THE ADVENT OF THE GLASS BOTTLE

HOW STANDARDS EVOLVED IN BOTTLING

WHISKY BOTTLES

Ancient civilizations kept their favourite fermented drinks safe in containers made of natural materials like clay, wood, and animal skins. The ancient Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans made elegant containers called amphorae. An amphora was a ceramic jar with long necks and two vertical handles for portability. Glass was also available, but extremely expensive and used mainly to create decorative pieces. Skilled glassblowers did create beautiful bottles with intricate shapes and details, functional works of art to be proudly displayed on the tables of kings and nobles, down to miniatures for perfumes, massage oils, skin lotions, etc. By the mid-17th century, they were still expensive, but the wealthy class had increased and more people could now afford them. They were mainly used as ‘serving bottles’ or decanters, rather than ‘binning bottles’ for storing wine in the cellar.

Glass pads, impressed with the owner’s mark or coat of arms, were attached to each bottle, and the bottles themselves were taken to be filled by the wine merchant, or filled in their owners’ cellar by the butler (i.e. ‘bottler’). Within only a decade or so, the middle classes were also able to afford glass bottles: Samuel Pepys records in his diary of 1663 that he ‘went to the  Mitre’ to see wine put into his ‘crested bottles’.

The earliest glass bottles had spherical bodies and long, parallel necks, with a rim at the top to hold down the string which kept the stopper in place. They are known as ‘shaft and globe bottles’. By 1700 the neck had begun to taper and the body to become compressed - these are ‘onion bottles’. They continued to be treasured, and in Scotland were commonly used as decanters for whisky in public houses. In the Highlands, it was traditional to give them as marriage gifts, crudely engraved with the names of the bride and groom, the date of the nuptials and even with an illustration of the event.

In 1643, the British Parliament introduced an excise duty on aqua vitae, in order to finance Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army. Between 1707 and 1823, tax on ‘spirituous liquors’ was increased on 17 occasions. Between 1786 and 1803, a span of 17 years, the duties on stills had increased by a factor of more than 77 times. To compound matters, a heavy tax on glass was introduced in 1746. The taxes meant that whisky distillers and drinkers started to look for alternative and discreet ways to store their whisky. Stone and ceramic pots and bottles became widely used as they provided a vessel that was both cheap and durable. Ceramic pots were also discreet, especially important if a distillery wanted to avoid paying their taxes. The durability of ceramic and stone became an increasingly important consideration as sea trade began to boom in the 18th century.

Between 1700 and 1720, the onion shape was sometimes exaggerated, so the body became wider than the height, then about 1720 the sides began to be flattened by rolling on a steel plate while the glass was cooling - a process called ‘marvering’ – in order to rack them in the ‘bins’ of the cellar.

Early marvered bottles were ‘mallet’ shaped, where the straight sides tapered away from the base, but over the next twenty years, they became taller and more cylindrical, particularly after 1740, by which time the value of maturing wine in the bottle was becoming generally recognised. By the mid-century, many wine and spirits merchants had their own bottles, with their name or trademark pressed into the glass pad, to be returned for refilling with whatever liquor was available.

It was the same story for most of the 19th century across the pond. Small oak barrels were the major package for selling bourbon to consumers. The distillers would sell the barrel either to a saloon or spirits shop, and that business would sell to the consumer. Very few retail establishments bottled the bourbon due cost of glass. Instead, they depended upon the consumer to bring their own flask or jug.

Honesty was at stake at some sellers, far more so in America which didn’t really care for core values in the land where a gun was the law. The problem was that the consumer only received what the spirits shop owner provided, whether sold out of the barrel and in the bottle. They would often water down the spirit or add fruit juice and brown sugar to darken the product and give it a sweeter taste. Even with the most honest retailers in the UK, the whisky would change in the anker, later the sherry or port barrel, as it was emptied and the spirit oxidised. Since customers never really knew what they were getting out of those barrels, consistency of the whisky became a problem.

The classic French wine bottle shapes familiar to us today had evolved by about 1800 – there was a huge growth in the number of glass factories in Bordeaux, particularly, which was producing around two million bottles a year by 1790. Bottles from this period can often be identified by a slight swelling around the base, caused by the glass ‘sagging’ while the bottle cooled in an upright position.

Until 1821 bottles were free-blown, which meant that capacities and dimensions were not standardised. So when one reads of hearty drinkers of the late 18th century downing three or four or even six bottles of wine at a sitting – this seems to have been especially common among Scottish judges of the period, who habitually drank claret while sitting in judgement – it might be supposed that the bottles of their time were smaller than those of today. Not so. Research done in the Ashmolean Museum in Cambridge shows that the average bottle size was if anything slightly larger than today.

In 1821 Henry Ricketts, a glass manufacturer in Bristol, patented a method of blowing bottles into three-piece moulds, which made it possible to standardise capacity and dimensions. Such moulds left seam marks – the way in which collectors identify them today – but during the 1850s a process was developed to remove these by lining the mould with beeswax and sawdust, and turning the bottle as it was cooling.

Until about 1850 all wine and spirits bottles were made from ‘black’ glass – in fact, it was very dark green or dark brown – owing to particles of iron in the sand used in their manufacture. Clear glass bottles and decanters were made, but they were taxed at eleven times the rate of black glass.

Indeed, owing to the Glass Tax, bottles remained expensive and continued to be hoarded and re-used until after 1845, when the duty on glass was abolished. The earliest known ‘whisky bottles’, such as a Macallan bottled by the local grocer in Craigellachie in 1841 (and reproduced in facsimile in 2003), were reused wine bottles. Even after the duty had been lifted and clear glass began to be used more, whisky makers continued to favour green glass bottles, often with glass seals on their shoulders. VAT 69 continues this style of bottle.

