Scotland Archives - Page 15 of 17 - More Drams, Less Drama

Quick review: Ben Nevis 21yo batch 8 TBWC

24th December 201924th December 2019Coldorak

Behind the twenty-third window of That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s 2019 Advent Calendar we will be reviewing each day until the 24th of December was hidden a second dram from a distillery covered earlier in the calendar, a Ben Nevis 21yo batch 8, bottled at 48.9% abv by that Boutique-y Whisky Company. The distillery, as said in the review of the 23yo dram hidden behind the 13th window of the advent calendar, has been built near and named after Ben Nevis, the highest mountain of the British Isles, standing at 1,345m (4,411 ft) above sea level. Its Scottish Gaelic name, Beinn Nibheis, means “Venomous mountain” or “mountain with its head in the clouds” depending on which etymology you consider for the word Nibheis. First ascended in 1771, Ben Nevis now attracts 100,000 ascends a year. The summit, the collapsed dome of an ancient volcano, hosts the ruins of an ancient observatory which was continuously staffed between 1883 and 1904. The outturn of this 21yo batch 8 was 931 bottles, and it’s still available on Master of Malt for £147.95.

Quick review: Clynelish 21yo batch 7 TBWC

21st December 201921st July 2020Coldorak

Behind the twenty-first window of That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s 2019 Advent Calendar we will be reviewing each day until the 24th of December was hidden a Clynelish 21yo batch 7 single malt, bottled at 47.8% abv by that Boutique-y Whisky Company. The story of Clynelish is a little bit complicated. The First Duke of Sutherlands created the first Clynelish distillery in the Highlands, in the town of Brora, in 1819. After a few bankruptcies, John Walker & Sons bought a stake of the stocks in 1916. However, they mothballed Clynelish in 1931, but started production again in 1939. 1967 saw the construction of a new distillery, also named Clynelish, adjacent to the existing one. Soon after that, the “Old” Clynelish was mothballed in August 1968, and reopened the next year, renamed as the famous Brora, to be unfortunately mothballed again in 1983 (they will reopen soon as the distillery is being rebuilt). The current Clynelish is a vital part of several Johnnie Walker expressions and especially the Gold Label one. The outturn of this 21yo batch 7 was 1174 bottles, and is unfortunately sold out. It seems it was sold for around £130.

Quick review: Linkwood 10yo batch 8 TBWC

20th December 201921st July 2020Coldorak

Behind what is already the twentieth window of That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s 2019 Advent Calendar we will be reviewing each day until the 24th of December was hidden a Linkwood 10yo batch 8 single malt, bottled at 48.2% abv by that Boutique-y Whisky Company. Linkwood is a distillery located at Elgin, in Speyside. It was created in 1821, changed hands several times, and in 1971 a second distillery, called Linkwood B (the original one being Linkwood… A) opened with 4 new stills in addition to the existing two of Linkwood A. However, in 1985 Linkwood A closed down (with its original stills) until 1990 where it came back in production for a few months each year. Owned by Diageo, Linkwood is mostly used for its Johnnie Walker blend and there’s almost no single malt except for the 12yo Flora & Fauna, a couple very old ones, and mostly independent bottling. This batch 8 had an outturn of only 417 bottles and can still be found on the German website whiskytaste.de for a mere 37.90€ (around £32.30 at current exchange rate).

Quick review: Tomatin 11yo batch 4 TBWC

19th December 201919th December 2019Coldorak

Behind the nineteenth window of That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s 2019 Advent Calendar we will be reviewing each day until the 24th of December was hidden a Tomatin 11yo batch 4 single malt, bottled at 51% abv by that Boutique-y Whisky Company. Tomatin is a Highland distillery created in 1897 near Inverness. The 50s to 70s saw a huge growth on Tomatin’s production capacity, going from two to four stills in 1956, then 6 in 1958, going up to 11 in ’61 and a massive 23 stills total in 1974. Of course it couldn’t last as in 1974 they were already signs of a downturn in Scotch. Tomatin never run at full capacity and closed in 1986. However, two of its Japanese customers bought it, and Tomatin became the first Japanese-owned Scotch distillery. I couldn’t find the price of this Tomatin batch 4 nor the outturn. However, batch 2 which was a 16yo had a RRP of £59.95 so I don’t expect batch 4 to be expensive.

Quick review: Macduff 10yo batch 8 TBWC

17th December 201917th December 2019Coldorak

Behind the sixteenth window of That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s 2019 Advent Calendar we will be reviewing each day until the 24th of December was hidden a Macduff 10yo batch 8, bottled at 50.2% abv by that Boutique-y Whisky Company. You may never have heard of Macduff, though you may know their range through its commercial name: The Deveron. The reason might me because Macduff was trademarked by DCL, Diageo’s old name, so they had to find another one to sell their single malts. It’s a young distillery, created in 1960 by Marty Dyke, James Stirrat, George Crawford and Brodie Hepburn (also known for his involvement in Deanston and Tullibardine) and now owned by John Dewar and Sons (Bacardi). One of the distinctive characteristics of Macduff is that they have 5 stills: two wash-stills and three spirit-stills, with the lyne arms of four of them bent in a peculiar way, and the fifth one being U-shaped in order to fit in the still room. Their spirit is mostly used for the William Lawson blend, but a good part is still used as single malt under The Deveron (or Glen Deveron) name. This bottling can be found for £59.95 on Master of Malt as of today.

