miles through picturesque Glenlivet. Running to the northwest, the River Livet spills into the River Avon southwest of the town of Craggan. Finally, the River Avon connects with the River Spey, Scotland’s most famous river, just west of the village of Ballindalloch.
Prior to leasing the “Town and Lands of Upper Drumin with House, Gardens and Pertinents” in Glenlivet from the Duke of Gordon, Andrew and his wife Margaret leased a smaller property called Croftmartick, where they started their family.
Realising in 1783 as their dependents multiplied that they would require more living space, Andrew applied with a friend James Grant of Tamnvoulin for a larger property of the Duke’s at Upper Drumin.
A turbulent era of whisky smuggling and illicit distilling in Scotland began roughly 150 years before George Smith’s birth at Upper Drumin and lasted nearly two centuries. The period from 1760 to 1840, in particular, proved to be the apex of illegal distilling activity.
The seed of the problem was planted in the mid-seventeenth century when the Scottish Parliament passed the Internal Act of Excyse on January 31, 1644. That legislation put Scotland’s farmer-distillers on official notice that the distilling of whisky was no longer a free, uncontrolled exercise. The ActofExcyse, “. . . imposed a duty of 2s. 8d. on ‘everie pynt of aquavytie or strong watteris sold within the country.’”
In the 1600s, a “pynt” equaled roughly one third of a gallon, approx 1.52 Litres.
The overwhelming majority of seventeenth-century whisky distillers were ordinary farmers and subtenants who led hand-to-mouth existences within the trap of an archaic, yet effective feudal system.
For the most part, the farmer-distillers were simply dealing with excess volumes of bere, Scotland’s ubiquitous and vigorous four-row barley. Not only did distillation wisely utilise harvest surpluses of barley, it afforded the farmer-distillers a useful mode of currency or trade as well as a salable product that was growing in popularity. The imposition of a governmentally generated duty, then, came as a serious blow to their otherwise sturdy sensibilities. The Act of Excyse was an insult.
The Scots, a practical, modest, largely rural (well over 90 percent) and down-to-earth people, had since the first years of distillation considered whisky making to be an inalienable entitlement and not susceptible to taxation or official directive of any sort.
Now, suddenly, their Parliament, a faceless body of aristocrats, lords, and landowners ensconced in faraway Edinburgh, had the temerity to tax whisky at the ambitious rate of over 6 shillings for each gallon produced.
Calculations on Scotland’s population have suggested that between 1650 and 1750 the total number of Scots hovered around 1,200,000 to 1,300,000. This remarkably level sum remained flat primarily because of famines, ineffective health care, and epidemics.
From 1707 to 1781, no less than 19 separate pieces of Parliamentary legislation—dated 1710, 1713, 1718, 1725, 1727, 1729, 1736, 1743, 1746, 1751, 1757, 1759, 1761, 1762, 1772, 1774, 1779, 1780, and 1781—affected, among other issues, the selling or use of barley malt, the prime base material for whisky; the legal minimum size of pot stills; and excise duties on wash or spirits.
Despite the gaugers and the battery of excise laws, distilling hit unprecedented heights in the 1740s and 1750s. Consumption of illicit whisky made totally from malted barley and a harsh concoction dubbed “malt spirit,” a lesser whisky-like spirit composed of malted barley and unmalted grain, competed with twopenny ale as the common daily libation.
A few months before the beginning of WWI, exports of Scotch whisky topped 10 million gallons. By the tail end of the fighting in 1918, exports of whisky had plummeted to less than a third of that total.
During USA’s disastrous and ill-conceived Prohibition, Chivas Brothers' owners Alexander Smith and Charles Stewart Howard focussed their attention on other key overseas markets. Canada, Mexico, the Far East, and the rebuilding European continent became prime target regions of further development for all Chivas Brothers Scotch whiskies.
Chivas Brothers Alexander and Charles had earned five Royal
Warrants since Edward & Chivas in 1843. They were given 17 such warrants extending up to
1975.
In 1975, Chivas Brothers was instructed to remove the Royal Warrant from Chivas Regal by that year’s end. In all probability, the Royal Family decided to reduce their associations with firms that pedalled alcoholic beverages as a subtle example of their shared concern over growing consumption of alcohol, which had concrete proof of serious health concerns if imbibed generously over a period of time.
Geprge Smith's The Glenlivet was wrongly called The Drumin Glenlivet, The Minmore Glenlivet and The Drumin Glenlivat. The correct name was and remains The Glenlivet
The only whisky allowed to call itself "The Glenlivet" is historically the most famous Speyside malt.
The appelation "The Glenlivet" is restricted even further in that it appears on only the "official" bottlings from the owning company of the distillery, Seagram. These are branded as The Glenlivet with the legend "Distilled by George & J.G. Smith" in small type at the bottom of the label, referring to the company set up by a father and son that originally founded the distillery.
George Smith offered his The Glenlivet at two different strengths, 64% and 72% ABV.
Independent bottlers Gordon and MacPhail have made something of a speciality of older and vintage-dated examples, in a variety of alcoholic strengths, from the same distillery and these are identified as George & J.G. Smith's Glenlivet Whisky.
The Glen of the Livet is also the home of two other malt distilleries, the unconnected Tamnavulin and Braes of Glenlivet, which are owned by Seagram.
In the adjoining Avon valley the Tomintoul distillery is also generally regarded as belonging ot the Livet district . It is, indeed in the parish of Glenlivet. All of these distilleries use the sub-title Glenlivet on their labels as an appellation of district.
So do about a dozen from other parts of Speyside. This practice, now in decline, dates from the glen's pioneering position in commercial whisky production. Merchants in the cities wanted whisky "from Glenlivet" because that was the first specific producing district that they knew by name.
Between the mountain Ben Rinnes and the river Spey, at the hamlet of Carron, not far from Aberlour the Dailuaine ("Dal-oo-ayn") distillery produces a robust, tasty, after-dinner malt. The distillery was founded in 1852 and has been rebuilt several times, most recently in 1960.
It is one of several distilleries along the Spey valley that once had their own railway halts, for workers and visitors - and as a means of shipping in barley or malt and despatching whisky.
Although the railway line has now been removed the route has been preserved for walkers as the "Speyside Way" from Tomintoul to the sea.
Dailuaine had its own steam locomotive, which is now preserved on the Strathspey Railway at Aviemore.
Aultmore distillery, 4 Km/2.5 miles north of Keith, close to both the Isla and the Spey, was built in 1896 by Alexander Edward of Forres (owner of Benrinnes) who remained sole owner till 1899. It was sold to John Dewar and Co in 1923 and reconstructed in 1971.
The name means 'Big Burn' and derives from a nearby stream though the distillery derives its water from the peat-rich water of the Foggie Moss.
Originally used as a supplier of malt whiskies for blending, it has now brought out several single malts that are extremely complex and of very high quality.
Speyburn is one of the most beautifully situated distilleries in Scotland. This handsome Victorian distillery, set in a deep, sweeping valley makes a spectacular sight on the road between Rothes and Elgin.
It was built in 1897 and despite modernisations over the years has not undergone dramatic change. Its whisky is not easy to find but a first official bottling, introduced in 1991, makes it a little more accessible.
The Speyburn 10 YO is an extremely pleasing dram, with clear floral and fruity notes.
In the 19th century, almost every distillery in what is now known as Speyside appended the name Glenlivet to their own. Ironically, until 1965 there was only one distillery in the glen of the River Livet - The Glenlivet. Tamnavulin came up as the second, built in Ballindaloch.
It was built by Invergordon Distillers (whose portfolio also included a grain distillery, Bruichladdich, Tullibardine and Jura).
It was mothballed in 1995, only reopening in 2007 when Whyte & Mackay was purchased by Indian giant United Spirits. Its function as a supplier of fillings however hasn’t altered. Whyte & Mackay was sold to Philippine-based Emperador in 2014.
Miltonduff, with a very fresh, floral new make character is a charming, light single malt, perfect for adding top notes to the restrained and elegant Ballantine’s blend. Its palate has a succulent texture.
Miltonduff was, briefly, part of Allied Distiller’s Caledonian Malts range (alongside Laphroaig, Tormore, Scapa and Glendronach) but other than a limited edition 18-year-old cask strength bottling, no official releases have taken place under Chivas Brothers' ownership.
In July 2017 Miltonduff was released as a 15-year-old single malt (alongside expressions from Glentauchers and Glenburgie) under the Ballantine’s brand.
Moonshining was commonplace in the surroundings of Pluscarden Abbey in the smuggling era of the late 18th and early 19th century. Whether any monastic distillation ever took place is unknown – the original monastery fell into ruin in the early 17th century, but was restored in 1948 and is now the only medieval monastery still inhabited by monks.
Distillation certainly took place at Milton Farm where the abbey’s old meal mill once stood.
Miltonduff (the suffix comes from Duff family which owned the estate) went legal in 1824 under Andrew Peary and Robert Bain, and by the end of the century was one of the largest producers in Scotland, making in excess of one million litres a year and using triple distillation (an unusual technique for Highland/Speyside distilleries).
It was bought in 1866 by William Stuart; Thomas Yool became a shareholder in 1895 and, in 1936, it was bought by Canadian distiller Hiram Walker which was beginning its Scottish expansion (Ballantine’s, Dumbarton).
In 1964, a pair of ‘Lomond’ stills was installed, producing a malt named Mosstowie. The stills operated until 1981. Significant expansion in 1974 saw capacity increased to more than 5m litres per annum with three pairs of stills operating. In 2005 it became part of Chivas Brothers.
The name Tamnavulin is the Gaelic translation of ‘mill on the hill’, named in part after the historic former carding mill which sits on the site of the distillery. Local farmers would bring their sheep fleeces here in the summer months to be made into wool.
The Tamnavulin Sherry Cask Edition ABV 40% is matured in American Oak Barrels and enhanced by a finesse in three different Sherry casks.
The Tempranillo Cask Edition ABV 40% is matured in American oak barrels, and finessed by Tempranillo red wine casks to complement its sweet, mellow flavour.
Though Tamnavulin lies on the banks of the Corrie stream, Tempranillo draws its water from underground springs in the Easterton hills formed by snowmelt from the surrounding Cairngorm mountains. This water is naturally filtered through ancient limestone rock before reaching the distillery, resulting in some of the purest spring water to be found in Scotland.
Tamnavulin’s cask collection goes back to the 1960s when the distillery was first built.
Tamnavulin’s Vintage Collection is a set of rare, aged Speyside whiskies each with a rich, distinctive character and a true reflection of their history. The 1970,73,79 and 2000 editions are all marketed exclusively in Taiwan.
Before it was bottled, the Tempranillo Cask Edition single malt was treated to a finish in casks which previously held Tempranillo red wine, imparting a brilliant colour as well as berry-forward flavour profile.
At various competitions this whisky has been awarded twice: the International Wine & Spirit Competition awarded Silver and the International Wine & Spirit Competition awarded Bronze.
The historic Whyte & Mackay blend is comprised of 41 different malt and grain whiskies from the Highlands and Speyside. The component whiskies are put through Whyte & Mackay’s ‘triple maturation’ process, which sees them aged separately before being married together for a time in ex-Sherry casks prior to bottling.
The brand’s owner picked up its first distillery in Dalmore in 1960, and went on to add Fettercairn, Tamnavulin, Jura malt distilleries and the Invergordon grain distillery to its portfolio. Whiskies from each are thought to have played a part in the Whyte & Mackay blend since.
During the 1980s Whyte & Mackay commissioned a Wade ceramic jug in the shape of a pot still, finished with 22 carat gold and filled with a litre of Whyte & Mackay De Luxe 12 Year Old.
In 1981 a Royal Wedding decanter of Whyte & Mackay De Luxe 12 Year Old was bottled to celebrate the wedding of Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles.
Although Whyte & Mackay Distillers was founded in Glasgow in 1882, the company can trace its history back to 1844, when the firm of Allan and Poynter – which James Whyte managed – was founded.
Soon after establishing their own company, James Whyte and Charles Mackay quickly launched their own proprietary blend, Whyte & Mackay Special.
By 1982 Whyte & Mackay was the 7th largest Scotch brand in its home market with a 5% share, and is still the most popular Scotch blend in Glasgow and the West of Scotland.
The company was the first to use a bottle cap that also served as a handy measure, and in 1963 introduced the 40 fl oz bottle to the on-trade, a move which was quickly adopted by the rest of the industry.
Whyte & Mackay Master Blender is Richard Paterson, whose name is now synonymous with the brand.
In 1960, W&M merged with Mackenzie Bros of Dalmore.
In ’63, W&M acquired Jarvis Halliday and Co. of Aylesbury.
Tamdhu was founded in 1896 by a group of whisky blenders, including William Grant and Sons among others, when the Strathspey railway first graced Speyside’s locality in 1863.
It was designed by the famed, prolific Speyside distillery architect, Charles Doig of Elgin.
The distillery’s six stills have a total capacity of four million litres annually, though at present Tamdhu runs at three quarters of this.
Tamdhu installed a substantial Saladin box malting system in 1950. One of but a handful of distilleries with onsite maltings and the only one still using a Saladin box, Tamdhu produces all of its own malt as well as enough to supply other distilleries in the Edrington group, notably the Glenrothes distillery.
The Knockando distillery's ancient railway station has since been converted into the Tamdhu visitor centre.
In 2010, the distillery was mothballed and sold to Ian Macleod Distillers the following year.
Tamdhu was re-commissioned in 2012, with production starting once again. The first Tamdhu single malt was released in 2013 - the Tamdhu 10 Year Old.
Hazelburn Campbeltown single malt Scotch whisky is one of three styles of single malt made at Springbank distillery in Campbeltown.
While the bulk of the distillery’s output is concentrated on producing the Springbank malt, 10% of its production time is dedicated to creating the heavily peated Longrow, and a further 10% to the triple-distilled Hazelburn.
By using unpeated air-dried malt and triple distillation on two stills, the resultant spirit is light, fruity and subtle. It is currently available in 10- and 12-year-old expressions.
In the past Hazelburn has been released in limited numbers at a variety of ages and, as with all bottlings from J&A Mitchell, Hazelburn is neither chill-filtered nor coloured and is bottled on-site at 46% abv unless otherwise stated.
Springbank distillery, itself licensed since 1828, first began producing triple-distilled spirit in 1997 and the first Hazelburn whisky bottled in 2005 was an 8-year-old.
Three different labels were created to mark the brand’s first edition, each featuring a different aspect of Springbank: its maltings, stills and casks.
Old Ballantruan Speyside single malt Scotch whisky is the name for the heavily peated malt produced at Ballindalloch’s Tomintoul distillery.
A rare smoky dram among Speyside single malts, with zesty citrus and malty notes, Old Ballantruan is available in no-age-statement and 10-year-old expressions, both of which are bottled without chill filtration and at 50% ABV.
The name comes from the old settlement of Ballantruan which is on the west side of Tomintoul Distillery. Tomintoul distillery was one of a slew of malt plants built across Scotland during the 1960s.
Founded in Ballindalloch in 1965 by Hay & MacLeod and W&S Strong, Tomintoul became part of blending house Whyte & Mackay by 1973.
While Tomintoul’s mature whisky is released as a single malt under its own name as well as sold as a filling for blends, a peated variant named Old Ballantruan was introduced in 2005.
Peat Chimney is a blended malt for peat reek fans, but it’s not an all-Islay affair. It is one of the three blended malt brands produced by Fife-based Wemyss Malts, owned by one of Scotland’s oldest trading families.
It is currently sold as a no-age-statement expression, as well as a limited edition bottled at cask strength.
There are 16 constituent malts in the make-up, not all of them from Islay, leaving the inherent smoky character to play a supporting role to exotic spices, moss and dark fruits.
Dublin pot still distillers were determined to try to ensure
that only their product could be claimed as true ‘whisky’ – the spelling
(without an ‘e’).
Whiskey is the official state beverage of Alabama.
A 30-year-old cask of Macallan set a new world record in 2019 for the most expensive whisky cask ever sold at auction. It fetched a whopping $572,000.
Early in 2018, the world’s first regulated whisky investment fund was launched. Single Malt Fund allows investors to buy a small part of a bigger collection of rare and limited-edition whiskies.
According to The French Federation of Spirits, whisky accounts for the highest retail sales of any spirit in France at 47.2 per cent. This is compared to Cognac which makes up only 0.7 per cent of sales.
Some 43 per cent of German tourists in Scotland visit a distillery while visiting, making it the second most popular activity for the demographic.
The Jack Daniel’s distillery is located in a ‘dry county’, meaning alcohol sales therein are prohibited. An exception has been made for the distillery.
John Jameson, the founder of Jameson’s Irish whisky was Scottish.
There was a whisky rebellion in Pennsylvania in 1794 due to whisky taxing. The tax was eventually repealed in 1802.
The first Scottish distillery to install a Coffey Still was the Grange Distillery, which fell silent in 1851.
There are over 300,000 varieties of barley but only a few are suitable for malt whisky production.
The year 1994 marked 500 years since the first written reference to Scotch whisky was penned. Many producers released anniversary bottlings.
In Victorian times, some Scottish distilleries allowed workers to stop for a dram each time a bell rang.
The Keeper of the Quaich is awarded to those who make an outstanding contribution to the Scotch whisky industry for at least five years and outstanding Keepers may progress to become Masters of the Quaich.
After Prohibition ended, 69-year-old James B. Beam got his distillery up and running in just 120 days.
Joe Sheridan, a head chef in Foynes, County Limerick claims to have invented and named the Irish Coffee. A group of American passengers disembarked from a Pan Am flying boat on a miserable winter evening in the 1940s, so Sheridan added whiskey to their coffee. When they asked if they were being served Brazilian coffee, Sheridan replied, ‘No, Irish coffee”.
Victorian Illustrator, Tom Browne, drew a picture of a striding man on a menu during lunch with Lord Stevenson, one of Johnnie Walker’s directors. This eventually became the striding man, who has since undergone numerous reworkings to get to the image you see on the bottle today.
The record for most expensive whisky cocktail sold is a refresh of the traditional Manhattan made with a 55-year-old Macallan served at Dubai’s Skyview Bar. Costing £4,632, the posh concoction was stirred with a very special oak stick from a cask of Macallan. It was also served with ice made from the same water used to produce the single malt whisky it contains.
The Royal Brackla Distillery in Nairn, Scotland is situated in the Cawdor Estate, the home of the fictional Thane of Cawdor, Macbeth, in Shakespeare’s play.
The Dublin "Big Four", John Jameson & Son of Bow Street, John Power & Son of John's Lane, George Roe & Co. of Thomas Street, and Willam Jameson & Co. of Marrowbone Lane, had a combined output of 5 Million Gallons per year, compared to an average of below 100,000 gallons at their fellow distilleries in Scotland.
Further famous distilleries included Jones Road and Phoenix Park in Dublin, Daly's in Tullamore - still famous today for its "Tullamore Dew" - Cassidy's in Monasterevan, and John Locke's Distillery in Kilbeggan.