The Bottled-in-Bond(BIB) act of 1853 created a whole new market for bottled whisky by separating malt whisky from blended whisky in the marketplace. Each BIB’s tax stamp seal was a guarantee against tampering. The tax stamp also gave the consumer valuable information as to where and when the whisky was made and bottled. As a result, drinkers gained confidence in the quality of the whisky in the bottle, and they began to prefer bonded whisky to whisky sold from the barrel.

Many whisky companies continued to fill into small casks and stoneware jars and offered their goods in bulk. It was not until 1887 that Josiah Arnall and Howard Ashley patented the first mechanical bottle-blowing machine, allowing bottled whisky to really take off. In the trade bottled whisky was termed ‘cased goods’, since it was sold by the twelve-bottle lot packed into stout wooden cases, like top-quality wine today.

This time, events in America preceded practices in the UK. The fact that bottles were expensive in the 1870s makes what George Garvin Brown—later to become famous as Brown & Forman— did more remarkable. In 1870, Brown was spending his formative younger days as a pharmaceutical salesman and receiving complaints about the quality of the whisky his employer was selling changing over time. Brown may have been inspired by Hiram Walker who was selling Canadian Club in the bottle as well as the barrel at that time.

He crafted the idea of a bottled bourbon where the quality would not change. The fact that Walker’s Canadian Club was selling well by the bottle even at the additional expense proved that it could be done. He entered the whiskey business and Old Forrester (as it was originally spelled) was born; today’s Brown and Forman took root then. Old Forrester was sold only by the bottle to ensure the quality of the brand. Note that it wasn’t the first bottled bourbon, rather it was the first bourbon sold only by the bottle.

Bottled whisky, properly stoppered and sealed, was less liable to adulteration or dilution by unscrupulous publicans and spirits merchants than whisky sold in bulk, and during the 1890s cased goods became the commonest way for whisky to be sold, particularly in the off-trade.The invention of the automatic glass bottle-blowing machine in 1903 by Michael Owens industrialised the process of making bottles, making it much more efficient.

The use of plastic (polyethene) bottles, developed during the 1960s and adopted by soft drinks manufacturers, has largely been eschewed by the whisky industry, except for miniatures supplied to airlines. These bottles are called PETs – not a reference to their diminutive size, but to the material they are made from: Polyethylene Terephthalate. Their clear advantage is weight, and they began to become commonplace in the 1990s. Concerns about shelf-life and contamination by oxygen or carbon dioxide have been addressed since 1999 by coating the outside of the bottle with an epoxy-amine-based inhibiting barrier.

BOTTLE CAPACITIES

As mentioned in relation to William Younger’s examination of bottles from between 1660 – 1817 in the Ashmolean Museum, the capacity of wine (and therefore whisky) bottles remained relatively constant at around 30 Fl.Oz (1 1/2 pints) during this period, in spite of bottles being free-blown. 

With the introduction of moulded bottles in the 1820s it became much easier to standardise capacity, and this was fixed at 26 2/3 Fl.Oz (or one-sixth of a gallon, which is also equal to four-fifths of a U.S. quart).

In 19xx this capacity was defined by law for a standard bottle - along with 40 Fl.Oz  (equal to an Imperial quart – 2 pints), 13 1/3 Fl.Oz (half bottle), 6 2/3 Fl.Oz (quarter bottle), 3 4/5 Fl. Oz (miniature) – and in 19yy it was required that the capacity be stated on the label, along with the strength of the whisky.

American capacities are slightly different. 1 U.S. liquid pint = .832 Imperial pint (12 Fl.Oz.). Whisky was commonly sold by the Imperial quart (40 Fl.Oz) or by the ‘reputed quart’, 4/5th U.S. quart or 26 2/3 Fl.Oz.

From January 1980 capacities have been expressed metrically on bottle labels, in line with the Système International d’Unités, when 26 2/3 Fl.Oz became 75 cl, half bottles 37.5cl, quarter bottles 18.75cl and miniatures 5cl.

In 1992 the standard bottle size throughout the European Community was lowered to 70cl.

The United States retains fluid ounces, with the ‘reputed quart’ remaining the standard bottle size (75cl).

In Japan, both 75cl and 70cl bottles are acceptable.

BOTTLE NUMBERS  January 1884 – December 1909

During this period, some bottle-makers embossed a number in the base of their bottles. This is useful for dating bottles during the ‘Whisky Boom’. This list came from www.antiquebottles-glassworks.co.uk, an invaluable site for bottle collectors.

1884:   ****1 – 19753              1891:   163767 –                     1901:   368154 –

1885:   19754 –                       1892:   185713 –                     1902:   385088 –

1886:   40480 –                       1893:   205240 –                     1903:   402913 –

1887:  64520 –                        1894:   224720 –                     1904:   425017 –

1888:   90483 –                       1895:   246975 –                     1905:   447548 –

1889:   116648 –                     1896:   268392 –                     1906:   471486 –

1890:   141273 –                     1897:   291240 –                     1907:   493487 –

                                                1898:   311658 –                     1908:   518415 –

                                                1899:   331707 –                     1909:   534963 –

                                                1900:   351202 –

WHAT COLLECTORS ESTEEM

Age	Free-blown and moulded (pre-1870) bottles have ‘pontil marks’ on their bases, created by an iron rod, called a pontil, used to manipulate the molten glass.
Rarity	The fewer known examples, the more valuable the bottle will be.
Texture	Variations in glass surface, number of bubbles in the glass, stretch marks, or changes in colour.
Colour	Unusual, dark or strong colours, or a colour which is rare for that kind of bottle.
Embossed	Where bottles are embossed (uncommon in early whisky bottles), clarity of the embossing, its heaviness (heavier the better), its intricacy and the interest of the design or words.
Shape	The aesthetic quality of some bottles.
Labels	Any item with its original label, contents, carton or box is of more interest than an ‘empty’.

 AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH

Aqua Vitae was first distilled as a medicinal tonic, but its pleasant attendant corollaries were addictive, and by the end of the 17th century its popularity began to boom across the UK. Glass is inert and impermeable and so it was the perfect solution when the first distillers were looking for a way to effectively preserve and distribute their spirit to its ever-growing audience.

Glass whisky bottles were made by specialised glass blowers and were expensive to produce. A hand-blown bottle was typically between 600-800ml (60-80cl) because that was the average lung capacity of the glass blowers of the time. Due to the expense and luxury of the glass, the whisky connoisseurs of the 17th century would have taken their own bottles to be filled.

CERAMIC POTS: 1707-1850

Incessant taxation put serious strains on the whisky industry with many distilleries shutting down and some choosing to go underground and produced whisky illegally. A heavy tax on glass was also introduced in 1746. The taxes meant that whisky distillers and drinkers started to look for alternative and discreet ways to store their whisky.

Stone and ceramic pots and bottles became widely used as they provided a vessel that was both cheap and durable. Ceramic pots were also discreet, especially important if a distillery wanted to avoid paying their taxes.

The durability of ceramic and stone became an increasingly important consideration as sea trade began to boom in the 18th century.

The taxes and booming sea trade are also linked to the dawning rise in popularity of miniatures. Miniatures provided a practical solution for sailors as they were cheaper than full bottles but the other cheap alternatives – beer and wine, which had been favourites at the time – did not fare well at sea.  Miniature spirits mixed with sours became sailors’ tipple of choice.

In the early 1900s, bottle sizes became standardised in UK law

A MINIATURE BOOM: 1850-1970

At the turn of the 20th century, as taxes on alcohol continued to soar and two World Wars took their toll, miniatures became increasingly popular on land due to their affordability. Throughout the first and second World Wars buying a standard size bottle was considered frivolous spending. A miniature on the other hand provided a more economical option, allowing an occasional indulgence without having to splash out on a whole bottle.

STANDARDISING BOTTLE SIZE

When was bottle size first standardised in the UK?

In the early 1900s, bottle sizes became standardised in UK law. The standard was set as 26 2/3 fluid ounces, which was simply the average size of the traditional bottles produced by glass blowers in the 17th century.

This standard was used until the start of 1980 when metric volume was introduced.

The standard size for Scotch whisky bottles changed to 70cl in 1990

When was metric bottle size introduced for whisky bottles?

On the 1st January 1980 the global standard for wine, spirit and liqueur bottles came into force converting liquid ounces to metric volume. Standard whisky bottle size was set at 750 ml, also commonly denoted as 75cl. This is the standard still used in much of the world today, including the USA.

What is the standard bottle size for Scotch whisky?

On the 1st of January 1990, the European Union updated their standard bottle size for spirits to 70cl or 700ml. This was because a 700ml bottle is an ideal volume for pubs, clubs, and bars, which have the option of selling 25ml or 35ml measures.

Since the 1st of January 1990, the standard bottle size used by the Scotch whisky industry has been 70cl.

Can I use standard bottle sizes to date my whisky bottle?

The set dates mentioned above mean that for Scotch whisky, bottle size can be used as an indicator of the bottling era. That being said, care must still be taken as bottles designed for export for example to the USA are still 75cl, and so other factors must be considered also.

As well as a variation in the size of miniature bottles, half bottles – whether 13 1/3 Fl oz, 37.5cl or 35cl – have been popular throughout the last century of whisky drinking. Even quarter bottles can occasionally be found for curious collectors so bottle size should always be used with other indicators for accurate dating.

THE 21st CENTURY: AN UNSTANDARDISED STANDARD

While the official bottle size for whisky and other spirits is set across most of the world and has been set for many years, as mentioned above, you still will find a large variation in bottle sizes. And one that is only increasing.

As whisky increases in value bottlers look at different ways to appeal to and provide value for their drinkers. Many Japanese whiskies for example are bottled at 50cl and this trend for smaller-than-standard bottle sizes is one that is expanding in the modern single malt Scotch whisky market too.

Smaller bottles, such as 50cl offerings, are becoming increasingly common. Similar to the appeal of miniatures at the start of the last century, 50cl bottles offer a more accessible way to indulge in your favourite tipple. As well as reducing the volume and therefore cost of the whisky, smaller bottle sizes reduce the VAT and duty due on the bottle, again offering a more attractive proposition for drinkers – and a more accessible entry point to appeal to new drinkers – while allowing bottlers to maintain their own margins on more expensive casks.

Whatever your feelings on whisky bottle sizes and the reasons behind why they change, the history of the whisky bottle has shown us that preferences change regularly and for a myriad of reasons.

These days you can even get whisky in a pouch, so who knows what will be next.

Why a Pint is Bigger in the UK Than in the US

An American will find a pint of beer in London looking similar to his customary pint back home, but, given the amount of the golden-brown, oddly warm liquid sloshing around in the glass vessel, it will seem to be much larger!

How Big Is a Pint?

This is because a pint in the United Kingdom is bigger than a pint in the United States. The UK pint is 20 fluid ounces, while the US pint fills up 16 fl oz. However, this translation is not that simple, as fluid ounces do not equal one another across the Atlantic. Here is the breakdown of volume between the two countries:

• The British Imperial fluid ounce is equal to 28.413 millilitres, while the US Customary fluid ounce is 29.573 ml.
• The British Imperial pint is 568.261 ml (20 fluid ounces), while the US Customary pint is 473.176 ml (16 fl oz).
• The British Imperial quart is 1.13 litres (40 fl oz), while the US Customary quart is 0.94 L (32 fl oz).
• The British Imperial gallon is 4.54 L (160 fl oz), while the US Customary gallon is 3.78 L (128 fl oz). 