Quick review: Islay #3 13yo batch 4 TBWC

15th December 201924th December 2019Coldorak

Behind the fifteenth window of That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s 2019 Advent Calendar we will be reviewing each day until the 24th of December was hidden an undisclosed Islay #3 13yo batch 4, bottled at 48.6% abv by that Boutique-y Whisky Company. The label is inspired by the movies Back to the Future, but replaced Doc and Marty by Jon and Mike from LivingRoom Whisky after they won at (I copy-paste it as I’m sure I can’t write that without typing wrong) That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s “Islay Ultra Competition Showdown Throwdown Extravaganza To The Extreme Lucky Best Time”. No idea what that is, but they won. Great Scott! It’s available on Master of Malt for a steep £119.95, let’s find out if it’s worth it, and if we can guess the distillery.

Quick review: Irish Single Malt 13yo batch 2 TBWC

14th December 201914th December 2019Coldorak

Behind the fourteenth window of That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s 2019 Advent Calendar we will be reviewing each day until the 24th of December was hidden a psychedelic looking Irish Single Malt 13yo batch 2, bottled at 48.4% abv by that Boutique-y Whisky Company. The psychedelic label for this undisclosed Irish single malt is a no subtle at all reference to the Lovely Horse from Father Ted, and I absolutely love it. Though the distillery is undisclosed, there is probably very little choice as it’s a single malt and not a single pot still: it’s very probably either Bushmills or Cooley. This Irish Single Malt 13yo batch 2 TBWC is sold for the quite modest price of £59.95 on Master of Malt.

Quick review: Ben Nevis 23yo batch 10 TBWC

14th December 201917th January 2025Coldorak

Behind the thirteenth window of That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s 2019 Advent Calendar we will be reviewing each day until the 24th of December was hidden a quite promising Ben Nevis 23yo batch 10 single malt , bottled at 48% abv by that Boutique-y Whisky Company. “Long” John McDonald founded the Ben Nevis Distillery in 1825 near the biggest mountain of UK on the outskirts of Fort William, in the Western Highlands.

Quick review: Longmorn 10yo batch 3 TBWC

12th December 201912th December 2019Coldorak

Behind the twelfth window of That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s 2019 Advent Calendar we will be reviewing each day until the 24th of December was hidden a Longmorn 10-year-old batch 3 single malt (it’s almost only batch 3s in this calendar!), bottled at 48.3% abv by that Boutique-y Whisky Company. Another distillery from the Speyside region, Longmorn is owned by Chivas Brothers (Pernod Ricard). It was founded by John Duff, George Thomson and Charles Shirres in 1893 and the production started in December 1894, but in 1897 John Duff bought out his partners and the next year he built another distillery, Longmorn 2, now known as BenRiach, before going bankrupt. The bank then sold the shares to James R. Grant. In 1970, Grant merged with The Glenlivet & Glen Grant distilleries, taken over by Seagrams in 1978, and themselves bought by Pernod Ricard in 2001. Longmorn currently produces about 3M litres of pure alcohol per year with a capacity of 4.5M litres. This Longmorn 10yo batch 3 is, like the Speyburn before, sold at a very expensive price: £76.95 on Master of Malt for a 50cl bottle, that means almost £108 for a full bottle! I sure hope it’s worth it, let’s find out!

Quick review: Speyburn 10yo batch 3 TBWC

11th December 201911th December 2019Coldorak

Behind the eleventh window of That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s 2019 Advent Calendar we will be reviewing each day until the 24th of December was hidden a Speyburn 10-year-old batch 3 single malt, bottled at 49.5% abv by that Boutique-y Whisky Company. Speyburn is a Spey… side distillery, easy to guess, and has been founded in 1897 by the brothers John & Edward Hopkins with their cousin Edward Broughton, and has been bought by its current owner, Inver House Distillers (the owners of Balblair, Old Pulteney and anCnoc) in 1991, Inver House being themselves owned by the Thai company International Beverage Holdings (what an imaginative name…). Speyburn is quite little known in Europe but a huge success in the USA, making it the best selling distillery of InterBev in front of Old Pulteney. In 1900, Speyburn was also the first distillery to move from floor maltings to pneumatic drum malting, though the malting closed in the late sixties, fortunately leaving the equipment there to see. This Boutique-y batch had an outturn of 1540 bottles and is still available on Master of Malt for the quite expensive price of £77.95.