Distilling was considered a birthright by the Irish, and the
introduction of tax on the Whiskey (Excise) in the 17th century caused a
centuries-long conflict between the "Moonshiners" (illicit
Distillers) and the Excisemen who enforced the tax collection. In 1781, private
distillation was banned by the UK government, and excisemen were allowed to
seize whiskey, whiskey-making equipment, and even horses and vehicles used for
transportation.
The most celebrated method of pilfering distillery whisky was a nifty little device known as the ‘copper dog’, a piece of tubing with a penny soldered to one end and a cork in the other. A man’s best friend because it never left its owner’s side.
Workers hid these copper dogs down their trousers and in their belts, pilfering a dram before secretly sharing them around their local pub, comparing notes and hatching plans.
The Copper Dog blended malt whisky contains whisky from no fewer than 8 distilleries, including Knockando, Rose Isle and Inchgower.
It was first blended at Craigellachie Hotel, Speyside, born out of the warm and mischievous atmosphere of the pub therein.
Built in 1893, the hotel pub was a place frequented by local distillery workers and highland travellers who used to share their tales, including those about their copper dogs and smuggling.
In 2014, Piers Adam bought the hotel and inspired by these stories, he named the hotel pub the Copper Dog and instigated the creation of a whisky of the same name.
The first licenses for distilling in a certain region were
granted in 1608. By the late 18th century, about 2,000 stills were in
operation, 85% of the output of which was considered illegal distillation. Distillation
was legalised in 1823, on payment of a fixed tax plus surcharge depending on
volume and strength of the distillate.
When Alfred Barnard visited Ireland in 1885 researching for
his book "The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom", the number
of legal distillers had shrunk to 28. At the time, Irish Whisky was considered
the finest in the world. The distilleries, most notably in Dublin, were huge
enterprises with annual outputs of up to 2,000,000 gallons (9 Million Litres)
of "Pot Still" as the original Irish Whiskey was called.
A chain of unrelated events caused the tragic decline of the
great Irish industry: first, the invention of the Patent Still by Aeneas
Coffey (an Irishman) was grossly rejected by the proud Irish distillers, but
widely adopted by the Lowlands Scots who went on to blend their Whiskies, followed
reluctantly by the Highlands Scots; second, the institution of the Irish Free
State in the early 20th century caused a fatal trade war with Great Britain,
closing down the Irish Distillers' main market; third, WWI (1914-18); and finally the US Prohibition declaration in 1920.
The highly influential Distillers Company Limited (DCL) was
a blending-led operation which set out to buy up and either close or reduce
production at a notable number of patent still Lowland distilleries, enhancing
its already powerful position in controlling grain whisky supply in the
process.
A number of leading Highland pot still producers effectively
took a stand against DCL, despite the fact that they were now significantly
dependent on blenders to buy their ‘make’.
The proportions of malt and grain whisky that might be
included in blends was debated, with the pot still interest conceding that a
50/50 mixture would be acceptable to them.
The Boynsmill Estate, nestled in the Valley of Forgue, was established by James Allardice as the home for his GlenDronach distillery in 1826. Allardice discovered the rich depths of sherry cask maturation here, marrying robust Highland spirit to Spanish cask, a tradition carried forward by The GlenDronach to this day.
James Allardice lived most of his life at Boynsmill House (later re-named Glen House) and was often known to share a dram of his ‘Guid GlenDronach’ with friends and neighbours.
The GlenDronach Forgue 10 YO is the distillery’s second exclusive for Global Travel Retail, joining the GlenDronach Boynsmill 16 YO.
Scotland’s first large distillery, Ferintosh, founded in the 1660s and owned by Duncan Forbes of Culloden, produced the nation’s first brand of whisky of the same name.
Though the distillery, located in Ross-shire, was burned to the ground in the Jacobite insurrection of 1689, Forbes rebuilt Ferintosh, which by the 1760s accounted for four major whisky distilleries coexisting on one property. Ferintosh was one of Scotland’s first industrial complexes and proved to be a forerunner of modern whiskies.
On May 1, 1707, one of political history’s great marriages of convenience became reality. The Treaty of Union of the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, also known as the Act of Union, joined the heretofore separate Parliaments of Scotland and England. To the dismay of most Scots, the Seat of Scottish government was relocated to London.
Scotland’s notorious smugglers were first called smuckellors.
Walter Scott’s novels of the day reflected with searing accuracy the civil turmoil and the dark mood of the Scots in the early decades of the eighteenth century. Stories like Scott’s The Heart of Midlothian also afforded readers vivid insights into the extent of smuggling.
In 1781, Scotland produced 264,000 gallons of legal whisky that same year in licensed distilleries like those operated by the Haig and Stein families.
Most bothies, the compact, highly mobile, copper pot stills and accompanying equipment, ranged from 20 to 40 gallons in volume and were the property of cooperative proprietors.
A typical streamside bothy was described as follows: “The ingenuity exercised in the construction of these bothies was wonderful. Getting in beneath the banks where the bothy could be thatched down on the outer edge of the bank with heather so that it could not be distinguished, was a favorite plan, but sometimes they were constructed right under ground on a flat haugh.” (A haugh is a low-lying, unusable flood plain next to a burn, aka stream or river.)
The smugglers believed that the unusual climate of Glenlivet, the altitude of the glen, and the mossy water of the hill streams there, combined to give the whisky its unique character.
As excisemen rarely visited the glen, the locals could take a long time in distilling new spirits, running the whisky ‘lazily’ over a small fire. This was a luxury not allowed to other smugglers, constantly on the look-out for the gaugers. . . Glenlivet whisky, fully matured and with its unique flavour, soon became a great favourite of the Lowland connoisseurs.
King George IV reportedly consumed whisky during his visit in a concoction called the “Atholl-brose,” a thick, sweetish mixture of whisky, honey and ground grain.
A parliamentary committee, led by Lord Wallace, further studied the excise law issues from all sides, based on the Duke of Gordon’s noteworthy and persuasive oratory skills.
Distillation was legalised in 1823, but penalties were elevated considerably, to £200, an extraordinarily stiff sum for the era, for anyone apprehended while in possession of illicit whisky and £100 assessed to anyone owning an unlicensed pot still.
The Excise Act of 1823 significantly reduced duties on whisky (2 shillings 3 pence per gallon), a fee of only £10 to acquire a license, a minimum pot still size of 40 gallons, duty-free warehousing for all whiskies and, with some reservations, the opening of markets in Ireland, England, and all other trading nations.
From 1644 to 1823, over 30 separate and amending pieces of distilling legislation had been drawn up and implemented, first by the Parliament of Scotland prior to 1707 and then, after 1707, by the Parliament of Great Britain.
The Duke of Gordon then experienced serious financial difficulties due in part to the dishonesty of his factor, or estate foreman, William Mitchell, who embezzled £3,000. George Smith was confident that he could make a distillery at Upper Drumin a success and farmers could grow more barley.
One provision in the 1823 Act demanded the stationing of excise officials at all legal distilleries. This provision infuriated the smugglers.
Some accounts cite George Smith as the first duly licensed distiller in the Highlands. This assertion is unsubstantiated and wrong. Licenses for other sites were applied for as early as the late fall of 1823, soon after the Act’s passage. Cardow Distillery in Knockando (today known as Cardhu) preceded George Smith’s The Glenlivet as Speyside’s first distillery to be licensed under the Act.
George Smith began producing fresh spirit sometime in the winter of 1825.
Highland whisky in 1825 was sold unaged and raw, frequently in 10 gallon casks referred to as “ankers.”
When reformed Glenlivet smugglers like Peter McKerron, James McHardy, and James McPherson, were pondering going legitimate, blatant threats were made to their faces.
The smugglers made it clear to McKerron that if he applied for a license they would destroy his distillery operation. McKerron’s distillery at Whitehouse in Aberlour was a brief affair.
James McPherson obtained a license shortly after George Smith. While McPherson was transporting a cache of his legal whisky south in 1826, a band of smugglers assaulted him in Glen Gairn. McPherson shut down his distillery.
Suspicious fires destroyed several upstart legal distilleries throughout the Highlands. The Banks o’ Dee Distillery in Aberdeenshire went up in flames in 1825, the victim of arson. Smugglers razed James McHardy’s distillery at Corgarff Castle in 1826. News of other distillery closures at Croftbain, Braeval, and Stobbie in Glenlivet and Coul and Achfad in Morange echoed throughout Banffshire.
James Chivas was born on December 20, 1810, to Robert (1767–1847) and Christian Chivas (1775–1842) at his parents’ Strathythan farm at Overtown of Dudwick in Ellon Parish. The sixth of thirteen children by Robert and Christian Chivas, James, like his siblings worked on the family farm and attended local Strathythan schools.
The name Chivas was likely derived from the Gaelic phrase for “a narrow place,” Seimhas, pronounced shave-ASZ. This made sense because two famous structures, the older a medieval castle built in the thirteenth or fourteenth century and the younger a fortified edifice called the House of Schivas constructed in middle of the sixteenth century, were strategically situated at narrow points on the banks of the River Ythan.
The Barony of Schivas, located directly north of the city of Aberdeen, was the stronghold of the Schivas/Chivas clan from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century.
Whatever the name’s derivation, the Chivas clan was well established in northeastern Scotland in the medieval era of kings, dukes, barons, feudal armies, and castles. While it was a widely known surname in Aberdeenshire by 1400, Chivas would become a household name on a global basis five and a half centuries later.
More distillation used to happen in the Lowlands than any other Scottish region, pre the 1823 legalised era.
Glenkinchie Distillery is a Scotch single malt whisky distillery in East Lothian, Scotland. It is one of the six distilleries in the Lowland region.
Glenkinchie is often called the Edinburgh Malt, due to its proximity to Scotland’s capital. It is one of the last three distilleries in the Scottish Lowlands.
Burns in the neighbouring Lammermuir Hills provide the water that is used in the distillation process.
A fairly unique aspect of the production at Glenkinchie is that the distillery has a cast-iron worm tub that is still used to condense the freshly distilled spirit. In contrast to regular worm tubs, which have a round shape, the one at Glenkinchie is two storeys high, with a rectangular spiral shape.
The wash still at Glenkinchie is the largest in Scotland.
The wash still charge is 20,650L. The spirit still charge is 17,500L.
Both the wash and spirit stills have constricting pieces in their neck, just above the lid of the pot. This constricting piece separates the vapours from the boiling and moving surface of the liquid. This helps to calm the vapor column in the neck of the still.
Their new make has a smell akin to over-boiled broccoli.
This sulphurousness means that the spirit behind isn’t fruity, but disappears in cask, leaving a light, fragrant whisky with just a hint of meadow flowers and lemon.
The Rate brothers, who founded Glenkinchie, started their legal whisky making adventure in 1825 when they opened a distillery near Edinburgh, which they called Milton.
The Rate brothers then built a more substantial distillery on the current site in 1837, calling it Glenkinchie.
The name Glenkinchie comes from when the Normans conquered Britain in 1066.
The occupying government granted the lands in this area to the de Quincey family.
The name Kinchie, it is believed, comes from de Quincey, the family which originally owned the estate, an ancestor of whom, Thomas de Quincey, wrote Confessions of an English Opium Eater.
Their project foundered, and in 1853 they were bankrupted and the site converted to a sawmill.
Whisky-making restarted in 1881, when a group of Edinburgh investors, led by Major James Grey, seeing the rise in blended whisky sales, came on board.
In 1914, Glenkinchie joined forces with fellow Lowland distillers Rosebank, St Magdalene, Grange and Clydesdale to form Scottish Malt Distillers.
Glenkinchie managed to continue to operate through both the World Wars.
Glenkinchie’s maltings remained open until 1968. The buildings were turned into a museum which contains a remarkable scale model of a working distillery built by SMD in 1925 for the British Empire Exhibition.
Its time as a single malt brand came only in 1998, when chosen ahead of Rosebank as the Lowland representative within Diageo’s Classic Malt Selection.
Glenkinchie’s red-brick warehouse is being converted into a multi-level visitor experience, including welcome lounge, shop, bar and cocktail-making classroom, tasting room and ‘cask draw experience’.
Glenkinchie has three dunnage warehouses onsite, which host over 10,000 casks.
The distillery uses a variety of different casks to mature its spirit. The 14-year-old Distiller’s Edition is aged in Amontillado Sherry casks, while many of the other Single Malts are aged in Bourbon casks.
It’s a delicate Whisky with a gentle soul that’s typical for the Lowlands. So typical, in fact, that the Lowland malts are known as the Lowland Ladies.
They are typified as light, dry, devoid of peat, fresh and floral.
Auchentoshan is a distillery which insists on the continued production of these vixen drams, and maintains the discipline of triple distillation.
Their 14 year old malt can be identified from its finish of sugared almonds, creamy vanilla and dried fruits.
The ‘Three Wood’ is worth a try; its elixir has spent time in Bourbon, Ximenez Sherry and Oloroso Sherry casks.
The 21 year old pleasantly pleases with soft and supple inflections of granary toast, apricot preserve and dry grass.
Bladnoch distillery is the only other producer of Single Malt in the Lowlands.
Another player in the Lowland troop is Ailsa Bay, which produces 12 million litres of Whisky a year, almost all of which is used for blends.
Ailsa Bay, with a capacity of 12,000,000 litres, was built within Girvan grain distillery in 2007 to produce malt whisky for William Grant's range of blends. The first single malt, a heavily peated no-age-statement release, was launched in February 2016, after eight years of operation.
Several styles of malt whisky are produced there, from sweet and light to heavier and more sulphury (two stills have steel condenser rather than copper) as well as peated styles up to 50ppm.
Ailsa Bay Sweet Smoke 2016 was the first ever single malt produced by the lowland distillery, in a Distillery Bottling of 70cl at 48.9% ABV.
Ailsa Bay Sweet Smoke 2021 is the second iteration of Ailsa Bay single malt, replacing the version released in 2016.
It is both peatier and sweeter than its predecessor. It has, however, gone through the same micro-maturation process as the first edition - one that sees the spirit first filled into smaller-than-average bourbon casks for six to nine months, a process which accelerates maturation before it is then transferred into more traditional casks for several years.
Ailsa Bay distillery is known as the Precision Distillery.
Scientifically distilled at 022 parts “peat” and 019 parts “sweet”, then micro matured to a precise balance of oaky sweetness and smoky notes, this award winning new age single malt pushes the boundaries of flavour.
PPM: this is the precise measurement of the ‘phenol’ content in parts per million. The higher the ‘phenol’ levels, the more ‘peaty’ the whisky will taste. Ailsa Bay contains 022 ppm, which is assessed prior to bottling, guaranteeing a more accurate measurement.
SPPM: Ailsa Bay is the first whisky to have an analysed measurement of sweetness identified. This is possible through a revolutionary process defined by Master Blender Brian Kinsman. The whisky is defined as having 019 sppm within it, which gives it the perfect balance between the peat and sweetness.
Micro Maturation: Ailsa Bay is also the only scotch whisky to undergo a process called ‘Micro Maturation’.
The distillery’s new make spirit is first filled into Hudson Baby bourbon casks that are between 25-100 litres in size, for six to nine months.
The relatively small casks – traditional American oak barrels can contain up to 200 litres of spirit – enables intense rapid maturation.
The liquid is then transferred into virgin, first-fill and refill American oak casks for several years. The process is the first of its kind within the Scotch Whisky Industry.
Some signs of overproduction started to appear in the early 1970s, with the stocks representing approximately 5 years of production in 1970 and 7 years by 1975.
Employment and wages data is sparse and inaccurate, but it was estimated that less than 3,000 were employed in the malt distilleries (mainly in the Highlands and Speyside) in the early 1960s.
It was mainly men, who were on average better paid than women (5s 10d per hour vs 4s 2d per hour, respectively).
Almost all the malt whisky output went into blend, and blending halls provided substantial employments between Glasgow and Pert, with John Dewar & Sons employing 600 workers in Perth. New bottlings and warehouses were built after WWII and the Whisky industry provided in total over 5,000 jobs, mainly in the Lowlands, as well as some in the London region.
Between 1950 and 1975, to support the increase demand and production, number of employees trebled, from 7,000 to 21,800 employees, although the numbers of employees in the malt distilleries remained rather stable, due to the mechanisation of the maltings and the moving by tankers of the spirit to the central warehouses to reduce the costs.
The first Saladin malting boxes were installed at Glen Mhor in 1950, followed shortly afterwards by Tamdhu.
The first mechanical drum malting was introduced at Burghead in 1966 by DCL) to increase output. New methods of effluents disposal were developed and coal firing of the stills was replaced by oil firing. Similar developments took place in the blending and bottling area. Those changes led to the closure of floor maltings at the distilleries.
In 1903, Andrew Mackenzie, owner of Dalmore distillery,
wrote to customers declaring that: ‘Once one gets initiated to a “pure Highland
Malt” or “Self” whisky that is the product of one Distillery, it is invariably
preferred to the best of Blends, but it requires a little education at first
with people who have never taken it before.’
DCL managing director William Ross took to promoting
seven-year-old Cambus Patent Still Scotch Grain Whisky in a national press
campaign during 1906. Provocatively, the advert took pains to point out that
Cambus was ‘…not a Pot Still Whisky’, using the slogan: Not a headache in a
gallon.
After 37 sittings, the Commission concluded in its report of
July 1909 ‘...that “Whiskey” is a spirit obtained by distillation from a wash
saccharified by the diastase of malt, that “Scotch Whiskey” is whiskey, as
above defined distilled in Scotland.’
Speyside distillery Glenlivet has released The Glenlivet 14 Year Old, a new US-exclusive single malt finished in ex-Cognac casks, as part of the distillery’s efforts to ‘open up to a new generation of whisky drinkers’.
Priced at US$55 per 750ml bottle, Glenlivet 14 Year Old was available from specialist US retailers from July 2021. The distillery plans to donate US$1 from each bottle sold to The Purple Heart Foundation, a charity created to enhance the quality of life of wounded veterans and their families, with a guaranteed minimum donation of US$50,000 and up to a maximum of US$100,000.
The Glenlivet had released a then new NAS whisky it claimed to be the ‘first major single malt finished in Cognac casks’ in May 2018.
The expression, called The Glenlivet Captain’s Reserve, has been named in honour of Captain William (Bill) Smith Grant, the great grandson of The Glenlivet founder George Smith, who has ties with France having served there in WWI.
The Glenlivet launched a fourth edition in its mystery series of whiskies in June 2019, released without any information aside from its ABV.
The Glenlivet Enigma is a single malt Scotch whisky presented in a matte black bottle at 60.6% ABV.
All other information is kept secret; buyers, however, can ‘unlock’ tasting cues by solving a digital crossword puzzle. Completion of the puzzle will also reward buyers with discounted delivery on their next purchase from reservebar.com.
The Glenlivet Enigma is the fourth expression in the Speyside distillery’s mystery series.
The first, Alpha, was revealed in 2013, and followed by Cipher in 2016 and Code in 2018.
‘MYSTERY’ The Glenlivet Code was launched worldwide in March 2018. No cask information or tasting notes were attached
Purchasers can scan a code on the back of the whisky’s opaque packaging using the Shazam app on their smartphone, in order to reveal an interactive tasting experience hosted by a ‘hologram’ of Glenlivet’s master distiller Alan Winchester.