BACKGROUND OF ENGLISH UNITS

At the root of this divide is the difference in measurement systems. While the American system of measurement often is referred to as the Imperial System, this usage is erroneous. The US, ever since the formative years of the New World nation, has used the US Customary System. The Imperial System, alternatively, was established in 1824 for Great Britain and its colonies. Even today, decades after officially switching to SI (metric) units, volume in the UK is measured in British Imperial units. Both these systems, however, are derived from English units. English units were in use until the early 1800s, and they saw a vast range of influences due to the frenzied history of the British Isles. This historical precedence spanned a millennium, so, to keep things short: the Celtic Britons lived in modern-day Britain, and they were at war with Roman invaders for the first few centuries AD. After the Romans left, the Celts were invaded and displaced by the Anglo-Saxons, who were dominated by the Normans.

This resulted in a plethora of units of measurement. Many Anglo-Saxon units had some basis in the people’s agricultural past. For example, 3 barleycorns equalled 1 ynce (inch), and an acre was considered a field the size a farmer could plough in a single day. The foot, obviously having a connection to the length of the human appendage, was in use, but it had various conflicting specifications.

This resulted in a plethora of units of measurement. Many Anglo-Saxon units had some basis in the people’s agricultural past. For example, 3 barleycorns equalled 1 ynce (inch), and an acre was considered a field the size a farmer could plough in a single day. The foot, obviously having a connection to the length of the human appendage, was in use, but it had various conflicting specifications.

The Norman kings brought Roman measurements to Britain, specifically the 12-inch foot and the mile, which was defined originally as the length of 1000 paces of a Roman legion. If you’d like to read more about this background, please refer to my post on the simple peg measure in Whisky vs the non-conformal Whiskey.

The metric tonne is 1000 Kg. Since 1 Kg=2.2046 lbs, one metric tonne = 2204.6 lbs.

We have left the SI or Metric System out since our discussion is on volumetric measures, but that doesn’t hide the fact that both countries have not fully adjusted to global measures. How long will they bask in lost memories of deluded grandeur? 

The article on the UK pint vs the US pint has been taken from an ansi.org Blog post of 22/6/2018.

GLENMORANGIE'S PURSUIT OF PASSION

 GLENMORANGIE’S Pursuit of Passion Wine Cask Collection

Moët Hennessy-owned Glenmorangie has released a trio presentation set, the Pursuit of Passion Wine Cask Collection, exploring wine regions. The new collection celebrates their master distiller Dr Bill Lumsden’s individual passion for fine wine and extended finishing of select single malt whiskies in French, Italian, Australian and American and  wine casks.

For over 180 years, the renowned whisky artisans at Glenmorangie_The Men of Tain_have demonstrated remarkable creativity in their pursuit of crafting increasingly exquisite single malts. Utilising the tallest stills in Scotland, they produce a refined and fruity spirit that enhances the development of flavour and aroma. This spirit is then matured in some of the finest casks available globally, mainly from their own oak forest in the Ozark Mountains in the USA and processed there through the vital initial conditioning in the Bourbon whiskey industry towards ultimate maturation of Scotch whisky. During the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, Glenmorangie emerged as a trailblazer in the Scotch whisky sector, pioneering the technique of wood finishing. This innovative approach includes transferring aged whisky into various casks, allowing for the introduction of new flavour dimensions and complexity to their signature spirit.

THE TRIO

One notable feature of the new range is the length of the wine cask maturation – ‘finishing’ really is a misnomer here. The trio were aged for a total of 27 to 29 years each, of which 18 to 20 years were spent in their respective wine casks. This places them early in the history of Lumsden’s Glenmorangie career. He spent four years as distillery manager in the ’90s before taking on the forerunner of his current role, including the responsibility for cask sourcing.

As Glenmorangie’s head of distilling and whisky creation, Dr. Bill Lumsden is one of Scotch whisky’s leading specialists in cask finishing. His expertise and passion for wine are behind the latest release, Glenmorangie Pursuit of Passion, a collection of three ultra-aged, wine cask-finished expressions. This collection stays within Europe’s most acclaimed continental wine regions in search of casks that would bring unparalleled lusciousness to the whisky, exceptional casks from celebrated areas such as Burgundy and Bordeaux in France, and Piedmont in Italy.

He then filled those meticulously created casks with whisky, envisioning the unique flavours that could be achieved through extended wood finishes. In the Pursuit of Passion’s 600 sets, he unveils three of his most remarkable experiments: Glenmorangie Margaux Wine Cask Finish, Glenmorangie Corton-Charlemagne Wine Cask Finish, and Glenmorangie Barbaresco Wine Cask Finish. Aged 29, 28, and 27 years respectively, these rare creations are said to be distinguished by their extraordinary depth and complexity. Showcasing three prized experiments, each over 25 years old, these 600 sets are an ode to a passion and dedication to the art of wine cask finishing, each remarkably different from the other.

The collection’s oldest expression, at 29 years old, the Margaux Wine Cask Finish, was distilled in February 1995, the month that Lumsden became Glenmorangie’s distillery manager. It was matured in bourbon casks until mid-2004, and then refilled into Margaux casks for more than 20 years, the longest Glenmorangie wine cask finish ever released. It’s not Lumsden’s first Margaux expression, however, arming him with foreknowledge; he was fairly sure how that would work out: red fruit, white chocolate, cedar wood and cigar box.

Fresh and not remotely jammy, with raspberry and redcurrant to the fore on the nose, accompanied by a scented floral note edging into Parma Violet sweets. The texture on the palate is pure silk – a common feature of the rich, mellow and complex range – carrying darker notes of plum and cassis, intense flavours of chocolate, sweet chilli’ undercut by cedar and eucalyptus on the palate. An extremely elegant and beautifully balanced whisky bottled at 52.5% ABV.