They are then able to select four aromas for the nose, four flavours for the palate and the intensity of each. At the end of the challenge, drinkers will be given a score based on how well their tasting notes match those of Winchester.
In the 1909 report,
no compulsory maturation period was stipulated, and no minimum percentage of malt required in a blend was specified. It was a complete
victory for the blenders and patent still distillers.
Vat 69 was the flagship blend of William Sanderson & Son Ltd. that was absorbed into DCL, now Diageo.
Vat 69 was created by the Leith-born blender William Sanderson in 1882.
Sales are reputedly over a million cases a year with key markets being Venezuela, Australia and Spain, and it is also bottled locally in India.
The traditional heart of the blend was what was once a smoky Highland malt – Glen Garioch.
The current recipe includes some 40 malts and grains, and the style is light and well-balanced with a vanilla sweetness.
The deluxe, limited edition Vat 69 Reserve was launched in 1980.
According to legend he vatted 100 casks and invited a panel of friends to taste them blind. The 69th cask was unanimously declared to be the best, and the name stuck.
Within five years Sanderson had bought into the Aberdeenshire distillery of Glen Garioch and had helped found Edinburgh’s North British distillery in 1885 to break DCL’s near monopoly on grain whisky.
The Malt Mill micro-distillery built at Lagavulin is one of the most enigmatic tales in Scotch whisky history.
Malt Mill was born in 1908 from an acrimonious falling out between the owners of Lagavulin and Laphroaig.
One of the more colourful lost distilleries, Malt Mill produced a peated whisky that contributed to some of Mackie & Co., and White Horse Distillers’ blends, including White Horse and Mackie’s Ancient Scotch.
Malt Mill shared Lagavulin’s mash tun, but has two washbacks and two pear-shaped stills of its own, modelled after those at Laphroaig.
At the start of the 20th century Lagavulin owner Peter Mackie was also agent for neighbouring distillery Laphroaig though his company, Mackie & Co.
The Vat 69 blend headed south with Ernest Shackleton on his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition for ‘medicinal and celebratory purposes’ in 1914.
It became one of America’s most popular whiskies after Prohibition ended in 1933 when its owners merged with Booth’s Distillers of London.
Vat 69 has appeared in films like Our Man in Havana and was popular with Bollywood villains from the 1970s, though it’s probably best known in the States as the favourite tipple of Capt. Lewis Nixon in the TV series Band of Brothers.
Crown of Scotland was a short-lived blended Scotch produced in the 1970s by Barton Distilling.
The Crown of Scotland blended Scotch whisky appeared in the mid-1970s and probably contained Littlemill and Loch Lomond malts. It was available in a variety of sizes for export.
Its origins are American although the brand first appeared in the mid-1970s and was relatively short-lived.
It was owned by Barton Distilling (Scotland) Ltd, the Scottish arm of Chicago-based Barton Brands Inc.
Barton operated Littlemill distillery from 1959 and gained total ownership in 1971 when the American entrepreneur DG Thomas, who had acquired Littlemill in 1931, was finally bought out.
Loch Lomond distillery was later constructed in 1966 to increase group capacity.
Barton Brands was then taken over by Amalgamated Distilled Products plc in 1982, which closed Littlemill two years later and sold Loch Lomond to Glen Catrine Bonded Warehouse Ltd in 1986.
As its whisky was a core part of the Crown of Scotland blend, it’s likely the brand also disappeared around the same time.
Dailuaine, Speyside distillery, rarely seen as a single malt bottling (the occasional Flora & Fauna from owner Diageo, infrequent independent offerings) is one of the many hard-working distilleries which quietly provide fillings for blends.
At the end of the 19th century, Dailuaine was the largest single malt distillery in Speyside and also one of the most innovative in terms of design.
It was built in 1851 by the ‘Royalty of Blenders’ William Mackenzie and by the 1860s was being serviced by the Strathspey railway.
The set-up – six large stills, condensers – suggests that a light style should be produced, but instead it produces a heavy ‘meaty’ make thanks to long fermentation, rapid distillation and the use of stainless steel in the condensers to cut down on copper interaction.
William Mackenzie died in 1865 and the distillery was leased to Aberlour banker, James Fleming.
1879 saw William’s son, Thomas forming MacKenzie and Co with Fleming.
That Flora & Fauna bottling (from ex-Sherry casks) shows this mix of richness and sweetness at its best.
A complete rebuild in 1884 saw the installation of Scotland’s first pagoda on a kiln whose pitch was deliberately steep to minimise the contact time between peat smoke and drying malt, one of the clearest indications of how the old ‘Strathspey’ style was changing.
In 1898, it merged with Talisker to form Dailuaine-Talisker Distilleries Ltd.
The distillery perished in a fire in 1917, by which time it had become part of DCL.
Saladin maltings ran from 1959 to 1970.
Dailuaine is also home to a dark grains plant and processes all of the spent grains from Diageo’s southern and central sites. If you see clouds of smoke rising from a riverside glen as you drive by the slopes of Ben Rinnes, that’s Dailuaine at work.
Hazelburn is a triple-distilled single malt whisky from Campbeltown’s Springbank distillery.
It is one of three styles of single malt made at Springbank distillery in Campbeltown.
While the bulk of the distillery’s output is concentrated on producing the Springbank malt, 10% of its production time is dedicated to creating the heavily peated Longrow, and a further 10% to the triple-distilled Hazelburn.
By using unpeated air-dried malt and triple distillation on two stills, the resultant spirit is light, fruity and subtle. It is currently available in 10- and 12-year-old expressions.
In the past Hazelburn has been released in limited numbers at a variety of ages and, as with all bottlings from J&A Mitchell, Hazelburn is neither chill-filtered nor coloured and is bottled on-site at 46% ABV unless otherwise stated.
The Hazelburn single malt is named after a former Campbeltown distillery that ran from the early-18th century until 1925, but in its short lifetime grew to become the biggest in the area.
Springbank distillery, itself licensed since 1828, first began producing triple-distilled spirit in 1997 and the first Hazelburn whisky bottled in 2005 as an 8-year-old. Three different labels were created to mark the brand’s first edition, each featuring a different aspect of Springbank: its maltings, stills and casks.
The core range now also features 12- and 10-year-old expressions, which were introduced in 2009 and 2014 respectively.
Although silent for decades, Parkmore Distillery is still standing and in remarkably good condition.
A Speyside single malt Scotch whisky and still standing as a silent distillery, Parkmore was really only in operation for around 35 years. During that time its whisky was used for blending, and was a likely constituent of James Watson & Co’s Baxter’s Barley Bree and Watson’s No. 10.
It may also have been a component of Dewar’s for a period.
Built in 1894 by Parkmore Distillery Company during the boom for the Scotch whisky industry, the Victorian distillery was one of the original ‘seven stills’ of Dufftown. Its location near Glenfiddich may be the reason for its excellent condition.
Following the Pattison crash of 1898 Parkmore was sold to Dundee whisky merchant and blender James Watson & Co, which had also picked up Glen Ord distillery in 1896 and went on to purchase Pulteney in Wick in 1920.
James Watson & Co was itself acquired by Buchanan-Dewar and John Walker & Sons in 1923 for ‘a little over £2m’. The deal included Parkmore, Pulteney and Glen Ord distilleries as well as eight million gallons of whisky stocks, ‘one of the most important stocks of old whisky in the country’.
James Watson was then dissolved. The stocks were shared out between the companies, while John Dewar ∓ Sons took on the distilleries.
The three distilleries didn’t remain with Dewar for long – just two years later Buchanan-Dewar was absorbed by the mighty Distillers Company Ltd (DCL).
As James Watson & Co was also one of the founders of the North British Distillery Company in 1885, established to counter DCL’s domination of the whisky market, this turn of events wouldn’t have been an easy pill to swallow for its founders.
Parkmore was transferred to DCL’s Scottish Malt Distillers subsidiary in 1930, before being mothballed the following year.
Although the distillery was licensed to Daniel Crawford & Son Ltd in 1940, its buildings were stripped and used for warehousing.
In 1988 the site was sold to Highland Distilleries (now Edrington) which uses Parkmore’s buildings for storage.
Once producing a floral, citrus malt within Girvan's grain complex, Ladyburn's whisky is now incredibly rare.
For the first time in over 100 years, a team of fisheries experts has teamed up with Speyside whisky distillery Tamdhu to offer a helping hand to migrating fish in the Knockando Burn near Aberlour. Biologists from the Spey Fishery Board and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) have teamed up with Tamdhu to build one of the UK’s longest and highest fish passes on the doorstep of the distillery.
The ‘Abbot’s Choice’ trademark was registered in the USA in 1953, and lapsed in 1995.
The brand was originally called ‘McEwan’s Whisky – the Abbot’s Choice,’ and dates from some time before World War II. Among its European markets was Italy where it was imported by the Brescia-based firm of Samaroli, while it was also exported to Latin America.
A set of ceramic monks are part of the massive collection at Edinburgh’s Scotch Whisky Experience amassed by the Brazilian businessman, Claive Vidiz.
Located close to the Spey at Ballindalloch, Cragganmore is noted for its complexity.
Cragganmore Speyside single malt Scotch whisky uses lightly peated malt, long fermentation, unusually shaped stills and worm tubs to produce a rich, meaty new make which adds a mix of citrus, spice and fruit as it matures, and is wonderfully complex.
The story of Cragganmore is that of one of Scotch whisky’s greatest pioneers, John Smith, who, some believe, was the illegitimate son of George Smith of Minmore.
He was an experienced distiller who had spent time managing The Glenlivet, Dailuaine, Macallan, Wishaw and, briefly, as leaseholder at neighbouring Glenfarclas.
He chose the riverside site at Ballindalloch in 1869 for a number of reasons: spring water for process, Spey water for cooling and perhaps most significantly because the Strathspey Railway was going to run virtually outside the distillery's front door.
Cabrach distillery was a farm distillery in the Cabrach, Aberdeenshire, one of few legally sanctioned sites in the area.
It was rife with illicit distilling in the early 19th century, compelling many legitimate operations to open and then close quite promptly.
Cabrach distillery was licensed by James Taylor in 1827 and then by John Taylor, probably his son, in 1831. Cabrach closed in 1834, unable to compete with the many illegal distilleries in the area.
Babute distillery was one of many lost distilleries in Argyll that was operational briefly in the 18th century.
The location of Babute distillery is unknown, although it’s thought to have existed in the region of Argyll toward the end of the 18th century. It was opened and operated by Donald Stewart from 1798-99.
Abbot's Choice was a ceramic bottle whisky.
In the 1960s, ceramic monks filled with Abbot's Choice Scotch sold as far afield as Peru. Today it lives on as an occasional oddity in whisky auctions.
Over the years Scotch whisky has been bottled in everything from miniature golf bags to models of Nessie and Big Ben, so why not use a ceramic monk and employ his head as a stopper? Every time you felt like a dram you could decapitate the poor fellow and then put him back together again. Such was the thinking of John McEwan & Co Ltd of Elgin and Leith.
The blend may have contained Linkwood, which was licenced to John McEwan & Co by the DCL in the mid-20th century.
According to the yellow, parchment-style labels of Abbot’s Choice, John McEwan & Co was established in Leith in 1863. The firm owned other blended whiskies including King George IV and Chequers, all of which have since been inherited by Diageo.
Abbotshaugh Distillery was one of 18 lost distilleries in the Falkirk area.
A Lowland single malt Scotch whisky, Abbotshaugh was located in the grounds of an abbey that has long since vanished.
The whisky boom of the 1960s resulted in a brief fashion for malt distilleries being ensconced within grain distilleries: Kinclaith in Strathclyde; Glenflagler and Killyloch from Moffat; Ben Wyvis in Invergordon; and Inverleven & Lomond in Dumbarton.
Ladyburn was a member of that gang. It was built within William Grant & Sons’ Girvan grain complex in 1966, its four stills destined to produce fillings for the Grant’s blends and also to free up stock from Glenfiddich which was, by then, beginning to make a name for itself as a single malt brand.
However, when the grain side of Girvan’s operation needed to expand in 1975, Ladyburn was dismantled.
Its spirit lingers on because, in 2007, another single malt distillery opened within Girvan – Ailsa Bay.
At the end of the 19th century, Dailuaine-Glenlivet was the largest single malt distillery in Speyside and also one of the most innovative in terms of design. It was built in 1851 by William Mackenzie and by the 1860s was being serviced by the Strathspey railway.
Scotland’s first pagoda was installed in 1884 on Dailuaine-Glenlivet’s kiln.
The pitch on the kiln was kept deliberately steep to minimise the contact time between peat smoke and drying malt, one of the clearest indications of how the old ‘Strathspey’ style was changing.
In 1898, it merged with Talisker to form Dailuaine-Talisker Distilleries Ltd. The distillery perished in a fire in 1917, by which time it had become part of DCL.
The variety and international availability of Scotch single malts has never been greater, and the share of revenue earned by malts as a total of Scotch whisky exports has grown exponentially, hitting the £1bn mark for the first time in 2016.
In 1997 Aultmore celebrated 100 years of production. The celebrations were marked by a tree-planting on the Aultmore grounds. A centenary dinner dance was held in the Seafield Arms Hotel, Keith.
A limited edition bottling of 16 year old Aultmore was created to celebrate the centenary, and the rear label was printed with all of the names of the distillery staff in 1997.
In the same year a new gas boiler was installed. Production at this me was 1.522 million litres of alcohol, produced over 42 weeks.
In 1998 , the site occupied 19 acres (8 hectares) with an adjoining farm of Milltown of Tarrycroys (130 acres / 53 hectares). Approximately half of this is planted with trees, the remainder being grass which is let to local farmers on an annual basis.
In 1999 , the redundant Dark Grains Plant and Cooperage were demolished and a new cooling tower installed.
Malted barley is now delivered weekly from specialist maltsters but while there isn’t enough barley grown in Scotland to supply all the country’s distilleries, Dewar’s remains one of the few whisky companies to only use barley grown in Scotland.
Aultmore’s early 1960s Porteus patent malt mill grinds the malted barley into grist. As with most other distilleries, and all five Dewar sites, the preferred consistency produces a grist with 70% grist, 20% husk and 10% flour.
Ground barley is put in the 10 tonne-capacity full lauter mash tun, along with yeast and hot water. This Steinecker made mash tun doesn’t need an underback due to its computer controlled system continually monitoring pressure differentials.
After mashing, the 48,000 litres of wort are drained into one of the six larch wood washbacks that work on a non-stop rotation. The washbacks are made by a local company in Duff Town and are replaced every 40 years.
The washbacks are fitted with switcher blades – basically arms that sweep across the surface and literally cut through the froth produced by the CO2 emptiied during fermentation so preventing it bubbling over the top of the washback.
After just 56 hours – a shorter fermentation period than many distilleries –the wash is discharged and pressurised water used to clean the washbacks. The fermented liquid is pumped into the Abercromby copper wash stills, both with 22,970 litre capacities, for the first distillation which produces a spirit of 23-26% ABV. Second distillation in the spirit stills, each with a 17,500 litre capacity, produces a new-make spirit at between 73-75% ABV.
Aultmore, along with the other Dewar distilleries, has a long foreshot run to remove heavy volatiles. The heart is captured for some four hours. The final cut is made at 60-61% ABV, although this can depend on the destination of the spirit.
Whisky destined for Dewar’s blends and for release as single malts is shipped by tanker to John Dewar & Sons’ maturation and blending centre in Glasgow on London Road. There the whisky is put to barrels and aged for a minimum of three years before it is blended into the likes of Dewar’s White Label and Dewars 12-year-old.
With so many newcomers to the Scotch whisky sector, the future for single malt looks extremely positive, even though some of those newcomers are likely to push the boundaries of existing legislation, and new battles about ‘what is whisky’ may once again be on the horizon.
Aultmore was once found mostly in the blended whiskies of John Dewar & Sons (Dewar's White Label, Dewar's 12 Year Old, Dewar's 18 Year Old). It was rarely enjoyed on its own.
The Aultmore 12 YO single malt Scotch whisky was unveiled in 2014 for the Last Great Malts by Dewar's. It's been quite a while since a distillery bottling of Aultmore has been released.
A secluded site once known for smugglers and illicit stills, the Foggie Moss, conceals the water's source.
This 12-year-old is one of an existing trio launched in 2015 to highlight the Foggie Moss distillery with its exceptionally smooth, clean and fruity taste.
Also present in this newly launched range are a 21 and 25-year-old expressions that again promise the very best of this rare single malt.
The water source filters through bracken, gorse and heather purifying the water to the profit of Aultmore’s refined character.
Aultmore does have a strong cult following amongst enthusiasts via independent bottlings and particularly those from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society.
The distillery itself is situated in a remote region of Speyside and wasn’t connected to the national grid until 1969 when steam engines were retired.
It continues to be a major contributor to the Dewar’s range of blended whiskies and the Old Perth blend.
The only prior single malt bottling was the rather average 12-year-old released in 2004 as part of the Flora and Fauna range.
Born of fog, bog and brimming wee burns, it has a verdant nose of dewy moss and delicate flora & fresh wild herbs.
Aultmore was totally revamped in the early 1970’s; today it isn’t the most glamorous of distilleries to look upon.
Such changes were commonplace across the industry as improvements were sought in efficiency and production, with the number of stills being doubled to 4.
The distillery is not open to the public and there are no warehouses to mature whisky on site. This all points towards its role as a major contributor to blends, as is commonplace across Speyside.
This rare Speyside classic has been distilled in handmade copper pot stills since 1897, yet for over a century it was only sold in limited editions aimed at collectors.
Sometimes a sly taste of AULTMORE could be found in a few local bars, but only if you knew to ask for "a nip of the Buckie Road."
Aultmore 12 was once derided as the AultSNORE.
Running the stills slow helps to maximise reflux, but the shape also allows some heavier elements to come across. In character, therefore, Aultmore shares some of the same characters as Linkwood – fragrant on the nose, substantial on the tongue.
Built by the enterprising Alexander Edward in 1896 it was always going to be pressed into service for blends.
In 1923 it became part of the John Dewar & Sons estate and has remained so ever since. In fact, so highly prized is it as a blending malt that when Bacardi was in the process of buying Dewar’s from Diageo, it was willing to walk away from the deal if Aultmore wasn’t included.
Badarrach was a distillery situated just south of the Kyle of Sutherland in Strath Oykel.
This Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky distillery in northern Ross-shire would have been housed on one of two farms called East and West Badarrach, also spelled Badarach. Both were close to streams that would have been good water sources.
Badarrach distillery was opened by Thomas Houston in 1826, though it closed seven years later.
In 1917, a fire erupted in the ground-floor offices at 13 King Street and spread rapidly, virtually destroying the building. The fire was brought under control before reaching the whisky warehouse, with its highly flammable contents.
The deaths in 1935 first of Charles Stewart Howard (age unknown) while undergoing surgery and then several months later of Alexander Smith (cause and age unknown) capped the company’s most miserable 15-year period in its history to date.
At one of Queen Victoria’s summertime stopovers at Balmoral Castle in the late 1880s, an urgent entreaty in the form of a note arrived from the Castle asking Alexander to locate, hire, and then deliver posthaste a young donkey.
It was later revealed that the queen needed the donkey to pull her invalid chair around the grounds of Balmoral.
In 1952, George & J.G. Smith Ltd. joined forces with J. & J. Grant Ltd. that owned nearby Glen Grant Distillery, to form a new corporation, The Glenlivet & Glen Grant Distillers Ltd.
Samuel Bronfman wrongly claimed to be Canada-born, raised and reared on the expansive Manitoba prairie, whereas he was the son of immigrants from Russia. Documents determining his place of birth as well as the year of his birth are as clear as swamp water.
Bronfman’s first foray into actual distilling occurred in 1925 when he and his brothers, who were already successful hoteliers and liquor salesmen in western Canada, opened their own distillery seven miles west of Montreal in the town of Ville LaSalle.
According to him, “Distillers in America were indicted, while in England they were knighted.”
By 1928, the eighth year of America’s Prohibition, Bronfman’s international ambitions propelled him into buying an established distiller, the Ontario-based Joseph E. Seagram and Sons Ltd., a company that was founded in 1857 as a grain mill and distillery.
Seagram, despite being entirely legal Canadian distillers, almost certainly were involved with Prohibition bootlegging in the United States.
Within the galaxy of U.S. bootlegging crime, two big-time figures have been mentioned—Meyer Lansky and Frank Costello.
Minor characters of dubious distinction included James Rutkin and Joseph Reinfeld, known gangsters from New Jersey,
Bronfman customers during Prohibition were an army (and navy) of bootleggers taking delivery in ships off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, in small crafts at handy crossings along the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes system, in cars and trucks at dusty Prairie towns bordering on North Dakota and Montana.
The value of the legally produced Canadian product soared as contraband in the United States and the profits of the illegal trade gave birth to an underworld that meted out death as standard disciplinary action. It was on this brutish trade that the Bronfman family’s fortune was squarely based.
Bronfman and his brothers were millionaires many times over by the time that Prohibition ended in 1933.
Bronfman saw the opportunity to flood the U.S. market with his prized Canadian blends, most prominently, Seagram’s V.O.
Just 12 years after Bronfman’s entry into Scotland, the total annual sales of Distillers Corporation—Seagrams Ltd. skyrocketed to a staggering $438 million, an astounding leap forward of 625 % from 1936.
Bronfman purchased Chivas Brothers—essentially two grocery shops, their trade marks, plus a small inventory of high-class, well-aged Scotch—for a mere 85,000 pounds, and with these raw materials he built what those in the trade came to see as his masterpiece, Chivas Regal 12 YO.
Bronfman told his inner circle that he did not want to rush the Chivas Regal reintroduction. He would prefer to have word on the street & anticipation whet the appetites of whisky drinkers.
Distillers Corporation-Seagrams Ltd. could potentially realise enormous profit margins because Chivas Regal would cost significantly more per bottle than its competitors like Johnnie Walker Red Label, Black & White, Cutty Sark, J&B Rare, and Dewar’s White Label.
Chivas Regal was listed at USD 8.00 vs the USD 4.50-6.0 for the younger competitors.
A pivotal element of the deal that had pricked Bronfman’s interest lay in the Royal Warrants for food provisions and Scotch whisky that had been bestowed on Chivas Brothers Ltd. throughout its storied history.
Every attempt, every approach, every ploy conceived by the Bronfmans to obtain a Royal Warrant prior to the Chivas Brothers Ltd. sale was blocked by the Royal Court.
Yul Brynner was a devoted admirer of The Glenlivet.
By end 1952, 97 distilleries were active again in Scotland, up from 57 in 1945.
1953 saw Great Britain finally emerge from its postwar Scotch whisky gloom.
Queen Elizabeth’s coronation was celebrated by Sam Bronfman’s Chivas Brothers in the form of Royal Salute Blended Scotch Whisky. This limited edition Chivas Brothers 21-year-old blend was specially formulated to honour the 21-gun salute to the new monarch performed by the Royal Navy. Royal Salute’s core single malts included Strathisla, The Glenlivet, Longmorn, and Glen Grant.
Only 3,600 bottles of the 16-year-old malt whisky “Coronation Glenlivet.” came from 12 casks that had been distilled on May 12, 1937, the day of the coronation of George VI.
The Glenlivet malt whisky continued to be tight the world over until 1960 for two reasons. First, 98 % of The Glenlivet total production during the period was sold off to whisky brokers, leaving a scant 02% to be bottled as single malt. With blended Scotch whiskies flying off the shelves of retailers in North America, it was more lucrative to Bill Smith Grant to sell his high-grade malt whisky directly to whisky brokers who would then turn around and sell it to the blenders in the south of Scotland. Blenders coveted The Glenlivet’s impeccable malt whisky more than most others.
Second, it took Bill and Arthur more than a decade to correct the inventory shortages caused by the shutdowns and restrictions imposed during World War II. By 1960 to 1961, a normal flow of The Glenlivet was restored.
The Glenlivet Distillery punched through the 400,000-gallon mark in the distilling season of 1962 – 1963.
Single Malt Scotch Whiskies sold in the United States in 1964 were The Glenlivet 1,600 cases. Glenfarclas 600 cases, Laphroaig 250 cases, Glen Grant 300 cases and Glenfiddich 200 cases.
The half-million gallon mark was reached at The Glenlivet Distillery three seasons later (1965-1966). The Glenlivet accounted for slightly over half of all single malt whisky sold in the United States in the 1960s.
Bill Smith Grant and his agents opened other overseas markets in South Africa, Australia, Italy, France, and Germany.
Requests for The Glenlivet came from many distant ports-of-call: Mexico, the Philippines, Burma, China, Japan, and Ethiopia.
The Top Ten Selling Distilled Spirits in the United States—1967:
1. Seagram’s 7 Crown, Blended American Whiskey;7,750,000 cases
2. Seagram’s V.O., Blended Canadian Whisky; 3,975,000 cases
3. Canadian Club, Blended Canadian Whisky; 3,675,000 cases
4. Smirnoff, American Vodka; 3,600,000 cases
5. Jim Beam, Straight Bourbon; 2,650,000 cases
6. Gordon’s, American Gin; 2,625,000 cases
7. Bacardi, Puerto Rican Rum; 2,550,000 cases
8. J & B Rare, Blended Scotch; 2,400,000 cases
9. Cutty Sark, Blended Scotch; 2,325,000 cases
10. Calvert Extra, Blended Canadian Whisky; 2,275,000 cases
In 1970, The Glenlivet was operating two pairs of overworked stills, two wash stills, and two spirits stills at full capacity. The distillery was running seven days a week on two shifts, 24/7.
Bill Smith Grant planned further expansion with the addition of another set of stills. Bill and distillery manager Robert Arthur were forced to allocate a larger percentage of whisky for bottling as single malt.
David Daiches wrote in 1970, “Only 05 percent of The Glenlivet is today bottled as a single [malt] whisky: the rest goes to the blenders, and all the important blenders except Teacher’s take some Glenlivet.
The distillery itself bottles (though not at the distillery) only a twelve-year-old, which is splendid.
Other bottlers bottle it at different ages: Gordon & MacPhail of Elgin bottle a variety of ages, each with a differently coloured label.
The one classic of malt whiskies would be The Glenlivet 12 YO.
In the summer of 1970, The Glenlivet & Glen Grant Distillers Ltd. joined with two other whisky trade entities: Longmorn Distillers Ltd., whose two prize possessions were the Longmorn and Benriach distilleries; and Hill, Thomson & Co. Ltd. of Edinburgh, producers of Queen Anne and Something Special blended Scotch whiskies.
For the upcoming 150th anniversary of The Glenlivet in 1974, gas lines were installed to more efficiently heat the stills; the pair of new copper stills added to the stillhouse almost doubled production. Production catapulted forward past 825,000 gallons in 1973 - 1974 and topped an astounding 1.3 million gallons in 1974 - 1975.
The affluent English, accustomed in large measure to gin, port, brandy, and wine, made it clear to James Chivas that they fancied a tamer, smoother whisky than that offered by most of the Highland malt distillers.
The inaugural whisky brand from Stewart & Chivas, Royal Glen Dee, made its debut in 1852. As James Chivas’ first publicly sold whisky and the forerunner of Chivas Regal, it garnered early popularity.
“Mixing Highland malt whisky with column still spirits would be like marrying a prince to an idiot’s daughter. It’ll never happen in this lifetime,” said an article in the Aberdeen Observer in August 1835.
Following the path of Glenlivet Distillery, other fabled malt whisky distilleries like Macallan, Fettercairn, Longrow, Balmenach, and Mortlach, also began in 1824.
In 1825, 121 distilleries opened for business, including famous ones like Ben Nevis, Port Ellen, Strathisla, Kippen, Glencadam, and Glenury.
Aberlour and Pulteney opened in 1826. In 1835, only one single malt distillery, Lochruan, was licensed.
Bristol-based Allied Domecq started in 1994 as a conglomerate of breweries, but over the years divested its brewing business to focus more on its rapidly growing spirits portfolio, which included Teacher’s, Ballantine’s and Laphroaig. Its business strategy resulted in Allied Domecq becoming the world’s second-largest spirits group.
Following the 1997 merger of IDV and United Distillers to form Diageo, Allied Domecq became the second-largest spirits producer in the world, albeit a distant second.
in 2005, the French drinks giant Pernod Ricard, backed by the American Fortune Brands Inc., bought Allied Domecq for £7.5bn.
Its Associated Companies are Allied Breweries, Allied Distillers, Allied Lyons, Campbell Distillers, Chivas Brothers Holdings and Duncan Macleod & Company.
Glasgow-based Campbell Distillers, was a whisky blending and bottling company famous for its Clan Campbell blended whiskies.
The company purchased the Aberlour distillery after the Second World War. Following acquisition by Pernod Ricard, it added the Glenallachie distillery to its stable and found a major market for its Clan Campbell brand of blended whisky in France and Spain.
Campbell Distillers has one of the most complicated legacies of identity crisis of any Scottish whisky company, boasting several name changes in just 50 years.
A historic institution in London’s St James‘s district, Berry Bros & Rudd is a family-owned and run wine and spirits merchant.
The company is Britain's oldest wine and spirt merchant, established in the 17th century. Its flagship store has been located at 3 St James's Street, London, since 1698 when it was founded by the Widow Bourne.
A supplier to the Royal Family since the reign of King George III, historic customers have included Lord Byron, William Pitt the Younger and the Aga Khan.
Berry Bros & Rudd stocks more than 4,000 wines and spirits and 40 different ranges of own-label wines, as well as own-label spirits under the ‘Berrys' Own Selection’ banner.
Additionally, the company offers the ‘Selected by Berrys' After Dinner Range’ of whiskies, Blue Hanger blended malt, Craoi na Móna single Irish malt whisky and the special edition ‘John Milroy Selection of Scotch Whiskies.’
Berry Bros & Rudd was also proprietor of the Glenrothes single malt brand for several years in the 2010s, though the distillery itself was owned and operated by The Edrington Group. As of 2017 the brand has been sold back to Edrington.
The company’s colourful history encompasses placing wines on board the Titanic, supplying smugglers running alcohol into Prohibition-era America, and sheltering Napoleon III in cellars beneath the shop!
The firm created the Cutty Sark blended whisky in 1923.
The Last Drop brand was created by two whisky industry veterans, James Espey and Tom Jago, on a mission to seek out and bottle some of the rarest, most precious Scotch whisky lurking in Scotland’s warehouses.
Since the brand’s first bottling in 2008, The Last Drop has offered a variety of rare whiskies from both existing and lost distilleries, at ages ranging from 48-50-years-old.
The Last Drop Distillers bottles in the tens and hundreds with a price range in the thousands, retailing through selected partners worldwide.
Each bottle in the range comes complete with a miniature containing the same liquid.
In 2012, it created a partnership in China with Golden Glen Wine & Spirits Ltd.
In 2013, they released a 50 YO Blended Scotch, with 70 malt and 12 grin whiskies, for £ 3,000 per.
Sazerac Company Inc of New Orleans, owner of Buffalo Trace Bourbon, acquired Last Drop Distillers in 2016.
One of a trio of distilleries in the Garioch, Glendronach was founded in 1826 by a partnership of local farmers headed by James Allardice.
Under his charismatic lead, it built a strong reputation (it was on sale in London soon after its foundation) but tragedy struck in 1837 when a fire virtually destroyed the distillery. The bad news continued when Allardice went bankrupt in 1842.
His promotional activities had however stood the whisky in good stead. Seeing its potential, Walter Scott (not the author) came forward in 1852, and rebuilt the distillery into its current condition.
Its next most significant owner arrived in 1920, when Capt. Charles Grant, the youngest son of William Grant of Glenfiddich, bought it. It remained with the family for 40 years when it was sold to Wm Teacher & Sons. who added a second pair of stills in 1967.
It passed to Allied Distillers in 1976, when that firm purchased the Teacher’s estate.
In 1991, it was released as two 12-year-old expressions – one aged in ex-Bourbon, one in ex-Sherry – a real innovation for the time, but the brand never received any serious backing.
Placed in mothballs between 1996 and 2002, it ended up with Pernod Ricard which sold it in 2008 to The BenRiach Distilling Co.
Since then, a new visitor’s centre has been opened and a new range of single malts has been released. It is fast becoming a favourite with Sherried malt lovers globally and has built a considerable following in Taiwan.
Its water source is the Balnoon Spring
Scottish whisky companies, mostly the omnipotent DCL, made it hard for North American distillers to enter Scotland’s whisky industry by scooping up prime whisky stocks thereby keeping entry prices high. Bronfman decided not to leave the fate of his crown jewel, Chivas Regal in the hands of strangers.
Royal Salute’s core single malts include Strathisla, The Glenlivet, Longmorn and Glen Grant.
After the bottle was changed from dark green to clear glass to accentuate the striking tawny-amber color of Chivas Regal, a new ad followed. The headline read: ‘What Idiot Changed the Chivas Regal Package?’ Its conclusion: ‘Maybe the Idiot Was a Genius.’” This one ad turned a fading Chivas Regal around.
Two of the most famous lines used for snob appeal with a photo of a single Chivas Regal bottle:
1. We’ve given First More Class. (Reference to flying in first class while sipping Chivas Regal)
2. Of course, you can live without Chivas Regal. The question is, How well?
Many ads stressed the quality and price of Chivas Regal with a snotty tone and a photo of a single Chivas Regal bottle:
• If you can’t taste the difference in Chivas Regal, save the extra two dollars.
• If anybody tells you that you’re paying for the label when you buy Chivas Regal, he’s not completely wrong.
•Not all the best things in life are free.
•Why think of it as an expensive Scotch when you can think of it as an inexpensive luxury.
•Your cost of living may go up a little, but your standard of living will go up a lot.
• It’s a great Scotch. And one of these days I’m going to open it.
•When serving Chivas Regal, do you suddenly become exceedingly generous with your ice cubes?
•To the host it’s half-empty. To the guest it’s half-full.
•You can never thank your father enough, but at least you can give him Chivas Regal.
• Our sympathy to all those who get a bottle of Chivas Regal only at Christmas time. • It’s better to give than receive, with certain possible exceptions.
• Man and woman walking down the street arm-in-arm. Man says: “Your Chivas or mine?”
•Drawing of a shipyard dock with a huge ocean liner just pulling away. Dockworkers are looking at cases of Chivas Regal left behind and one says, “They’ll be back. They forgot the Chivas.”
• Drawing of a fortune-teller saying to an anxious male client, “I see her running away . . . with your savings...your bowling trophies...your best friend. And now for the bad news . . . they’re taking your Chivas.”
•Drawing of man sitting at a desk at home, looking up at his wife and asking, “I’m listing our assets . . . how much Chivas Regal is left in the bottle?”
•Drawing of two birds perched on the rim of a birdbath. One says to the other, “Just once I’d like to see some Chivas in this damned thing.”
Scottish composer James Scott Skinner wrote the rage of the district’s inns and pubs pianoforte and violin ditty, titled Glenlivet Whisky, O! to “Major Smith, Minmore.”
Freemasons! To the Major drink—
We daurna speak, but we can wink,
An’ heaven be thankit, we can think,
An’ thinkin’, feel richt frisky, O!
Lang may they thrive in stock an’ store,
Balmenach, Craggan, an’ Minmore.
An’ I’ll be up to ha’e a spoire
In gran’ Glenlivet Whisky, O!
In the spring of 1890, a publication known as the Illustrated London News produced a four-page article on Scotch whisky, complete with drawings of The Glenlivet and Andrew Usher & Company.
It added: Thirty or forty years ago it was hardly heard of as a beverage south of the Tweed [River]; now it is the usual drink of a large part of the community, not only in England but all over that Great Britain which lies across the seas. . . . There are at present no fewer than 126 distilleries in Scotland, employing a small army of men ...113 of these distilleries use malt in the manufacture of their spirits . . .”
The remaining 13 distilleries produced grain whisky that went into making blended Scotch whisky, which as mentioned was the biggest whisky innovation in the half-century from 1850 to 1900.
No ironclad, irrefutable proof, however, was ever brought to public light directly linking the Bronfmans with the illegal trafficking of alcoholic beverages across the U.S.-Canadian border from 1920 to 1933.
The Bronfmans were acquitted of charges brought by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police through trials in Canadian courts; through congressional investigations conducted in Washington, DC, that turned up only ambiguous circumstantial evidence against them, and through decades of adamant denial of bootleg activities by virtually all family members.
Many industry observers still believe that at least part of the tremendous wealth that the Bronfmans accumulated during the 1920s came from illicit dealings during the Prohibition years.
Another ditty went:
‘Minmore Glenlivet is the best
In bottle or in cask,
Nae finer says St. Peter,
Mak wey, get it in fast,
O’ a’ the spirits coming up here,
Rejected, Yes, believe it,
Except what is so genuine. The Glenlivet.’”
In 1979, Chivas Regal, a deluxe whisky then selling (1.125 million cases) at retail for $16 per bottle ($5 more than the leading brands), was the fifth best-selling Scotch whisky in America behind Johnnie Walker Red (4th), Cutty Sark (3rd), Dewar’s White Label (2nd), and J&B Rare (1st).
The one mistake that Bronfman regretted late in his life was the blind eye he had turned to vodka: “I never believed the public would want to buy something with no taste to it.”
Aside from controlling and operating such respected malt distilleries as Glen Grant, Longmorn, Caperdonach, and Benriach, The Glenlivet. was owner of the distillery whose malt whisky was an important part of the Chivas Regal recipe, with it’s near-mythical malt whisky.
A team of Seagram and Chivas Brothers executives, attorneys, and accountants assessed the soundness of The Glenlivet Distillers Ltd. and discovered that Seagram had an opportunity to acquire through private negotiations a 24.5 % interest in The Glenlivet Distillers Ltd. Most interestingly, this block would be the largest single holding of the company and could likely be the first step in a general takeover.
Seagram was the distributor of the single malt whiskies of The Glenlivet, the best-selling single malt in the United States.