The second-oldest expression in Pursuit of Passion is a 28 year old Corton-Charlemagne finish, the only white wine finish in the set. It was distilled in 1995 and aged in bourbon barrels until 2005, when it was refilled into grand cru white burgundy casks from the prestigious Corton-Charlemagne Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) and Grand Cru vineyard for white wine in the Côte de Beaune subregion of Burgundy, France, with Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc being the only permitted grape varieties.This was Glenmorangie’s first experiment with such casks. Finished for more than 18 years in white wine casks it is a little bit of an outlier in the world of great white Burgundy – an appellation that a lot of people are not that familiar with as En Charlemagne is only 0.28 hectares in size; production is limited and usually blended with grapes from the other lieu-dits of Corton-Charlemagne. It is known to be a spicy, smooth, and full-bodied expression that offers notes of jasmine and Asian clove.

Restraint from the outset here, combining jasmine, honeysuckle and pink peppercorn, before deepening into hazelnut praline and pastel de nata – all lifted by notes of lime flower, soft smoke, spice and lemongrass. The palate of the spicy, smooth and full-bodied expression shows great depth, with dark honey, Pontefract cake and charred pineapple. The anis notes are borne aloft by the velvety mouthfeel. A 28-year-old bottling offered at 52.1% ABV.

Similar to the rest of the collection, the Barbaresco Wine Cask Finish was distilled in 1996. Barbaresco is a dry red wine made from the Nebbiolo grape in the Barbaresco region of Piedmont in northwestern Italy, at the foothills of the alps. Barbaresco is a relatively deep, garnet-colored wine with brick-red hues, developing more of a brick-red color with age.This dry, powerful, and rich 27 Year Old whisky began its journey in bourbon casks. In 2005, Lumsden selected a portion to be transferred into high-quality Italian red wine casks from Barbaresco. The aromas of Barbaresco include floral notes, particularly roses and violets, along with red fruits and spices. On the palate, Barbaresco is slightly light-bodied, with refined tannins and vibrant acidity. The flavors in Barbaresco include red berries, herbs, and anise. These casks, never before used at the distillery, reflected the distillery’s trust in risk-assessed first experiments with new cask types. These casks were specifically chosen for the predicted deep, luscious flavours they could impart to Glenmorangie. After an extraordinarily long finish of over 18 years, this whisky resonates with hints again of success in extracting a totally new set of flavours and tongue-satiating savoury results. One can expect a deep, garnet-colored spirit with brick-red hues, developing more of a brick-red colour with age.

At 27 years of age, the Barbaresco Wine Cask Finish is the youngest of the bunch, and is bottled at 51.3 percent ABV, quite likely cask strength and not chill-filtered.

Producer's Tasting Notes:

Glenmorangie Margaux Wine Cask Finish Review

Nose: Rich, mellow and complex, with a veritable symphony of fruity and woody notes such as baked apple, pears, apricot and plum, honeydew melon, sweet aged balsamic vinegar and the gentlest touch of oak. There is a delicate, perfumed top note like honeysuckle and the merest hint of stewing black tea leaves. A splash of water then opens up some more curious woody notes, almost like furniture polish or tree resin.

Taste: The texture is peppery, tingly and warming and leads into an explosion of ripe, fruity flavours: apricot, peach, plum, cherries, baked red apples, juicy melon, followed by chocolate ganache, hints of ginger and sweet chilli, but always with a balancing tartness, reminiscent of sour cherries and citrus.

Finish: Long, zesty and woody or nutty, with hints of roasting chestnuts, eucalyptus and cocoa powder.

Glenmorangie Corton-Charlemagne Wine Cask Finish Review

Nose: Astonishingly aromatic and perfumed, with hints of pear, honeysuckle, juniper and gorse flowers, supported by some altogether bolder, oak-derived notes, like vanilla, almond and some gentle leather. With a few drops of water, some gentle floral notes are encountered, like carnation and jasmine, and finally the gentlest hint of struck match.

Taste: The texture is smooth and oily, as it coats the mouth with delicious, sweet and spicy flavours like honeycomb, poached pears in syrup, cocoa powder and spiced fruit bread. The sweetness continues with touches of almond marzipan and morello cherries.

Finish: The mellow aftertaste reveals the gentlest hints of leather and clove along with a touch of eucalyptus.

Glenmorangie Barbaresco Wine Cask Finish Review

Nose: Deep, powerful, spicy and rich, with notes of toffee, black fruits such as cherries, plums and damsons, graphite, black pepper and cinnamon. As the bouquet opens up, hints of vanilla, milk chocolate and baked pears are encountered, along with a hint of aged balsamic vinegar. With a splash of water, some altogether more earthy notes are encountered, like a damp forest floor. This is followed by a burst of eucalyptus and mint.

Taste: The mouthfeel is huge, spicy and slightly drying, and leads into a myriad of complex flavours. Chocolate sweetness is tempered by a grape-must dryness, along with hints of leather, mint-flavoured toffee, Christmas cake, ginger, nutmeg and clove. The classic Glenmorangie citrus fruit note comes across as candied orange peel.

Finish: Long and mellow with hints of chestnuts, oak tannin and aniseed.

Glenmorangie’s Pursuit of Passion collection is presented in a handcrafted oak case, designed to be a striking centrepiece. The marquetry on the back and sides subtly alludes to the staves used in wine cask construction, while the front of the case symbolically represents the diverse landscapes of the three distinct wine regions, reflecting the extraordinary flavour journey contained within each bottle.

Priced at £7,740/€9,000 per set, the Glenmorangie Pursuit of Passion Wine Cask Collection is available through the Moët Hennessy Private Client channel and at the Glenmorangie boutique in Heathrow Terminal 2, as well as from select retailers worldwide and the distillery visitor centre in Tain from October. Registrations of interest can also be made on the Glenmorangie website. At these ages and price points, these sets are well beyond the reach of the average avid Scotch whisky lover.