Suntory, the Japanese drinks giant, owned 11 percent of GDL stock. A Seagram’s deal could block Japanese expansion.
In 1978, Edgar Bronfman paid £46 million (~ $88 million at the time) for the controlling stake in The Glenlivet Distillers Ltd.
The Glenlivet company sold more than 300,000 cases a year of the 5 YO Glen Grant in Italy. Seagram could sell Chivas Regal aggressively in Italy.
Bacardi Silver (clear) Rum and Smirnoff Vodka bolt to the top of the leader board in 1980, finishing one and two respectively in U.S. total case sales, stumping Seagram. Seagram’s 7 Crown and Seagram’s V.O.—were bumped down the ladder to numbers three and four.
Nearly 85 percent of all the Scotch produced is sold abroad and because of an unaccountable surge in demand from Japan.
Glen Keith distillery was built to assist Strathisla in supplying enough malt whisky for Chivas Regal and to make the malt whisky for his next blended Scotch creation, 100 Pipers.
It was the first new malt distillery built in Scotland since the time of Queen Victoria.
A massive plant was to be built on a 14-acre plot of land in Paisley, west of Glasgow. The Paisley edifice would serve as the headquarters for all of Seagram’s Scottish interests, as well as being the bottling, ageing, and blending centre for Chivas Brothers Ltd.
In 1980, blended Scotch accounted for 99 percent of all Scotch whisky produced.
In the 1980s, America discovered vodka with its easy to drink and fun imagery, leaving the Scotch category to stumble around.
Even though global case sales of Chivas Regal hit three million in 1988, Chivas Regal in the United States was in a freefall.
This was when Johnnie Walker Black Label 12-year-old Blended Scotch from the United Distillers stable [now Diageo], swooped in successfully.
The introduction of Chivas Regal 18 was resisted by Edgar Bronfman, who would not look beyond the 12 YO.
To the shock of old-time Seagram observers and money managers the world over, Edgar sold their entire blue chip 24% Du Pont holding in 1995 at a price 13 % lower than the market rate. Commentators said, “Buying Du Pont was the deal of the century; selling it was the dumbest deal of the century.”
The worst Chivas experiment ever was dubbed “Chivas DeDanu,” a specially concocted blend geared for younger drinkers in Italy. It failed on day 1.
Whisky creator Gordon & MacPhail released the world's oldest single malt Scotch whisky, an 80 Year Old from Glenlivet Distillery - in partnership with Sir David Adjaye OBE- named Gordon & MacPhail Generations 80-Years-Old.
George Urquhart and his father, John, had the extraordinary foresight and vision to lay down spirit from Glenlivet Distillery in a bespoke Gordon & MacPhail cask to be enjoyed by future generations on 3rd February 1940.
Referred to by renowned whisky writer Charlie MacLean as 'the father of single malt', George Urquhart passionately believed that each whisky should be left to mature until the cask and spirit had combined to create the desired quality, and it was ready to be shared. The time for Cask 340 was to be 80 years – longer than any other Scotch whisky in history.
On 5th February 2020, a decision was taken to finally bottle the cask's precious out-turn, yielding a total of 250 decanters.
That this whisky - the oldest single malt Scotch ever bottled - remains so full of vibrant flavour with a strength of 44.9% ABV, is testimony to knowledge handed down over successive generations of the Rankin family.
Stephen Rankin, Director of Prestige at Gordon & MacPhail Whiskies, is a member of the fourth generation of the family that owns the company.
For over 125 years, Gordon & MacPhail, through four generations of family ownership, has matched its own casks with spirit from over 100 Scottish distilleries. It is this unique depth and breadth of experience that enables Gordon & MacPhail to combine oak, spirit and time to create iconic whiskies found nowhere else in the world.
Gordon & MacPhail has collaborated with internationally acclaimed architect and designer, Sir David Adjaye OBE, to create a unique decanter and oak case to house the world's most precious whisky to date.
In the same way that a 50th anniversary is commemorated by gold, 80 years is traditionally symbolised by oak - a pleasing reflection of this whisky, cradled in oak for eight decades.
Sir David Adjaye's stunning decanter and case was revealed in September 2021, with decanter number #1 auctioned by Sotheby's early October. To continue the legacy theme, auction proceeds, minus costs, will be donated to award-winning Scottish charity Trees for Life whose mission is to rewild the Caledonian Forest.
The Generations range from Gordon & MacPhail has previously presented some of the longest matured single malt Scotch whisky ever to be bottled.
The name 'Generations' signifies the many decades these whiskies have been left to mature and the four generations of company ownership by the same family.
Gordon & MacPhail's Generations range presents some of the longest-matured single malt Scotch whisky ever to be bottled representing iconic moments of Scotland's liquid history.
Previous 'Generations' releases include: Generations 70 Years Old from Mortlach Distillery; Generations 70 Years Old from Glenlivet Distillery; Generations 70 Years Old from Glenlivet Distillery (release no. two); Generations 75 Years Old from Mortlach Distillery.
In 2013, a bottle of 1862 Old Vatted Glenlivet was auctioned in a Bonhams auction house in New York and sold for US$7,735. It is bottled by the Glenlivet Distillery in Scotland, UK, which is one of the oldest legal distilleries founded in 1824 by George Smith.
Another bottle of the same whisky was found and instead of being auctioned or sold, it was ceremoniously poured into a line of luxury watches. Aptly called the Whisky Watch, the timepieces are a collaboration between Wealth Solutions and Swiss watchmaker Louis Moinet that were made available on April 8, 2017. They retailed for €14,625 ($17,866) for the steel-case model and €37,375 ($45,655) for one of the ten limited red-gold watches.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the oldest whisky in the world is believed to be a bottle of Glenavon Special Liqueur Whisky. Bottled by the Glenavon Distillery in Ballindalloch, Scotland, UK, the exact age of the bottle of whisky is uncertain. With the closing of Glenavon Distillery in the 1850s, it is estimated to have been bottled between 1851 and 1858, making it roughly 160 years old.
In 2006, a bottle of Glenavon Special Liqueur Whisky owned by an Irish family for generations went up for auction at a Bonhams auction house in London. It sold for €14,850. The bottle, pale green in colour, is small in size and holds only 14 ounces (around 400ml) of pale gold liquid.
The Sovereign 53 YO is a Single Grain Scotch Whisky bottled in 1964 by Cambus Distillery, Stirling, Scotland.
Released by independent bottler Hunter Laing, only 267 bottles of The Sovereign were produced. This limited run of single grain Scotch whisky is one of the oldest whiskies at over 50 years old and is being sold at The Whisky Shop for €550. It was aged in a refilled bourbon barrel and bottled at cask strength, a whopping 49.2% volume.
The Cambus Distillery was founded in Stirling, Scotland in 1836 by John Mowbray. Most of the original buildings were destroyed in a September 1914 fire and the distillery was eventually closed and decommissioned in 1993.
Considered to be one of the oldest malt whiskies, the Mortlach 70-year-old went on sale in 2010. Only 54 full-size bottles were produced and priced at €10,000 each, along with 162 smaller €2,500 bottles.
The whisky was released by Gordon and MacPhail. The first bottle was piped in Edinburgh Castle and tasted by guests in the Queen Anne Room.
The Last Drop 50 Year Old Double Matured is a 50 YO Blended Scotch Whisky when first bottled and sold in 1965.
It is bottled by The Last Drop Distillers, London. The distillery was founded in 2008 by three veterans in the spirits industry, James Espey, Tom Jago and Peter Fleck.
Between them they have created some of the most world-renowned brands such as Johnnie Walker Blue Label, Malibu and Bailey’s Irish Cream. The mission of The Last Drop is to find and bottle the world’s finest, rarest and most exclusive spirits.
Their latest offering is a “double matured” blend which means the whisky has undergone two distinct aging periods.
The initial blend was made of more than 50 different whiskeys and spent 30 years in a bourbon cask before spending another 20 years in a sherry cask.
The result is an exclusive 898 bottle run that has been highly praised, winning Blended Scotch Whisky of the Year 2016 by Jim Murray.
Black & White was a Victorian blend that became world-famous thanks to its friendly black and white terrier mascots.
First introduced in the late 19th century, today Black and White is popular around the world in countries such as India, South Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
James Buchanan formed his own whisky company in 1884 after five years with blender Charles Mackinlay & Co. His flagship whisky was The Buchanan Blend, a light, smooth unpeated expression designed specifically to appeal to the English palate.
The Buchanan Blend, which initially incorporated Dalwhinnie, Clynelish and Glendullan malts, became an instant hit south of the border and was picked up by the Members Bar at the House of Commons in London.
In honour of his prestigious client, Buchanan renamed the blend Buchanan’s House of Commons Finest Old Highland whisky, and presented it in a dark glass bottle with a striking white label.
Before long, drinkers began ordering ‘that Black & White whisky’, and in 1902 the name was officially changed again to Black and White. By then the brand was being exported across the world, and by 1907 it was being ordered by the emperor of Japan.
Two years later it had become the most popular blend in England.
The Highland distillery of Dalwhinnie was a core part of the blend, and in time became Black & White’s spiritual home.
It was while under the auspices of the DCL during the 1920s that the Black & White terriers began featuring more heavily in the brand’s advertising, quickly becoming iconic ambassadors for Buchanan’s flagship blend.
In 2013 the brand was given a contemporary makeover, and the terriers made the move onto the bottle’s label for the first time.
Label 5 is one of the world’s best-selling blended Scotch whiskies. It has a French owner who is in full control of production. Over the years the brand has enhanced its portfolio with a ladder of expressions boasting a large quantity of Speyside single malt, from the flagship Label 5 Classic Black and Extra Premium 12 Year Old, through to the Extra Rare 18 Year Old, slightly smoky Gold Heritage and Sherry cask-finished Reserve No. 55.
Frenchman Jean Cayard established La Martiniquaise in 1934 as a rum importer and domestic distribution company. He had no idea it would grow to become the second-largest spirits group in France, and the fifth largest Scotch whisky producer in the world.
It wasn’t until 1969, with his portfolio brimming with Port, Cognac and Calvados, that Cayard began dabbling in Scotch whisky with the launch of the Label 5 blend.
It first drew a dedicated following from France before building its worldwide appeal. Today it is enjoyed in more than 100 countries.
The location of Kilchoman on Islay’s west coast has some historical resonance. It was in this parish that the MacBeatha/Beaton family settled when they came across in 1300 from what is now County Antrim in Northern Ireland.
In November 2017, an additional malting floor and kiln was built on site.
In May 2019, Kilchoman doubled production with the construction of a new stillhouse containing two more stills, along with a new mash tun and six new washbacks. That has taken production capacity close to 0.5m litres of pure alcohol a year, and will enable experimental runs using different yeast and barley varieties.
Once set up, they revitalised the old common practice of farm scale distilling. Just like 200 years ago, they grew, malt, peated their own barley, and also all distilling, maturation, and bottling was done within the farm distillery limits.
These days, only 25% of its barley requirements come from Islay (mostly from fields around the distillery). It has two small malting floors and kilns which produce a medium-peated malt; the heavily peated malt with which it is mixed comes from Port Ellen.
Archaeological evidence shows a long history of human settling in the parish of Kilchoman. There are remnants of two hamlets to the southeast of the bay, Dun Neadean and Dun Chroisprig.
Kilchoman 100% Islay 10th Edition is the world’s only Single Farm Single Malt Scotch Whisky.
Loch Gorm is the name given to Kilchoman’s annual sherry matured limited edition. Named after Islay’s largest freshwater lake neighbouring the distillery, the dark, peat-coloured murky colour of the loch’s water is reflected in the rich coppery tones of the sherry matured Loch Gorm release.
Loch Gorm is Islay’s biggest freshwater loch with an abundance of wildlife.
The Allt Gleann Osamail burn, from which Kilchoman collects their production water, is one of the loch’s major tributaries.
Exactly two years and 144 days in the making, the new Ardbeg Stillhouse was completed in March 2021.
Altering the character of the whisky was a risk they weren’t prepared to take, so the new stills were built to the exact specifications as the old ones were – right down to the millimetre.
In true Ardbeg style, even the things that didn’t matter, mattered. Every nut, bolt and rivet had to be in the right place!
Ardbeg’s current era of high demand and expansion is a world away from its near demise two decades ago, when it was acquired by Glenmorangie in a poor state of repair.
The distillery spent most of the 1980s and 1990s either silent, working intermittently and conducting experiments or being used for spare parts by nearby Laphroaig, then under the same ownership.
Where does that quintessential Ardbeg character – the lush fruit keeping the smoke in check – come from? From the angle on the lyne arm and the purifier, collecting any liquid and directing it back into the body of the still, allowing it to run back down, but not stopping the vapours from heading up the still.
At Ardbeg, the pre-pandemic talk was no longer that of survival, but of expansion, with its own challenges and potential pitfalls. Intervening in the serendipitous evolutionary process that has made Ardbeg 'Ardbeg' over a period of more than two centuries is something that has to be done with care and sensitivity.
It's often said that, in the bottle of fine alcohol, people can sense the spirit of the nation from which it came. Simply giving a freshly uncorked bottle a whiff will make you say: “Well, well. So this is what it’s about.”
Diageo has given its eponymous Black Label a makeover to celebrate 200 years+ since John Walker started his journey in Kilmarnock in 1820.
Johnnie Walker launched its Black Label Origin Series in India in 2021.
A collection of four 12 year old blended Scotch whiskies, the series resonates with flavours that represent the Origins from the four annotated Regions of Scotch Whisky in Scotland, viz. Speyside, Highlands, Lowlands and Islay.
Each has its distinctive flavor, quite different from the next. All have only a smallish reminder of the innards of the JWBL.
Johnnie Walker Black Label used to be sweetness wrapped in drifting smoke at 43% ABV. It is still touted as a masterful blend of single malt and grain whiskies from across Scotland, aged for at least 12 years but bottled at 40% ABV.
Sadly, it has lost its charm and vice-like grip on the deluxe blended Scotch whisky market, as the original malts have gone into posterity.
Blender George Harper, who created the successful White Walker release in early 2019, describes the four elements in Johnnie Walker Black Label as “smoke, fresh fruit, rich fruit and creamy vanilla. No one flavour dominates.”
But with four new blends, his brief was to do the opposite. The idea was to pull it apart, focus on one element, and accentuate the regions.
This would be an impossible task, considering ground realities and the final decision was to create three Blended Malts for the Islay, Speyside and Highlands regions and a Blended Scotch for the Lowlands, centred around Caol Ila, Cardhu, Clynelish for the Blended Malts and Glenkinchie and Cameronbridge distilleries for the Blended Scotch.
The hardest one to get right was the Highland because of the sheer variety of styles and complexity in the region.
The modern generation is more interested in the end result and time is only relative. The right taste at the right price and damn the brand.
Very true, considering the numerous new distilleries that are opening now. More and more people are interested in flavour, they are increasingly very open-minded.
The Origin series encourages traffic between blended and malt whisky customers, but the team at Diageo also sees them as breaking down barriers in other ways.
These are meant to be as happy mixed in cocktails as in dram form. To prove the point, a series of cocktails were made by their bartender Joey Medrington: the Islay in a Highball with Fever Tree orange and ginger; the Highland in a Rob Roy made with PX sherry, the Lowland in an Old Fashioned with honey syrup, and the Speyside in another long drink with elderflower and soda water. The Islay Highball was breathtaking, but it’s the Lowland with its creamy profile that is particularly cocktail-friendly.
All four whiskies are 12 years old and bottled at 42% ABV.
The good thing about them is the price: they will sit just above standard Black Label.
Johnnie Walker Black Label Speyside Origin is a light and fruity whisky with hints of cut green apples and orchard fruit. It is made exclusively from quality single malts from the Speyside region of Scotland, with whisky from the distilleries of Cardhu and Glendullan at its heart.
He moved the excellent Something Special 12 and 15 YO Blends out of Asia into South America, where it rose immediately to No 1, later settling as No 3.
In Edgar’s mind, entertainment was “in” and booze was “out.” He spent $5.6 billion on MCA Inc., the parent company of Universal Studios, which made movies and operated theme parks.
In October 1999, he met with Jean-Marie Messier, the blustery top manager at Vivendi, the French water and utility firm. He too was a fixated entertainment hound. They formed a dubious bond that would on December 8, 2000, result in the ill-fated union of Seagram and Vivendi.
Edgar trading the family’s controlling stake in Seagram for what amounted to less than 9% of Vivendi and the two giant companies evolved into a single corporate entity, the unholy marriage officially called Vivendi Universal.
In August 2002, Vivendi Universal went bust and Bronfman was on the street, easy picking for Pernod Ricard S.A. of France and Diageo plc of the UK.
Pernod Ricard, at the time the world’s fifth largest beverage alcohol company pledged $3.15 billion while Diageo, the world’s largest drinks company, put up the balance of $5 billion.
Sanction of such a massive joint deal required dual assurances formally presented by each company stating that unfair advantages would not occur in any European, Canadian, or North American market for either company as a result of the deal.
Diageo distanced itself from its closest beverage alcohol competitor, Allied Domecq. Pernod Ricard became a major player in the world’s beverage alcohol ranks, rising to number three in size.
Pernod Ricard already owned Scotland’s respected Aberlour and Edradour malt distilleries and Ireland’s Irish Distillers, producers of Bushmills, Jameson, Redbreast, Powers, and Midleton, but it coveted the big-ticket Scotch whiskies of Chivas Regal, The Glenlivet, and Glen Grant and to lesser degrees the famed cognac house, Martell, as well as the popular American-made gin cash cow, Seagram’s Gin. The Scotch whiskies, especially, Pernod Ricard reasoned, would elevate their global status manifold.
Diageo, uninterested in Scotch because of their impressive existing holdings, wanted Crown Royal, the highly profitable blended Canadian whisky, and Captain Morgan Spiced Rum, one of the hottest brands in North America.
Pernod Ricard decided to maintain Chivas Brothers’ autonomous status, keeping it as a company operating within a company, as Seagram had successfully done for a half-century.
Chivas Brothers is what is known in Pernod Ricard as a Brand Owner, and oversees their portfolio of Scotch whisky brands globally.
An independent survey on consumer perception about prestige brands was conducted by Synovate, a global research firm, in early 2003. Chivas Regal placed first in brand recognition in the United States, Brazil, France, Spain, Canada, and Singapore and was listed as “most prestigious” in Germany and Russia.
Daftmill Distillery, a Lowland single malt Scotch whisky distillery is one of the very few (conceivably the only) truly self-sufficient distillery in Scotland.
Aultmore, meaning ‘big burn’in Gaelic was founded by Alexander Edward in 1896 and production commenced 24th May 1897.
Edward had already helped establish Craigallachie in 1891 and he had been bequeathed Benrinnes by his father just then.
He chose the location for Aultmore in the heartlands of Speyside, along the banks of the Burn of Auchinderran, known as the Foggie Moss Burn, long an area renowned for its illicit stills. Remote and sparsely populated, it was a perfect haven for smugglers’ ‘bothies’
. At the time, Scotland was in the midst of the biggest whisky boom it had seen for years as Scotch filled a gap in the market left by cognac after the region’s vines had been decimated by Phylloxera. As soon as production started at Aultmore in 1897 its spirit was immediately in demand.
Within a year production was doubled and Alexander Edward continued his enterprising streak, establishing Benromach distillery, Dallas Dhu distillery and taking control of Oban, as the head of the Oban & Aultmore-Glenlivet Co.
Much of Aultmore’s inial output was purchased by the resourceful Pattison brothers.
Originally dairy farmers from Edinburgh, they had started blending whisky until 1896, when they launched their own brand of whisky under Pattison Ltd.
As the brothers continued to achieve spectacular success, they acquired half the shares in Glenfarclas disllery and substanal interests in Oban and Aultmore dislleries. Investors and banks offered huge overdrafts to the brothers and whilst the boom continued, the credit stretched on.
Aultmore underwent its first upgrade, turning from its waterwheel to a 10-horsepower steam engine which ran for 70 years and can still be seen at the distillery.
Unfortunately for Aultmore, the Pattison Company’s success was short-lived as the whisky industry moved into sharp downturn.
Whisky began to be overproduced, going from an annual stock of 2 billion gallons to 13 billion. The inevitable crash of their business occurred at the end of 1898 but such was its reach and influence by then that it took nine companies and several smaller suppliers with it. Aultmore disllery was among the casualties
Some sources say that Aultmore was forced to shut its doors in 1899, just two years after it had begun production. While this is not the case, production was reduced between 1899 and 1903 when it fell under the patronage of Oban & Aultmore Glenlivet Dislleries Ltd.
However, the resumption in full production proved short-lived with the outbreak of World War I forcing distilleries to halt production due to barley shortages.
When it was once again able to reopen its doors in 1923, Alexander Edward had had enough and de-cided to sell to John Dewar & Sons for £20,000. This sale suggests that Aultmore may have already been an important part of the Dewar blends at this time.
Just two short years after the purchase, Dewars, forced by stringent measures (Prohibition was in full swing in America), merged with John Walker & Co., James Buchanan & Co. and the Distillers Company Limited, operating collectively under the latter’s name, though transferred to the subsidiary Scottish Malt Distillers in 1930.
Aultmore continued under Scottish Malt Distillers’ stewardship for years, making incremental changes until the 1960s. The distillery has its own railway siding from the branch line which bought in coal to fuel the steam engine which powered the mill and pumps.
Under the radical 1960s railway reforms of Dr Beeching, Aultmore was forced to move from steam power to electricity in 1969, finally abandoning the engine that had worked there for 70 years.
As part of the refurbishment, two more stills were added, (taking their number to four) and doubling production capacity. The floor maltings were closed with malt sourced from third-party maltsters.
Just after these changes, Aultmore became one of the first distilleries to build a dark grains plant for processing pot ale and draff into cattle feed. This started working in 1977 but closed from 1985 until ‘89, and finally taken out of producon in 1993.
A 12 year-old Aultmore single malt was released in 1991 as part of United’s Flora & Fauna range, and in 1996 a 21 year-old cask strength was released under the ‘Rare Malts’ brand. Change was then again visited upon Aultmore when, in 1997, United Distillers Group merged with its rival Grand Metropolitan to form what we know today as Diageo.
The authorities deemed that the new company held too great a monopoly on the whisky industry; Diageo was forced to sell some of its whisky distilleries and brands including Aultmore, Aberfeldy, Craigallechie and Royal Brackla as part of John Dewar and Son’s and the Dewar’s blend. Together with Bombay Sapphire Gin, the package of dislleries and brands was snatched up by Bacardi for £1.15 billion.
Aultmore has seen subtle changes since the takeover, including the 2002 installation of a larger, state-of-the-art Steinecker full lauter mash tun. The whisky is still used predominantly as part of the Dewar blends, including White Label, one of the lower-end bestselling blended Scotch in the United States.
In 2004 Barcardi released a 12 year old official Aultmore single malt bottling. This 12 year old bottling was updated in 2014 with a 21 and 25 year old bottlings also released (January 2014).
The Cuthbert brothers who own the site have long grown malting barley. These days a small percentage of the crop (around 100 tons) is diverted for their own use. The process water comes from their own artesian well, and the draff produced after mashing is then fed to their prize beef herd.
Only 20,000 litres is produced during two x three month seasons, one starting after the end of the busy spring period on the farm and stopping before harvest, the other during the fallow winter period between November and February.
Only in 2003 did the idea of whisky making formed in the minds of Francis Cuthbert and his brother Ian. They converted three of their buildings into a distillery in 2003 and were granted their licence two years later, making it the first member of the now burgeoning small-scale distilling movement in Scotland.
Harvested from the farm’s Dam Park and Curling Pond fields on 31st August 2004, the Chariot barley was among the last to be malted in Fife by Robert Kilgour & Co before they closed.
Their first release was in 2018, followed by small two-season releases every year. The 2018 release was drawn from the first casks from the Kingdom of Fife’s first new distillery for more than 100 years.
It’s called rare. Rarer than rocking horse shit.
The 2018 12 Years Old release comes from 1st fill Bourbon casks; 629 bottles at 55.8% ABV.
Daftmill 2006 13 YO Single Cask 043/2006 (Ralfy x The Good Spirits Co.) release in 2019 was a 54.8% ABV in honour of YouTube whisky analyst Ralfy, seen at Ralfy.com/
Absolut, the Swedish vodka exploded in popularity due primarily to a now-legendary print ad campaign of its day and kept their ads more contemporary and relevant creative than Chivas. In short, an important factor in the decline of Chivas Regal.
In October 2003, Pernod Ricard/Chivas Brothers launched the first step in a long-range marketing strategy by unleashing a new electronic media and print advertising campaign, themed “This Is the Chivas Life.”
The “Chivas Life” campaign ran in 50 nations in 2004, including the pivotal markets of the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Germany, Holland, and Hungary.
Global sales of Chivas Regal in 2003 reflected the commitment of its parent company, by rising 6.5 %. With Chivas Regal available in over 150 countries, the first half of 2004 worldwide sales of Chivas Regal were even better, jumping a solid 9.0 %.
Archrival Glenfiddich became the world’s overall number one single malt Scotch whisky (775,000 cases sold globally in 2003), vs The Glenlivet with slightly less than 400,000 cases sold in 2003.
Chivas Brothers relaunched The Glenlivet in late summer of 2004 with the theme, “The Single Malt That Started It All.”
Chivas Regal 18 YO Blended Scotch Whisky is rated higher than Royal Salute.
Colin Scott, Master Blender, Chivas Brothers Ltd. says:”With malt Scotch whisky being the original whisky of Scotland, and with its origins shrouded in the mists of time, there was great excitement, and even perhaps concerns, when grain Scotch whisky was introduced in the early 1830s.”
The success of blended Scotch is due to the skills and passions involved in selecting the finest malt and grain whiskies that make up and deliver the unique taste of each blend. Many of the malt whiskies used in blending are famous single malts in their own right, and this is the fascinating part, these single malts and the blended Scotches thrive together, not only preserving, but also growing the welfare of the Scotch whisky industry.
I think the above was applicable only till 1990 or thereabouts. Today, the quality of casks used and their treatment have the greatest influence on maturation.
Yesterday's Johnnie Walker Black Label 12 Years Old Blended Scotch Whisky had Cardhu as its core malt, backed up with the super-smooth Glenkinchie, Dalwhinnie, Glen Elgin, Linkwood, Teaninich, the multi-faceted Cragganmore, Clynelish, Dailuaine, Talisker and Caol Ila (unpeated).
Today, the recognisable Single Malts are Clynelish, Cardhu, Caol Ila, Glenkinchie, Dalwhinnie and Talisker. Mortlach, Linkwood and Dailuaine are lost to posterity. The overall quality has dipped a lot.
The slightly smoky taste comes from the Cragganmore and Talisker. The hint of peat comes primarily from Talisker, Caol Ila(unpeated), strengthened by Clynelish and Benrinnes; the smoothness comes from Cardhu, Glenkinchie, Blair Athol and the 3-4 Grain Whiskies from Cameronbridge that are used to tame and meld the malts perfectly.
The turn of the millennium saw a trend towards peated and smoky whiskies. Using the Black Label as a baseline, peat and smoky single malts were introduced to the mix, while removing quite a few standard single malts. Strongly influenced by powerful West Coast and Island whiskies, Johnnie Walker Double Black is best enjoyed with a teaspoon of water to unlock its complex layers of smouldering spice and smoke.
In the annual International Whisky Competition 2016, Johnnie Walker Double Black Label was awarded the Gold Medal in the Best Blended Scotch NAS (No Age Statement) category with 94 points, ahead of Johnnie Walker Blue Label (91.3 pts). JWBL managed only the Bronze Medal in the Best Blended Scotch Whisky 12 YO category with 89.8 points.
That kills the Double Black vs Black Label controversy! That also confirms that Johnnie Walker Black Label is no longer the bar for premium Blended Scotch Whisky.
JW Double Black has an easier structure compared to Black Label, with important differences. The number of Single Malts and Grain Whiskies has reduced. It primarily uses the well-peated Talisker 10 YO and Caol Ila 12 YO, with the lightly peated Cragganmore, Clynelish 14 YO and Benrinnes in support.
One or two Single Malts have been replaced. Single Malt from the new distillery at Roseisle that opened in 2006 produces 7-8 m litres a year (designed for 10 million litres), and a fair share of young malts join the group.
The most common containers of whisky were the 10-gallon (45.5L) ankers. Along with the Drumin Glenlivet, two other brands had a solid reputation: the top-quality malt whiskies Underwood and Kippen.
During the 13-week period January 7 to April 1, 1826, George Smith produced a total of 904 gallons of whisky, slightly more than 69.5 gallons on average per week.
In 1826, Aberlour Distillery, operated by James Gordon and Peter Weir, became fully licensed and George Smith’s neighbour William Grant opened Aucherachan Distillery in Glenlivet.
All Single Malts in JWDBL are 8 YO and more, with a few drops of a couple of smoky peated Single Malts added: probably Caol Ila 8 YO and Lagavulin 8 YO. Peated whiskies are more expensive than non-peated expressions.
Smugglers in the eighteenth century and early nineteenth usually travelled in large caravans, called “pony trains,” sometimes brazenly right in the open.
A report on smuggling dated 1790, “. . . travelling in bands of fifty, eighty or a hundred and a hundred and fifty horses remarkably stout and fleet [having] the audacity to go in this formidable manner in the open day.
Both male and female smugglers concealed pig bladders filled with whisky beneath drapes of clothing as a means of transport.
Others went to extraordinary lengths like staging fake funeral processions in which smugglers used empty coffins to transport gallons of whisky right in front of suspicious gaugers. Though tempted to halt the processions, the gaugers were frequently too wary to stop the “mourners” for fear of instant reprisals from the locals.
Sympathetic justices of the peace, like the infamous Auchorachan Justice William Grant, who was known as the “Cripple Captain” because of his wooden leg, frequently let off those who were arrested and brought before them by gaugers. For good reason. Local magistrates like the Cripple Captain were often themselves either smugglers or good customers.
Writer John Wilson depicted Tomintoul at the height of the smuggling era as “a wild mountain village where drinking, dancing, swearing and quarrelling went on all the time.”
Wilson also thought that the whisky from Glenlivet was the finest he had ever tasted.
Glenlivet, 14 miles long and 6 miles wide, was the most highly favored location in the Highlands for smugglers. It was believed that two hundred small stills were operated there.
One nineteenth-century Glenlivet admirer by the name of James Hogg waxed, “The human mind never tires o’ Glenlivet. . . . If a body could find oot the exac’ proportion and quantity that ought to be drunk every day and keep to that, I verily trow that he might leeve for ever, without dying at a,’ and that doctors and kirkyards [churchyard cemeteries] would go oot o’ fashion.”
Though a report in the London Scotsman on September 19, 1868, described George as “a smuggler of the smugglers,” no unambiguous evidence exists to support or deny George’s Smith’s involvement with illicit distilling during his youth.
in 1816 George had a daughter, Helen, out of wedlock. The parish clerk did not record the name of the mother. The child’s fate remains unknown.
The deeply held beliefs of Alexander Gordon, the 4th Duke of Gordon and the owner of Upper Drumin and many other properties scattered throughout Banffshire, Inverness-shire, and Aberdeenshire, influenced George’s thinking.
He promised, in the House of Lords in London, that if the Government would expand upon the legislation of 1816 and 1818 and make it more favourable for illicit distillers to become legitimate, then he and his fellow landowners would undertake to uphold the law as diligently as they could, and evict anyone convicted of illicit distilling.
In 1822, according to the Scotch Whisky Industry Record, there were 4,867 smuggling-related prosecutions, a huge increase over the wild days of the 1780s and 1790s when a laissez-faire attitude ruled.
During a much ballyhooed royal visit to Scotland in August 1822, word got out that George IV, King of Great Britain had become smitten with whisky, in particular, the highly respected illicit variety produced in or around Glenlivet.
Elizabeth Grant in her period tome Memoirs of a Highland Lady 1797–1830, wrote “The whole country went mad. One incident connected with this time made me very cross. Lord Conyngham, the Chamberlain, was looking everywhere for pure Glenlivet whisky; the King drank nothing else. It was not to be had out of the Highlands. My father sent word to me—I was the cellerar—to empty my pet bin, where was whisky long in wood, long in uncorked bottles, mild as milk, and the true contraband gout in it. Much as I grudged this treasure it made our fortunes afterwards, showing on what trifles great events depend.”
The JWDBL brand costs $5-8 (12-20%) more than JW Black Label (non-discounted). In Bangkok, however, they cost the same.
As with all independent bottlings produced by Elixir Distillers, Port Askaig is non-chill-filtered and is free of added colour.
The most popular Scotch Whisky in Scotland for the last 42 years is The Famous Grouse Blended Scotch Whisky.
Matthew Joseph Gloag and his lady love and wife-to-be, Margaret Brown were both born in 1797. They wed in 1817.
Matthew gained employment at the age of eighteen for a fixed period of 20 years in the office of the Sheriff Clerk of Perthshire in 1815 to manage their cellar that was used to stock and then sell off or auction/ seized/ impounded/confiscated/expropriated liquor, mainly whisky, gin and illicit hooch. Contacts made thereby were to prove very useful later in his fortunes.
This job gave him access to Scone Palace- a mile and a half away and famous for housing The Stone of Destiny - and even some work therein.
Macallan is an excellent example of the significance of size on whisky character. It is a large producer certainly, but its spirit stills are small (3,900 litres). This is a major contributing factor to the rich and oily nature of its new make.
Even with an extremely tight (i.e. small) cut there is little time for copper to do its lightening job on spirit vapour in tiny stills the lyne arms of which are acutely angled. The opposite applies to maturation, however, where the balance between large and small is more fully revealed.
The heavy new make then goes into large, predominantly 500-litre ex-Sherry casks (made of both European and American oak).
A large surface-to-volume ratio means that maturation will take longer – Macallan, it is widely agreed, hits its stride fully in its mid-teens.
Matthew's brother, William Joseph Gloag, took up a job as an ironmonger.
Margaret's father, Joseph John Brown had set up a grocery in Perth in 1800 and in 1807, moved into Perth City Towncentre at 22 Atholl Street.
He died in 1824 and Margaret took over. She added a snuff line and, with her husband's backing and expertise, a winery to her grocery in 1831.
As a grocer, Brown was also a wine and spirits merchant, selling a variety of luxury goods as well as wines from France and legally distilled Malt whisky supplied by known distillers.
Brown did well enough to be able to move into the Towncentre at 22 Atholl Street in seven years.
They had four sons, and two daughters. Their nephew, William's son, was named...Matthew! Matthew Gloag II. This Gloag would show little interest in the liquor business and remain on the fringe till his untimely death in 1858.
In fact, he is usually totally overlooked and often, Matthew Gloag III, the grandson of Matthew the founder, is (wrongly) called "Matthew Gloag II."
Every generation since has had a Matthew Gloag associated with the brand in one capacity or another, with an indisposed Matthew Gloag VI (1947-) the latest.
A heavy new make will also require longer in cask to lose any vestigial sulphurous notes.
The nature of the extractives in the European oak (higher levels of tannin, powerful clove and resinous aromas) also needs a heavy spirit to achieve balance. American oak, on the other hand, adds and enhances sweetness.
No colour adjustment takes place at Macallan, meaning that each vatting needs to not only replicate the previous one in terms of aroma and taste, but must hit the same hue, despite every cask having a different tint. It is this understanding of the way in which colour is an indication of character which was behind whisky-maker Bob Dalgarno’s creation of the ‘1824 Range’ in 2013.
Matthew Gloag, the founder, was an outgoing and likeable person and had become adept at the liquor business, creating a pocketbook full of contacts. He joined Margaret in 1835 after his stint of a mandatory 20 years in the Sheriff Clerk's office and changed the business’ name to Matthew Gloag & Co.
His first contribution was the addition of a liquor portfolio to the business, mainly Blended Malt whisky, or perhaps its consolidation, using his contacts across the Highland distilleries of Scotland, gaining in reputation for quality provisions, liquor and professionalism topped off with affability.
In 1842, Matthew Gloag started his upward journey in life with the award of the much sought after contract to supply provisions, wines and liquor to the local Earl at Scone Palace (where he had contacts from his earlier days) when the Earl hosted Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on their first visit to Scotland. Business prospered after this path-breaking success of 1842.
The Forbes-Mackenzie Act on vatting of whiskies when in a bonded warehouse was passed in 1853.
A larger variety of blended malts were now available to vendors to sell. Matthew’s business card showed him as an importer of wines and spirits as well as an agent for Schweppes Soda and whisky in Bond.
The truly strong blended malts (64.5-65.3% ABV) were drunk with soda.
Port Askaig is a curated collection of single malts distilled on Islay and bottled under the Port Askaig brand.
Although every distillery on Islay has its own character, London-based Elixir Distillers has selected parcels of what it believes to be the most balanced single malt whisky on the island to bottle as Port Askaig.
Bob Dalgarno, The Macallan Whisky Maker, created four expressions by identifying the natural colour formed during maturation in different casks types to create the character informed by these colours.
The expressions are Gold, Amber, Sienna and Ruby, all names reflecting the actual colour of the whiskies in the range, but also describing naturally occurring mineral and metals.
The casks chosen for the range deliver a gradation of colour from light to dark, with the wood character defining each expression’s flavour, moving from lighter, lemon citrus to richer, dried fruit notes. As the whiskies become darker and richer, so the pool of casks able to deliver this character becomes smaller and rarer.
The Macallan Gold (RRP £36), The Macallan Amber (RRP £45), The Macallan Sienna (RRP £66) and The Macallan Ruby (RRP £120) will be available at selected whisky retailers.
In Australia, RRPs for the 700ml series are murderously high; The Macallan 1824 Amber, A$105 per bottle, The Macallan 1824 Sienna, A$160 per bottle and The Macallan 1824 Ruby, A$220 per bottle.
Port Askaig is named after the first port of call for visitors to the island as they come across on the mainland ferry.
Its range is currently available in six different individually batched expressions – an eight- 15-, 19-year-old, Cask Strength, 30- and 45-year-old, plus the no-age statement 100 Proof.