LAGAVULIN Vs LAPHROAIG PART 2

THE LAPHROAIG LAGAVULIN BATTLE: PART 2

Often, Islay-whisky lovers face the question as to which of Laphroaig or Lagavulin distilleries is better. They are really close neighbours, about 1.5 km apart and make similar whiskies in re peat content, smokiness and a taste which wouldn’t be out of place in an apothecary’s stopshop. So such a question must needs arise. But there is no template for comparing this breed of whiskies, which have flavours and tastes from a different planet. Still, one may study their histories, which have quite a bit in common.

THEIR HISTORIES: A BITTER ISLAY RIVALRY

The histories of Lagavulin and Laphroaig are closely tied, with Laphroaig said to have been founded by the son of the founder of Lagavulin. This was only because both had similar sounding names Johnston/Johnstone; they were not related. Lagavulin did have a sister distillery, confusingly called Ardmore, which was amalgamated into Lagavulin in 1825.

After Laphroaig's Donald Johnston (son of John Johnston) fell into a vat of boiling whisky in 1847, Lagavulin's Walter Graham leased Laphroaig and ran both distilleries until the young Dugald Johnston (Donald Johnston's son) was ready to take over Laphroaig. Graham was less than willing to return it, since it was a money spinner and devised a plan to take the foreseeable dispute into the next generation and the next century. In 1853, he drew up a retro-active lease, allowing him indirect control over Laphroaig. 50% of Laphroaig’s output would come directly to Lagavulin for their use, up to 60 years of his assuming control in 1847. He would act as intermediary for the sale of a further 30% of Laphroaig’s output, which he would buy for himself, and the remaining 20% would be left to Dugald to manage on his coming of age in 1857.

Lagavulin came to wider public awareness in 1862 when blender John Logan Mackie bought the distillery. His nephew Peter J. Mackie made the first of many trips to Islay in 1878 to learn the secrets of distilling. He even worked for some time in Laphroaig, before being fired once his antecedents were revealed and eventually took over production of Lagavulin in 1889, when John died. Sir Peter Mackie, as he became, was one of the pre-eminent figures of late 19th century whisky.

He created the White Horse blend in 1890, registering it the next year and entered the market with high hopes. The name White Horse was chosen because of the Mackie family’s centuries-long association with the famous White Horse coaching Inn, situated on Edinburgh’s Canongate. His brand succeeded beyond his dreams, so much that he started to run short of malt whisky to blend. Realising that both Laphroaig and Lagavulin were too pungent to use liberally, he needed milder Speyside whiskies, then called Glenlivets. Accordingly, Mackie became one of the partners in the Craigellachie Distillery Co Ltd, which in 1891 constructed Craigellachie distillery in Speyside. Mackie & Co (Distillers) Ltd went on to take full control of Craigellachie during 1916.

Having entered Speyside, he had a wide array of 'Glenlivets' to choose from. Grain whisky was being used rather liberally in blended whiskies, much to Mackie’s annoyance. His White Horse blended whisky contained only 25% grain whisky from two distilleries. The malt whiskies came from Craigellachie and two other Speysiders (31%), Laphroaig and Lagavulin (18%), two Lowland Malts(19%) and one Campbeltown whisky (7%). He was noted as a great innovator.

The death of Laphroaig owner Alex Johnston brought his nephew, Ian Hunter, to the island. Hunter, a newly qualified engineer, was disappointed by the state of the agency agreement. He felt Laphroaig was not getting the best returns since Mackie was demanding most of the distillery’s output for its own blends. The two distilleries got into an unseemly and litigious scrap after Laphroaig tried to get out of an existing agency agreement to sell their whisky to Lagavulin for the latter's blends (which included White Horse, invented in 1890 by Lagavulin's then-owner Peter Mackie). This resulted in a string of court cases.

After the agency had finally run out in 1907, and with Laphroaig refusing to renew it, Lagavulin retaliated and blocked off Laphroaig's water supply, necessitating another return to court to sort out the rights. Laphroaig won this round, only for Lagavulin to pinch its distillery manager the following year, 1908. Irritated by the loss of the agency for Laphroaig, Mackie built a replica distillery at Lagavulin which he called Malt Mill and set about trying to create copies of Laphroaig's stills in a bid to make a spirit that would taste exactly the same. It ran until 1962 and though it was set up to produce the same character as Laphroaig – which is only two miles away – it never did. Neither did it make Lagavulin.

Malt Mill’s whisky was used as a contribution to the company’s blends, most notably White Horse and Mackie’s Ancient Scotch, which featured the name of the distillery on the label. It was never – as far as historians know – bottled as a single malt. The distillery floor maltings shut in 1974. They now form the visitor’s centre and admin offices.

Today, relations between the two great distilleries are rather more cordial.

LAPHROAIG

Laphroaig distillery is an Islay single malt Scotch whisky distillery. It is named after the area of land at the head of Loch Laphroaig on the south coast of the Isle of Islay. A commonly suggested etymology implies an original Gaelic form something like "Lag Bhròdhaig" (the hollow of Broadbay). The name may be related to a placename on the east coast of Islay, "Pròaig", again suggested as meaning "broad bay". The distillery and brand are owned and operated by Beam Suntory, the American subsidiary of Japan's Suntory Holdings.

The Laphroaig distillery was established in 1815 by Donald and Alexander Johnston. In 1847, co-founder Donald Johnston died in dramatic circumstances and for the next decade Walter Graham, the new owner cum manager of neighbouring distillery Lagavulin, ran the company. Laphroaig returned to Johnston family hands in 1857 when Donald’s son Dugald gained ownership, albeit to little effect. The last member of the Johnston family to run the distillery was Ian Hunter, a nephew of Sandy Johnston, who died childless in 1954 and left the distillery to one of his managers, Bessie Williamson. 

Laphroaig’s unique flavour comes in part from its vicinity to the coast and the high moss content of its peat, which is processed in the distillery’s own floor maltings. More comparative details are available here.

The distillery was sold to Long John International in the 1960s, subsequently becoming part of Allied Domecq. The brand was in turn acquired by Fortune Brands in 2005, as one of the brands divested by Pernod Ricard in order to obtain regulatory approval for its takeover of Allied Domecq. Fortune Brands then split up its business product lines in 2011, forming its spirits business into Beam Inc. Beam was then purchased by Suntory Holdings in April 2014.

Laphroaig has been the only whisky to carry the Royal Warrant of the then Prince of Wales, which was awarded in person during a visit to the distillery in 1994. The distillery identifies Charles by his title of Duke of Rothesay, as recognised then in Scotland. The 15-year-old was reportedly the prince's (now King) favourite Scotch whisky. 

Friends of Laphroaig:

In 1994 the Friends of Laphroaig Club was established, members of which are granted a lifetime lease of 1 square foot (930 cm2) of Laphroaig land on the island of Islay. The annual rent is a dram of Laphroaig which can be obtained upon visiting the distillery.

LAGAVULIN

Lagavulin is owned by Diageo PLC, the company formed by the merger of United Distillers & Vintners and Guinness. It was previously marketed under the Classic Malts range of single malts, which is now defunct. The standard bottling is a 16-year-old, bottled at 43% ABV. They also bottle a Distiller's edition, finished in Pedro Ximénez Sherry casks. Alongside these, they regularly release a 12-year-old cask strength version and various older and rarer expressions.

The name Lagavulin is an anglicisation of Lag a' Mhuilinn, the Scottish Gaelic for hollow of the mill. The distillery of Lagavulin officially dates from 1816, when John Johnston and Archibald Campbell constructed two distilleries on the site. One of them became Lagavulin, taking over the other—which one is not exactly known. Records show illicit distillation in at least ten illegal distilleries on the site as far back as 1742, however. In the 19th century, several legal battles ensued with their neighbour Laphroaig, brought about after the distiller at Lagavulin, Sir Peter Mackie, leased the Laphroaig distillery. It is said that Mackie attempted to copy Laphroaig's style. Since the water and peat at Lagavulin's premises was different from that at Laphroaig's, the result was different. The Lagavulin distillery is located in the village of the same name. 

Lagavulin is known for its producer's use of a slow distillation speed and pear shaped pot stills. The two wash stills have a capacity of 11,000 litres and the two spirit stills of 12,500 litres each. Lagavulin is almost exclusively matured in ex-bourbon casks, meaning its robust, uncompromising smoke and salted-fish character comes storming out of the glass unhindered. 

Allocations of the standard 16 Year Old are never adequate to satisfy demand for the product, resulting in frequent shortages. Diageo solves this problem by also releasing a cask strength 12 Year Old almost every year, along with the vintage-dated Distillers Edition series, which has been finished in sweet Pedro Ximénez sherry casks and has won numerous awards in its own right. To mark its 200th anniversary in 2016, Lagavulin released an eight-year-old whisky that is very highly rated, as affirmed by The Whisky Exchange.

Its whiskies are made with water from the Solan Lochs, while the peat – so crucial to their distinctive flavour – comes from the extensive peat bogs in the west of the island. Its phenol rating is 35 ppm, like Laphroaig. This is a steep climbdown from the phenol count of 50 ppm right up to 1990, when it started to drop its ppm gradually to 35 by 1996. So, do cast your eyes about for a pre-2006 bottling, a tricky job, at best. That Lagavulin is a bomb, compared to today's 'mild' offerings.

There are four stills at Lagavulin, two of them pear-shaped in the style inherited from Malt Mill, which run for longer than any others on Islay. Lagavulin whiskies will be in the stills for more than five hours for the first distillation and more than nine hours for the second. This long distillation is said to contribute towards the whisky’s roundness and mellow edges.

FIRST POSTED ON 27 MAY 2017

LAGAVULIN Vs LAPHROAIG: PART 1

THE LAPHROAIG LAGAVULIN BATTLE: PART 1

 LAPHROAIG

The name Laphroaig is Gaelic and means “The beautiful hollow by the broad bay”. Laphroaig is one of the oldest distilleries on Islay and this story shows that, despite whisky distilling being often romanticised, it was also a dangerous occupation.

After the Scottish Civil War of 1745, three Johnston brothers came to Islay, ostensibly for farming and the three occupied different parts of Islay on lease from Islay's Laird Walter Campbell. Two of the three brothers, Donald and Alexander, started their own farms at Laphroaig around 1810 and together began licensed distilling in 1815. The third son also leased a plot, but lost interest and left for the mainland, fading out of the picture. When Alexander died in 1836, Donald became the sole owner of the Laphroaig distillery. Their neighbouring distillery was David Johnstone's Lagavulin,licensed in 1816.

At that time the Campbells, who owned Donald's land, leased that third plot to James and Andrew Gairdner who built a rival distillery next to Laphroaig. They installed two experienced Clackmann distillers, James and Andrew Stein, to take charge. Donald Johnston, owner of Laphroaig at the time, was deeply disturbed finding out that the new distillery, Ardenistiel, proposed to use the same water source that they were using. It was this water that made an immensely vital contribution to Laphroaig's unique character, all the more so when Donald was about to expand his business; any diversion or sharing would leave him with insuperably inadequate water supply.

Donald appealed to the judiciary about the problems he had with the sharing of the water supply and the fact that the expansion of his business wasn’t possible without proper water supply. The dispute lasted almost 6 years and ended abruptly when Andrew Stein fell ill with fever and died soon afterwards. His brother James, who couldn’t cope with distilling alone, stopped and moved to Port Ellen. In June the following year Donald himself died in a tragic accident at the Laphroaig distillery. His son, Dugald, was just a wee lad, so Lagavulin's new owner Walter Graham leased Laphroaig and ran both distilleries, though Dugald came of age in 1857 and was, on paper, the owner of Laphroaig. Dugald, his son Alex and nephew Ian Hunter would feature prominently in the years ahead as he grew up and learned the trade and its finer arts.