The brand offers a variety of flavours and whisky styles from across the island, although Islay’s signature smoky, maritime character, as well as fruity and citrus notes, are inherent to the range.
Rathohall Lowland Single Malt Scotch Whisky distillery, also known as Ratho, was a Midlothian distillery established near Edinburgh in the 1820s.
The distillery was at Kirkton Farm, which still appears on modern maps, a short distance from the canal. A small burn in the vicinity would likely have supplied Rathohall with water.
The distillery was licensed to Colin Morison sometime in the early 1820s. Morison was sequestrated in 1826 and Rathohall was left silent for several years. In 1829 the licence passed to Buchan & Co., which distilled on the site until its closure in 1837.
Reliance Blended Scotch whisky was produced by Perth’s Forbes, Farquharson & Company.
The Reliance blend was most widely available as a no age statement bottling, which at its height reached as far as Australia. A variety of expressions were released, including a 20-year-old blend during the 1960s/70s.
The company and brand both became part of Arthur Bell & Sons (and later Guinness) at some point prior to the 1970s.
Reliance continued to be produced until the 1980s, when it was discontinued. Forbes Farquharson & Company was liquidated in 1991.
Triple distillation at Talisker was stopped in 1928. It has been a mystery ever since as to what style was made, but Diageo’s boffins believe it could explain the unusual configuration of the stills – two wash stills and three spirit.
Talisker has retained the five still set-up and continues to produce a highly individual new make which mixes smoke, fruit, sulphur, salt and pepper. The malt is medium-peated, the worts clear, the fermentation long. It is in distillation that things go slightly strange.
The wash stills are very tall with an exaggerated U-shaped bend in the lyne arm with a purifier pipe at its lowest point. This refluxes any heavy elements back into the body of the still to be redistilled. After rising up the ‘U’, the lyne arm coils itself inside cold worm tubs.
While there is a lot of reflux taking place, there is little copper contact which provides the sulphury notes in the new make, and could give the signature pepperiness in the mature spirit. The purifier pipe adds oiliness, while the reflux helps to refine the fruity elements created during fermentation.
In contrast to most distilleries where the spirit stills are the workhorses, at Talisker the second distillation takes place in small plain stills, again with worm tubs. This adds mid-palate weight.
Maturation is in refill and rejuvenated casks with ex-fortified wine casks being used for the Distiller’s Edition and Port Ruighe expressions and occasional special releases.
Talisker’s founders, brothers Hugh and Kenneth MacAskill were classic Clearance landlords.
Having bought the tack [rent] of Talisker House on Skye and extensive lands in 1825, they set about forcibly shifting the resident population from their farms, either to new settlements at Carbost and Portnalong on the shores of Loch Harport and Portnalong, or off the island entirely.
As well as replacing subsistence farmers with more profitable sheep, another of the MacAskill’s money-making schemes was distilling.
In 1830, they opened their Talisker distillery in Carbost using the cleared populace as its workforce.
Their venture into whisky-making was not a success and by 1848 the bank was in control.
For the next three decades Talisker stumbled through a series of other owners who found it hard to keep afloat a distillery which is remote even by 21st century standards.
In 1857, the Bank sold the distillery to Donald MacLennan for GBP 500.
MacLennan found it hard to cope with and put it on the market. Glasgow’s Anderson and Sons bought it in 1863.
Anderson was jailed for fraud in 1879 and the distillery was on the market again.
In 1880, Talisker’s fortunes changed when Roderick Kemp and Alexander Allen bought the distillery and proceeded to expand the site and construct a distillery pier – until then all the casks had to be floated out to waiting ships.
Kemp sold his share in 1892 in order to buy Macallan and on Allen’s death in 1895, his business partner Thomas Mackenzie took charge and three years later Talisker was formally merged with Dailuaine (and Imperial).
The Dailuane-Talisker Distillery Co. was founded then.
When Mackenzie himself died in 1916, a grouping of major blenders, John Walker & Sons, John Dewar, W.P. Lowrie, and DCL took control, an indication as to the quality of the spirit.
Talisker has remained within the same grouping (the firms all merged and eventually morphed into Diageo).
In 1960, the distillery burned down and was silent until 1962 while it was being rebuilt. A decade later the maltings closed and the distillery began getting its requirements from Glen Ord.
Talisker had long been available as single malt from independents such as Gordon & MacPhail, and also officially, predominantly as an eight-year-old.
In 1998, it was given greater prominence as a founding member of the Classic Malts Selection when the age was upped to 10 years.
An 18-year-old joined the range in 2004, but since 2008 the range has expanded dramatically with a no-age-statement quartet: 57˚North, Storm, Dark Storm and Port Ruighe. It is now one of Diageo’s most important single malt brands.
Charles Barnard’s book on his travel around distilleries is available at https://whiskipedia.com/barnard/dundashill/
Gallowhill Distillery was a Lowland single malt scotch whisky, a here-and-gone Paisley distillery, open from 1798 to 1799.
Gallowhill was run by a partnership of James MacFarlane and Elizabeth Harvie, very probably related to the Harvies who operated Dundashill and Yoker distilleries in Glasgow.
Dundashill Distillery is built on the side of a steep hill, the extensive buildings and premises covering five acres of ground. Some of the buildings in connection with the distillery are of a great height, the top of one of them forming the highest point in Glasgow, and from which a splendid view can be obtained.
Immediately below lies spread out the City of Glasgow, giving one a good idea of the magnitude of the commercial Metropolis of Scotland, and claimed to be the second City of the Empire; a city which, unlike many others, has a history to boast of, dating from the remotest times, when elsewhere trade was unknown.
Highland Nectar also had a distinctive triangular decanter-shaped bottle, and came to be sold in two expressions: Rare Old Whisky (~8 YO) and Deluxe 12 year-old, at 43% ABV.
Highland Nectar was marketed by the Distillers Agency Ltd, set up as an export branch for the Distillers Company Ltd (DCL) soon after it was founded in 1877 out of six whisky firms including John Haig & Co.
It was a separate company with its own blending, bottling and warehousing in South Queensferry, and officially incorporated in 1924.
As an entity it was still going in 1983, when Philip Morris recorded its address in his Schweppes Guide to Scotch as 13 Maritime Street in Leith.
Its brands included Highland Nectar and King George IV, which were both trademarked around 1880-90.
Highland Nectar was produced solely as an export brand, and continued to be sold until at least the 1960s.
Named after a giant Scottish warship – that was sold to the French after just two years of being built – Black Ship blended Scotch was introduced almost 450 years after its demise.
Available as a no-age-statement and five-year-old, Black Ship was a blend of ‘a good quantity’ of Highland and Island malt whiskies and grain whisky, described as being ‘smooth and mellow’ with a ‘touch of smokiness on the finish’.
The Great Michael, also known as the Black Ship, was the most famous Scottish battleship of the early 16th century. It was completed in 1512 having consumed every wood in Fife during construction, and was the largest warship in Europe – twice the size of her English contemporary, the Mary Rose.
The Black Ship soon proved too expensive to maintain. She was sold at a knockdown price to the French crown in 1514 (and quite possibly used under a French pseudonym to sink the Mary Rose in the Battle of the Solent).
In the 1990s, Dutch drinks group Marussia Beverages introduced Black Ship blended Scotch whisky alongside a handful of other blended Scotch brands.
In 2013 the company established Mossburn Distillers, which was tasked with overseeing the group’s plans to establish distilleries in Skye, the Borders and Japan.
As such, focus was centred on the new projects and Black Ship – along with Marussia’s other Scotch blends – was discontinued. That’s not to say it won’t resurface in the distant future.
With its 3 Star and 5 Star versions, Crawford’s was once a very popular blend in Scotland. Its 3 Star version is still going.
Crawford’s 3 Star was appreciated as an honest, good value blend with a crisp grain-heavy freshness and beguiling wisp of smoke.
With its cheap, clear glass bottle and plain label you could say it was a triumph of substance over style. It certainly wasn’t over-packaged in the domestic market where it has become increasingly rare.
A smarter version resembling Ballantine’s has been used for export, while its deluxe version, Crawford’s 5 Star – which was sometimes bottled as a 12-year-old – has been discontinued.
Its owner, A&A Crawford, also bottled Crawford’s Special Reserve.
On a clear day, a magnificent panorama of hills can be seen to the west and north, including Goatfell in Arran, Ben Lomond, Ben Ledi, and Ben Lawers. Ben An and Ben Venue are also visible, whose base rises from Loch Katrine, the lake from which is obtained the supply of water for Glasgow.
The business was founded in the year 1770 by John Harvey (grandfather of the present proprietors), who was one of the first three licensed Distillers in Scotland.
Dundashill may claim to be one of the very first distilleries established in Glasgow.
There were several Granaries, containing upwards of 20,000 quarters of fine barley.
The barley is elevated from the level of the wharves and railway sidings in front of the Distillery, a height of about sixty feet, and from there distributed to the various conveniently arranged Granaries.
The Steeps, which are four in number, are situated immediately below the Granaries, and are each capable of wetting 1,600 bushels of barley per week.
The barley is run into them from the Granaries by means of iron shoots, and the Malt-barns being constructed on lower levels than the Steeps, the entire malting process is conducted by gravitation, thus saving an immense amount of labour.
These Barns were four in number, varying in extent from 1,200 to 1,600 square yards, and some idea of their enormous size may be estimated from the fact that they cover a total area of 6,000 square yards, and give ample floor room for the 6,400 bushels of barley malted weekly.
Four Kilns are attached to the Barns, covering over 900 square yards; one of them is a plate floored Kim, and the other three wire cloth.
The malt is dried with peat or coke according to the flavour required.
Immediately adjoining the Kilns are sheds capable of stowing 1000 tons of peat.
. The peat used is of the best quality that can be procured, and come from various parts of the Highlands.
The Malt-deposits immediately adjoin the Kilns, and command the Mill-hopper, which is situated above a very powerful set of rollers, from which the crushed malt is conveyed by an elevator to the grist 10ft situated in the Mash House.
This is the first building more particularly connected with the manufacture of whisky, and at first sight the multiplicity of pipes, pumps, brewing tanks, mash tuns and refrigerators are somewhat confusing, but on further inspection, it was found that they are admirably arranged for the purposes for which they are intended.
The Mash Tuns are two in number, one being 23 feet in diameter, the other 20 feet, their total capacity being 30,000 gallons, and are fitted with the usual revolving stirring machine, only in this case by a clever arrangement the driving power comes from below, which gives the whole apparatus a light and neat appearance, thus doing away with cumbrous beams and shafting, so prominent where the power is got from above.
The grist and the hot water used for mashing meet in the mashing machines, and run in a stream into the Mash Tuns.
This not only avoids loss, but prevents the spread of the dust all over the Mash House, a source of discomfort, as well as risk of danger from fire.
After more hot liquor has been added, and the whole has been mashed or mixed up by the afore mentioned revolving stirring machine, it is allowed to settle for some time, so that the saccharine may be thoroughly extracted from the malt.
The liquor (technically termed wort) is then drained off through the strainers, or false bottoms in the Mash Tuns, into the Worts receiver, and the grain thus left behind is called “draff” in Scotland, but known in England as grains.
The system of gravitation so largely adopted in this distillery, and which is greatly facilitated by its situation on the side of a hill, is most advantageously utilised in the removal of the draff, or grains, from the Mash Tuns.
These vessels are supported on massive stone arches forming the roof of a spacious Draff house, which, being directly underneath, allows the draff to he quickly and expeditiously removed through the openings in the bottom of the Mash Tuns.
The draff is sold to farmers and cowfeeders in the neighbourhood of Glasgow.
The liquor immediately passes through two Morton’s Refrigerators, and is pumped into the Wash-backs in the Tun room which adjoins the Mash-house.
There are nine vessels, varying in capacity from 16,000 to 24,000 gallons.
A certain quantity of yeast having been added, the process of fermentation commences, which occupies about two days, converting the saccharine matter in the worts, into alcohol.
Notwithstanding the ample capacity of the tuns, or backs, the fermentation from the pure malt is so brisk that what are called switchers, are required to prevent loss by the overflow; these switchers are driven by an engine situated in the Tun-room.
Overhead are still in existence the old air coolers used before the introduction of the Morton’s Refrigerators, and it is from this point that the magnificent view referred to can be obtained.
In the Tun-room what is called - the brewing process terminates, and immediately thereafter, the distilling part of the manufacture begins.
On the fermentation being completed the fermented liquor, now termed “wash” is run down from the tuns or wash backs to the wash chargers in the Still houses, which are situated on a lower level than the Tun-room.
Hawick Distillery is another here-and-gone distillery in its namesake town that operated briefly in 1818-19.
Hawick distillery was licensed to William Ainslie & Co. from 1818 to 1819. After its closure, Ainslie became a bookbinder and librarian, then in the late 1820s emigrated with his family to South Africa and became a farmer.
Two sources place it in Commercial Road, beside the River Teviot, while one source places it in Slitrig Crescent, beside the Slitrig Burn at the long-gone Distillery House Mill.
The first option seems the more accurate, as Distillery House Mill was apparently named after some early 1700s distillers, possibly illicit, at that site.
Distillery House Mill has a place in history: the great Scots woollens and fashion firm Pringle had its earliest premises there.
Also from Hawick came the Usher family, who founded Glen Sciennes distillery, and later a big brewery, in Edinburgh, and built the Usher Hall.
The Ileach. Despite its name, this Islay single malt from an unnamed distillery is more at home in Scandinavia.
The Ileach is a young and peaty single malt from an unnamed Islay distillery, available in 40% abv and cask strength (58% ABV) expressions.
Bottled by Highlands & Islands Whisky Co. Ltd, ‘the man from Islay’ is extremely popular in Sweden, where it’s the second best-selling single malt.
Brian Crook established bottling company Vintage Malt Whisky Co. Ltd in 1992 upon leaving Morrison Bowmore Distillers, launching the business with new brands such as Finlaggan and Glenalmond.
The Ileach wasn’t launched until 1997, when Crook created Highlands & Islands Whisky Co. Ltd as a sister company. The single malt’s cask strength expression was introduced three years later, and the brand given a redesign in 2013.
Although every distillery on Islay has its own character, London-based Elixir Distillers has selected parcels of what it believes to be the most balanced single malt whisky on the island to bottle as Port Askaig.
Named after the first port of call for visitors to the island as they come across on the mainland ferry, the range is currently available in six different individually batched expressions – an eight- 15-, 19-year-old, Cask Strength, 30- and 45-year-old, plus the no-age statement 100 Proof.
The brand offers a variety of flavours and whisky styles from across the island, although Islay’s signature smoky, maritime character, as well as fruity and citrus notes, are inherent to the range.
As with all independent bottlings produced by Elixir Distillers, Port Askaig is non-chill-filtered and is free of added colour.
Sukhinder Singh, founder of Speciality Drinks (renamed Elixir Distillers in 2017), opted to bottle what he believed to be the finest malt whiskies from the island under a new brand.
In 2009 Port Askaig was launched, in what was deemed somewhat traditional packaging for the time, in three expressions: Cask Strength, 17- and 25-year old.
The range has since progressed, moving through several limited edition expressions that saw the 30 Year Old discontinued and then reintroduced in 2015.
In the same year an on-going 100 Proof expression was introduced, with a permanent eight-year-old added to the range in 2016.
Sandbank distillery was an early 19th century Argyll distillery that became a world-class racing yacht workshop.
This Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky 19th century distillery stood in the village of Sandbank on the west side of Holy Loch, two to three miles north of Dunoon, between the main (A815) road and the shore. Maps show a small burn flowing into the loch at that point.
Sanderson's Blended Scotch Whisky had many brands. Of all its many guises over the years from Sanderson’s Mountain Dew to Sanderson’s Special Reserve, the name survives as Sanderson’s Gold, which is still sold as a standard Scotch blend in African markets such as Cameroon and the Ivory Coast.
The name is that of William Sanderson, the famous Leith blender who created Vat 69. The Sanderson’s blend has been part of DCL, now Diageo, for almost 90 years.
William Sanderson was one of the second division whisky barons in late Victorian/ Edwardian Edinburgh. His greatest creation, Vat 69 – launched in 1882, had become one of the best-selling blends in post-Prohibition America before his family firm was absorbed by the Distillers Company in 1937.
Sandy Macdonald is an ancient blend from the same stable as Grand Old Parr, whose fans may have included Al Capone.
Sandy Mac, was an old whisky brand from the stable of blender Macdonald Greenlees of Leith. Latterly it was bottled in the same squat ‘crackle decanter’ of dark glass as blends like Robbie Burns and Old Parr.
Though no longer produced, bottles pop up on whisky auction websites and you might spot the odd one gathering dust on the shelves of some liquor store in deepest Latin America.
Older bottles from the 1960s of a standard shape carried the words ‘Pure Malt Distillery – Glendullan Glenlivet’, as Macdonald Greenlees & Williams (Distillers) Ltd had owned Glendullan since 1919.
Seven years later the firm and all its brands, including Sandy MacDonald, were acquired by DCL.
Of all the old blends, Mackie’s Ancient Scotch could be one of the most precious for its link to the mythical Malt Mill distillery.
Peter Mackie owned the Islay distillery of Lagavulin, and was agent for its neighbour, Laphroaig. Losing the contract for Laphroaig after a bitter dispute, he built a replica distillery in the grounds of Lagavulin and called it Malt Mill. It was designed to make precisely the same style of whisky as Laphroaig – a feat it never really achieved.
The whisky produced at Malt Mill disappeared entirely into Mackie’s blends, particularly White Horse. Or did it?
The distillery is named on bottles of Mackie’s Ancient Scotch, although there is no mention of it being a ‘blend’ or ‘blended’… could it contain single malt from Malt Mill?
Mackie’s Ancient Scotch bottles mention Malt Mill beneath the brand owner, White Horse Distillers Ltd.
The bottling for the US market, called Mackie’s Ancient Brand, does not.
Assuming they are the same whisky, it must date from some time between 1908 when Malt Mill was fired into life, and 1962 when it closed for good.
Whisky writer Serge Valentin has described Mackie’s Ancient Brand as ‘the peatiest blend I have ever tried,’ and speculated that ‘there was quite possibly more than 50% Malt Mill’ in the blend.
The White Horse blend was launched in 1890.
Fettercairn is a traditional distillery in the foothills of the wild Cairngorm Mountains and was once owned by the father of a British Prime Minister. One of the main attractions of Laurencekirk, the village nearest to Fettercairn, is a huge, ostentatious red sandstone archway spanning the road that commemorates the visit to the village of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1861.
It is set-up with an open-topped mash tun (producing cloudy wort), wooden washbacks and small stills. There are even soap grinders on the sides of the wash stills. These would have been used to add non-perfumed soap as a surfactant to stop the stills boiling over.
Everything points to a firm, quite heavy, nutty style, accentuated between 1995 and 2009, when the condensers were made of stainless steel. This added a slightly burnt, pot ale character to the new make.
However, a quirky cooling ring attached to the top of the swan neck, which sprays cold water down the sides of the still, aids reflux and helps the spirit lean toward a lighter style.
Fettercairn was founded in 1825 by the local landowner Alexander Ramsay, who then sold his estate, distillery and all, in 1830 to John Gladstone, father of four-time British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone.
The Gladstone family were hands-off owners, allowing the distillery to be run by tenants. They retained ownership until 1923.
It caught fire and was damaged in 1887.
A short period (mostly in mothballs) under the control of Ross & Coulter ended when Fettercairn was sold to Associated Scottish Distilleries (ASD, the Scotch arm of National Distillers of America which, at its height, owned Bruichladdich, Glenury Royal, Glen Esk, Glenlochy, Benromach and Strathdee).
When ASD ceased trading in 1954, its estate was split up and Fettercairn ended up in private hands.
Its new owner, Tom Scott Sutherland, had the distillery until 1971, when it was bought by Tomintoul-Glenlivet; from there it joined Whyte & Mackay.
Although mainly a contributor to the firm’s blends, it has long been bottled as a single malt.
A more concerted effort started in 2009 when a range of aged variants and a pair of no-age bottlings, Fior and Fasque (the name of the Fettercairn estate), was released.
In 2018 Fettercairn was relaunched by Whyte & Mackay with a new range of single malts aged between 12 and 50 years old.
Pig’s Nose blended Scotch is as ‘smooth as a pig’s nose’, so the saying goes.
this curious blend first appeared in 1977 in the West Country.
The brand partner of Sheep Dip, what may have started out as a bit of fun ended up being a relatively rich 5-year-old blended Scotch with 40% malt content from Speyside, Islay and the Lowlands combined with Invergordon grain whisky, all matured in first-fill ex-Bourbon casks.
Pig’s Nose was first bottled as a 4-year-old blend in 1977 by a gentleman farmer and publican.
The pub was in Oldbury on Severn, and as the small concern of MJ Dowdeswell & Co Ltd grew it eventually supplied the likes of Fortnum & Mason and entered the market US, Canada and New Zealand markets.
Pig’s Nose, along with its partner Sheep Dip was eventually picked up by Invergordon Distillers, which became a part of Whyte & Mackay following a hostile takeover in 1993.
Come 2005 the brands left Whyte & Mackay with then chief operating officer Alex Nicol, who established Spencerfield Spirits Company in Fife with his wife, Jane.
Pig’s Nose – and Sheep Dip – continued to be blended by Whyte & Mackay master blender Richard Paterson until Spencerfield Spirits was acquired by Ian Macleod Distillers in late 2016.
Diageo’s Roseisle is, with Aisla Bay, part of a new wave which have been specifically designed to produce a range of different characters of spirit.
Six of its seven pairs of stills can switch between stainless steel or standard (copper) shell and tube condensers. If a light grassy spirit is required, long fermentation (in excess of 90 hours) is used, along with slow distillation with air rests, and condensing in the copper condensers.
If a heavy style is needed then the stainless steel condensers will be used. The lack of extended copper ‘conversation’ will add the requisite weight to the spirit.
A nutty (malty) style could also be produced by shortening mashing and fermentation regimes.
The grassy style which is currently produced is different noticeably to that from other Diageo sites such as Glen Ord or Royal Lochnagar.
Diageo building such a large distillery caused some doom-mongers to predict that parent firm Diageo would use Roseisle’s opening as an excuse to close down some of its smaller sites.
It soon became the equivalent of a whisky Death Star or black hole.
Its size, at 10m litres per annum, is smaller than Glenfiddich, and its construction was merely the first stage in a £1bn investment by Diageo in increasing capacity across its estate. Rather than closing anything down, Roseisle ushered in a new era of distillery building.
A biomass plant means it generates much of its own energy, while a heat recovery system allows waste heat from the distillery to help run the maltings at nearby Burghead and across the road at Roseisle.
Its new make strength is 70% ABV.
It took the Chivas brothers James and John two and a half days to walk ~20 miles (30 km) from their farm in Stratythan to Aberdeen.
James Buchanan is inextricably linked with the Black & White blend which he created. Consumers have fond memories of its label, depicting a black ‘Scotty’ dog and a White ‘Westie’.
The first whisky he created was The Buchanan Blend, which was soon snapped up by the London music halls. A year later, he won the contract to exclusively supply the House of Commons.
The Buchanan Blend became so popular with the MPs at Westminster the whisky became known to the public as ‘that House of Commons whisky’.
To appease the masses, Buchanan introduced a new whisky he called House of Commons. Presented in a black bottle with a white label it soon garnered the nickname Black & White, and was officially renamed in 1902.The story goes that Buchanan changed over to the popular image while returning home from a dog show.
At present, the brand is sold only outside the United Kingdom.
The personal creation of Buchanan’s Master Blender Keith Law, this is a whisky with smooth sweetness and fresh and spicy notes on the tongue.
Although born in 1849 in Canada, James Buchanan spent much of his childhood on the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland, where his father was employed as a quarry manager.
He took his first steps in the world of whisky as London-based agent for Charles Mackinlay & Co from 1879.
After a short and unsuccessful career, he fared rather better after forming James Buchanan & Co in 1884, aided by Glasgow blender William Lowrie, who initially provided Buchanan with his bespoke blend.
Just a year after establishing his own company, The Buchanan Blend was being supplied to the Houses of Parliament.
He shared a flair for publicity with fellow would-be whisky barons such as Tommy Dewar, being driven in a red-wheeled carriage, complete with liveried footman.
Like Dewar, he was also quick to see the potential in advertising his whisky, first taking out newspaper adverts in 1887.
Sales grew dramatically on a global basis, with Buchanan establishing what ultimately became known as the Black & White blend as a smooth, refined, well-matured whisky with a relatively high malt content.
The blend required supplies of quality malt whisky to fuel its expansion, and in 1897 James Buchanan & Co Ltd combined with old associates WP Lowrie & Co Ltd to form the Glentauchers-Glenlivet Distillery Company. A distillery was built at Mulben, near the Speyside distilling town of Keith, with production commencing in June 1898.
Buchanan received Royal Warrants to supply whisky to Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York in 1897 and, when Buchanan & Co became a limited company in 1902, James Buchanan was worth £750,000.
By 1909, his whisky was the best-selling blend in England. This was the year that Johnnie Walker changed over to the colour format for his three brands.
Such was the ongoing success of Buchanan’s business that, in 1915, James Buchanan & Co Ltd merged with John Dewar & Sons Ltd, creating a company ultimately known as Buchanan-Dewar Ltd.
In 1922, the company acquired the Benrinnes-Glenlivet distillery near Aberlour, and by that time it already owned 11 Scottish distilleries, including Port Ellen, Royal Lochnagar, Aultmore, Dalwhinnie and Convalmore. Buchanan-Dewar Ltd became part of the Distillers Company Ltd (DCL) empire in 1925.
An avid race-horse owner and punter, Buchanan’s horses twice won the Epsom Derby and St Leger ‘classics’, with Hurry On landing the 1916 St Leger, while Captain Cuttle took the 1922 Derby and Coronach scored in both the Derby and St Leger of 1926.
He was appointed High Sheriff of Sussex in 1910, and was elected as a member of the Jockey Club in 1927.
James Buchanan became Sir James Buchanan in 1920, then was elevated to the peerage as Baron Woolavington two years later in the New Year’s Honours List.
Officially, the baronetcy was a reward for Buchanan’s undoubtedly extensive charitable activities, but he also allegedly paid £50,000 to Lloyd George’s government in return for his honour.
Buchanan was nothing if not shrewd, however, and reputedly signed his cheque with the name ‘Woolavington’, dating it 02 January – the day after the title was officially to be announced – so that no payment would be made unless the promised baronetcy was forthcoming.
James Bond drinks Black & White in the Ian Fleming novel Moonraker and shares a bottle with Felix Leiter and Quarrel in Pussfella's Bar in the 1962 film Dr. No.
The Buchanan Blend has a strong following in Latin America and the US where it was claimed to be the fastest growing blended Scotch in the lustrum (2010-15).
In 1922, Buchanan’s Deluxe and Special Reserve was presented in a canteen-shaped bottle, the shape of which is said to have been inspired by the water bottles of British soldiers in WWI.
The signature red seal represents Buchanan's personal commitment to quality and the coat of arms meaning "Hence The Brighter Spirit" engraved on the back of the bottle shows that the high quality of product will lift the spirits of all who drink it.
Buchanan’s DeLuxe, Special Reserve, Master and Red Seal blend whiskies were reintroduced in updated packaging in fall 2015. Sales of the Deluxe increased 20% YOY and 8% for the brand globally.
Figures from the Scotch Whisky Association showed the value of Scotch whisky exports fell by £1.1 billion (US$1.5bn) in 2020 to its lowest level in a decade as a result of the pandemic and US‐imposed tariffs. In 2020, exports of Scotch whisky fell by 23% by value to £3.8bn.
2019 Scotch Whisky Brand Champion, Dewar’s, reported a 12.4% decline.
The world’s largest‐selling Scotch, Diageo’s Johnnie Walker blended whisky, plunged by 23.3% to 14.1m cases. Diageo’s J&B and Vat 69 brand also recorded double‐digit drops, while Bell’s returned to growth in 2020 (up by 10.8%).
Pernod Ricard’s Ballantine’s brand saw sales slump by 9.6% after five years of consistent growth, and stablemate Chivas Regal witnessed the biggest decline among the million‐case sellers (down by 28.5%).
Million‐case single malt brands The Glenlivet and Glenfiddich also struggled to increase their sales, despite both brands registering consistent year‐on‐year growth. Glenfiddich’s volumes tumbled by 20.2% and The Glenlivet fell by 7.2%.
Adelphi Distillery Ltd, owned by Donald Houston and Keith Falconer, has its headquarters at Charlestown in Fife, though Houston is laird of the Ardnamurchan Estate in the West Highlands of Scotland, and it is on his land that Adelphi built its own distillery.
The company specialises in single cask bottlings, which are offered without chill-filtration or the addition of colour.
Some 50 casks are bottled each year, and the ‘Fascadale’ name recurs on small-batch bottlings from unspecified island distilleries at a variety of ages.
Adelphi’s Ardnamurchan distillery – opened in 2014 – has the capacity to produce up to 450,000 litres of spirit per year, some of which will eventually make its way into Fascadale and other house expressions.
The toponym Glenmorangie is believed to derive from either Gaelic Gleann Mòr na Sìth "vale of tranquillity" or Gleann Mór-innse "vale of big meadows").
Glenmorangie is a distillery in Tain, Ross-shire, Scotland, that produces single malt Scotch whisky. The distillery is owned by The Glenmorangie Company Ltd, a subsidiary of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, whose main product is the range of Glenmorangie single malt whisky.
Glenmorangie is categorised as a Highland distillery and boasts the tallest stills in Scotland at 26 ft 3 in (8.00 m) height, with 16 feet 10.25 inches (5.1372 m) necks.
Alcoholic beverages of one kind or another were produced in and around Tain since the Middle Ages.
The earliest record of the production of alcohol at Morangie Farm is dated 1703.
In the 1730s a brewery was built on the site that shared the farm's water source, the Tarlogie Spring.
A former distillery manager, William Matheson, acquired the farm in 1843 and converted the Morangie brewery to a distillery, equipped with two-second hand gin stills, renaming it later as the Glenmorangie Distillery.
On his demise in 1863, it passed on to his son, John Matheson. In 1887, it was sold to the Maitland brothers and Duncan Cameron and managed by one James Taylor.
After the First World War, the business was sold in 1918 to a partnership between two blending and broking firms, Macdonald & Muir and Durham & Co, soon passing entirely to the former, which used the whisky for blends such as Highland Queen.
Although it was bottled in small quantities from the 1920s, a change of strategy in 1959 saw Glenmorangie revived as a single malt that soon rivalled Glenfiddich as Scotland’s biggest seller.
Tarlogie Springs contains hard water
As the only Highland distillery to use hard water in its production, the Tarlogie Springs are at the heart of Glenmorangie, as this unique, mineral-rich water undoubtedly contributes to the deliciously fresh and delicate character of the spirit.
Once a year, some chocolate malt is added to the mash for use in the firm’s Signet brand – another of the distillery’s many innovations– and its most expensive annual expression.
The tall necks allow a long interaction to take place between alcohol vapour and copper and the new make is decidedly high-toned, i.e. the cut points here are quite high.
In the early days, the distillery produced only one type of new make, part of which was bottled as the 10 YO Original. The remainder of this 10 year old new make was then split into three and finished for two additional years in separate casks.
Sherry cask finished new make would be bottled as Glenmorangie Lasanta, Port cask finished as Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban and Sauternes cask finished as Glenmorangie Nectar d’Or.
Only sixteen men were required to run day to day operations, The Sixteen Men of Tain.
Today, the Glenmorangie Quita Ruban is 14 YO and the Glenmorangie Nectar d’Or NAS.
Glenmorangie's logo is inspired by the Hilton of Cadboll Stone, which was erected near the distillery site in the eighth century. The central seal, the “Signet”, is thought to symbolise the Pictish belief in the interconnectivity of earth, fire and water. For Glenmorangie, it represents the refined complexity of its whiskies.
In 1998, sculptor Barry Grove was commissioned to carve a modern reconstruction of the Hilton of Cadboll slab, which was unveiled near where the original stone was found, at the edge of the village of Hilton.
Glen Mhor Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky was one of a number of single malts which were being bottled in the late 19th and early 20th century. A small two-still operation, it is now very rarely seen although SMWS and Gordon & MacPhail have, on occasion, bottled it. Bottlings show it to be a big, fat and quite muscular malt with a meaty and lightly smoky undertow.
In 1892, John Birnie, the manager of Glen Albyn (which sat opposite) entered a commercial business partnership with Leith blender Charles Mackinlay. The new distillery was designed by Charles Doig, and located between the Caledonian Canal and the railway giving it superb communication links. In 1920, Mackinlay & Birnie bought Glen Albyn.
Unusually, the distillery remained water-powered until the 1950s and had Saladin maltings installed in 1954.
In 1972, it became a late addition to the DCL portfolio, although it would only remain with the industry giant until 1983 when it was another of Scotland’s smaller stills to close. Three years later it was demolished.
The capital of the Highlands strangely doesn’t have a single distillery.
It re-emerged most recently when it was named as one of the malts in the Mackinlay’s blend which was found entombed in ice under Ernest Shackleton’s hut.
The distillery’s other claim to fame was as the place where Scottish novelist, and author of the polemic Scotland and Whisky, Neil M. Gunn, was first based.
Perhaps taking its inspiration from Johnnie Walker’s famous ‘Black Label’ and John Dewar & Sons’ ‘White Label, the Dundee whisky firm of John Robertson & Son went for the colour yellow for its signature blend. It also helped distinguish the brand from others baring the same name, such as Robertson V.C.O which stood for ‘Very, choice, old’, and was blended by H.M Robertson in Edinburgh.
Robertson’s Yellow Label blend was still being sold in the 1980s. There was also an 8-year-old deluxe expression.
Dundee had its fair share of whisky blenders and bottlers from William Lawson Distillers Ltd to Stewart & Son, which created Stewart’s Cream of the Barley. Among them was John Robertson & Son Ltd, which was established in 1827 and went on to build the Coleburn distillery on Speyside in 1897.
The firm was listed in the Dundee Post Office directory for 1911/12 as a distiller and wine merchant located at 38 Seagate – the same directory carries an advert in its classified section for ‘Robertson’s Yellow Label Special Scotch’.
John Robertson & Son was a substantial business judging by the firm’s HQ on Seagate, which was an imposing Jacobethan-style building, four storeys high and complete with turrets and crow-stepped gables. The firm’s other blends included Piper’s Dram and BEB (Best Ever Bottled).
Eventually, like the other Dundee whisky companies, it was taken over by the big distillers, in John Robertson & Son’s case by the DCL in 1916. Although the company was transferred to Leith, later bottlings of Robertson’s Yellow Label continued to note the company’s Dundee provenance.
Leith blender James Munro & Son produced a series of blended scotch whiskies under the Munro’s name.
James Munro & Son had a thing about the monarchy, for among its blends were King of the North and Queen’s Club. Its most enduring creation however, was the Munro’s King of Kings Rare Old Deluxe Scotch Whisky. It was bottled in a dumpy, short-necked bottle, and a stoneware flagon that has become popular among collectors.
The company was also known for its Munro’s Square Bottle, a blended whisky presented in a dumpy bottle that was imported to the US, along with Munro’s King of Kings, by New York’s Epicure Wines and Spirits Co. at the end of Prohibition.
The blends would have undoubtedly contained whisky from Dalwhinnie distillery, which James Munro & Son operated on behalf of its US parent company until 1919.
James Munro & Son attracted the attention of America’s biggest distiller at the turn of the 20th century, Cook & Bernheimer of New York & Baltimore, which bought the firm and then used it to run the Dalwhinnie distillery, which it bought for £1,250 in 1905.
Some in the Scotch whisky industry feared it was the start of a US takeover, while others believed it would help open up the largely untapped American market.
By Christmas 1905 Cook & Bernheimer was already advertising James Munro & Son’s Long and Short ‘pot still Scotch’ in New York newspaper Brooklyn Eagle, as a whisky ‘made at the highest distillery in Scotland’ (Dalwhinne).
A 1914 ‘Who’s who in business’ directory listed James Munro & Son as based in ‘palatial new offices’ at 121 Constitution Street, Leith. It noted that the company’s speciality was ‘Scotch whisky in square bottles,’ – a reference to Munro’s Square Bottle no doubt – and that it was ‘purveyor to the House of Lords’.
GlenAllachie is one of the four distilleries designed by William Delmé-Evans, besides Macduff, Tullibardine and Jura and was built in 1967 as Glenallachie.
In July 2017, a capital ‘A’ was added to the distillery name by its new owner Billy Walker. He had made a similar change to BenRiach and GlenDronach distilleries.
Although its whisky was predominantly used by past owner Chivas Brothers for blending, under new ownership GlenAllachie is emerging as a single malt.
Located just outside the fishing port of Buckie, Inchgower is a defiantly coastal style of single malt. No other new make reaches the same level of intense spiciness which is perceived on the tongue as salinity.
In 1938, Arthur Bell bought Inchgower for the princely sum of £3,000.
One of Diageo’s ‘Flora & Fauna’ range, it plays a definitive role in the Johnny Walker series of blends.
Located on the lower slopes of Speyside’s sentinel mountain, Benrinnes, ‘The Ben’ is another of those intriguing distilleries which produces a highly individual make but which – due to its demand by blenders – has never become a front-line single malt.
It has six stills which are run in two pairs of three. For years a complex form of partial triple distillation was utilised to help promote a meaty/sulphury new make. The low wines from the first distillation were split into strong and weak feints. The lower-strength portion was redistilled in the middle still and split into two again, with the stronger part [strong feints] being carried forward, the weaker being retained for the next charge. The strong feints were then mixed with the highest strength distillate from the wash still and redistilled in the spirit still.
With the onset of US Prohibition, James Munro & Son was bought by Macdonald Greenlees in 1919, and then by Distillers Company Ltd. in 1926. In later years the DCL licensed Knockdhu distillery to James Munro & Sons.
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