Laphroaig in 1887 with the ruins of Ardenistiel distillery in the right hand bottom corner

The Ardenistiel Distillery was also known as Kildalton (1849-52) and Islay (1852). This distillery was taken over by Laphroaig in 1853.

Laphroaig became a successful whisky distillery and the neighbouring Lagavulin distillery sought to cash in on Laphroaig's success and built identical stills to try and get the same taste as Laphroaig. The Lagavulin distillery, however, got its water "from the other side of the hill" which was the reason for the different character of Lagavulin whisky and its failure in copying Laphroaig. It is also said that the location of the maturation houses from Laphroaig, being so close to the sea, make a difference in the taste.

LAGAVULIN

‘Lagavulin, or “The Mill Hollow”, one of the oldest places of habitation in the island is situated on the margin of the sea and together with its picturesque surroundings, combine to make it one of the most desirable locations upon the island, so justly designated the Queen of the Hebrides.’

The Lagavulin story begins, as so often in tales of Scotch whisky, with smuggling and illegality. Lagavulin is the oldest distillery on Islay, the business having been actually commenced by a smuggling fraternity as early as the year 1742 in about 10 separate bothies in the bay.

Lagavulin only went legit in 1816, when the various enterprises were combined into not one, but initially two distilleries, operating side by side and owned by the same family, the Johnstones. The second plant, confusingly named Ardmore, ceased production shortly afterwards.

We must say that the salubrity of atmosphere, good water, and the finest quality of malt have much to do with the production of Lagavulin whisky. Lagavulin has a high reputation both at home and abroad; as a single whisky its reputation is unique, and it is one of the few Highland whiskies that can be drunk alone.’            Alfred Barnard, pioneering Victorian whisky writer

These were Victorian times, and people didn’t talk about drinking a great deal. Writing about the Highlands seems to have given people permission to write about drinking. And when they write about drinking, people seem to have been drinking Lagavulin.

When Lagavulin came under the control of Peter Mackie in 1878, he clearly wanted to celebrate the fame of his distilleries, as well as creating the White Horse blend. These were two of only four brands of Scotch Whisky that USA allowed entry during its infamous Prohibition Era, doled out as a medicinal prescription by doctors.
                  

The Lagavulin/White Horse association, made manifest by the painted equine emblem on the roof of the distillery, remains to this day: while most of Lagavulin’s production is destined for bottling as a single malt, it is still part of the White Horse blend.

‘Restless Peter’s reputation is coloured by some of his actions. Irked by the loss of the agency for neighbouring Laphroaig, he built a painstaking replica distillery within Lagavulin, using his knowledge of its operations and even poaching someone from the distillery two miles down the road to seal the deal.

But Malt Mill, as this early micro-distillery became known, didn’t produce Laphroaig. Or Lagavulin, for that matter. It was used in a couple of Mackie blends, particularly Ancient Scotch, as it had a very unusual phenolic character, very different to Lagavulin.

Used for blending and never – as far as is known – bottled as a single malt, Malt Mill ceased operations in 1962 and remains one of the more enigmatic ‘lost’ distilleries, epitomising the elusive nature of distillery character. It is also referred to as ‘a tribute to Peter Mackie’s bloody-mindedness’.

Mackie’s reputation as an eccentric is only part of the story. He set up the first lab for whisky quality and was obsessed with whisky quality and consistency. And Lagavulin reaped the rewards.

Lagavulin is generally drunk throughout the island and is much prized by the inhabitants… Lagavulin whisky is sold largely in Scotland, England and the chief foreign markets, and is in such demand that the orders exceed the output, which reaches 100,000 gallons annually. 

Lagavulin today, while dwarfed by bigger brands such as Glenfiddich and The Glenlivet, is a stalwart single malt, a global favourite that was part of the sextet that formed the initial Classic Malts line-up. But why Lagavulin and not, for instance, Caol Ila?

‘Quality and reputation,’ responds an aficionado . ‘In the discussions that went into choosing the Classic Malts there were two or three factors in play. One would be quality and reputation – which is quite amorphous, but we all know which distilleries are famous and which aren’t. Then attractiveness: could you take visitors there? It would never have been Caol Ila.’

The deliberations fell short, however, on the matter of supply. Tying Lagavulin to a 16-year-old age statement didn’t help either – and the distillery has remained on allocation for much of its recent past. They never imagined that Lagavulin would be selling 100,000 cases or whatever! In fact, ‘they’ wondered if anyone would want to drink Lagavulin at all. Delving back further into the 1980s when people were starting to agitate over the evident success of Glenfiddich and Glenmorangie, The Ascot Cellar collection (a Classic Malts precursor) included a 12-year-old Lagavulin – but only reluctantly. The old established DCL hands didn’t believe that people would drink Talisker, Lagavulin or Caol Ila. They thought all these brands were far too challenging.

In the end, a number of factors conspire to give a much-loved distillery like Lagavulin its special status: the liquid, without doubt, but also the place, the people and the history. And, in more practical and prosaic terms, its usefulness as both blending component and stand-alone single malt. This is the key to why Lagavulin (and Caol Ila) survived the cull of the early 1980s when Port Ellen didn’t. The DCL committee would have looked at a number of issues – the cost of alcohol insofar as they were able, the water supply (which wasn’t very good at Port Ellen), but the key was the recommendations of the blending committees. They asked which whiskies they wanted and which they didn’t need. Caol Ila and Lagavulin were very important. But if you’d asked people about Port Ellen even in the 1990s, nobody would have given a fig for it, and apparently it wasn’t a particularly pleasant place to work.’

And so, 200 years on from legal establishment, and considerably longer since distillation began at its location, Lagavulin remains, its buildings huddled into the dramatic landscape of the Kildalton coast in a romantic situation. The exigencies of the location make expansion problematic, although by no means impossible. Lagavulin is to some extent, trapped in its own history. 

FIRST POSTED ON 27 MAY 2017