Our spirits team is building their next container out of Scotland; as a result, we have a bevy of exceptional pre-arrival finds. Craigellachie, Glengoyne, Caol Ila, and Glenfiddich are but a few of the brands represented. Buying on pre-arrival is always the smart choice, as not only are you assured the bottles you want, but you also are getting exceptional savings. Our team has carefully vetted these, so no matter which direction you take, you’ll be rewarded with an exceptional dram.
This week’s highlights include:
2006 Behind The Highlander (Craigellachie) 14 Year Old “Hepburn’s Choice” K&L Exclusive Single Refill Sherry Butt Cask Strength Blended Malt Scotch Whisky (750ml) (Pre-Arrival) $59.99 View
If you’ve ever been to the Highlander Inn you’ll know all to well that’s it’s dangerously close to two of Scotland’s best distilleries. One has become so ubiquitous that it’s name does not even connote Scotch any longer, but simply luxury. The other is the rugged and rustic dark horse (formerly owned by White Horse!) Craigellachie. They’re putting out some of the very best malt anywhere in Scotland to little fanfare. The still house has been reconstructed in the modern era and looks similar to Glendronach’s, a stone and glass box, which isn’t so pretty from the outside, but gives the distiller plenty of air and space to work. It wasn’t until recently that the owners, Bacardi, began marketing this excellent malt on its own although the vast majority of this whisky still ends up in the Dewars blend. Built in 1891 on the cliffs across from Macallan, if you miss the turn off to Dufftown, you’ll miss Craigellachie, but the next road takes you right to the Highlander Inn. There you should stop and taste the local dram of choice. Or save a trip and try this awesome little cask. Age for 14 years in a refill sherry butt, the malt has all the classic hallmarks of this awesome distillery. Dense and chewy, without being totally overtaken by the sherry, the malt offers plenty of deep herbal character, powerful savory spice and complex cacao flavors. This malt was teaspooned with a homeopathic quantities Dailuaine to declassify it, but the flavors and quality remains at the highest level.
2008 Glengoyne 11 Year Old “Old Particular” K&L Exclusive PX Sherry Finished Single Cask Strength Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky (750ml) (Pre-Arrival) $69.99 View
Glengoyne is all about patience. Everything they do is slow. The picturesque little distillery sits on the border of the highlands and lowlands. In fact, the road that divides the distillery and its warehouses IS the border. They sport some of the longest fermentation times in all of Scotland and some of the slowest stills as well. These longer processes coupled with a massive amount of available copper lead to an unabashedly fruity and super clean spirit. The real magic of Glengoyne is in the fact that it retains enough stuffing to play perfectly with heavy sherry influences. Indeed the distillery bottling nearly all focus on sherry maturation. This particular exclusive bottling from Old Particular has been finished in PX Sherry leading to the very best of both worlds. Not only do you get the ripe stone fruits and vanillas of the spirit and hogshead maturation, you also get to savor the deep, sweet, nutty flavors of Spainâs finest dessert wine and Scotch fan’s favorite finishing cask.
2010 Islay Straight (Caol Ila) 10 Year Old “Sovereign” K&L Exclusive Single Sherry Butt Finish Cask Strength Blended Malt Scotch Whisky (750ml) (Pre-Arrival) $69.99 View
Anyone who has taken the fairy to the Isle of Islay from Kennacraig to Port Askaig has seen this special distillery from a unique vantage point. As you motor up the Islay Straight to the port the ferry begins a big sweeping turn into harbor and you get a spectacular view off the starboard side of Caol Ilaâs warehouses and massive distillery. Itâs a special introduction to the spectacular beauty of Islay. If you were to skip the port and carry on up the straight you find Bunnahabhain, and so it was a natural choice for the teaspoon of liquid gold we needed to add to the cask and bring the price of this 10 year down far below the $100 mark. Caol Ilaâs natural fruity and smoky profile meshes wonderfully with a sherry butt finish that adds an impressive dark color and nutty flavor to a perennial favorite.
1998 Archiestown Adjacent (Dailuaine) 22 Year Old “Hepburn’s Choice” K&L Exclusive Single Refill Hogshead Cask Strength Blended Malt Scotch Whisky (750ml) (Pre-Arrival) $109.99 View
Dailuaine was built in 1852 in the tiny hamlet of Charlestown-of-Aberlour. The water for fermentation comes from the Bailliemullich Burn and it boast 3 sets of stills and the wash stills feature an unusual pinched neck design that gives the lower neck a lip adding to the refluxive properties of the still. Despite our best efforts, Dailuaine remains an underappreciated Speyside glory. That’s mainly because the owners do so little to promote this great malt as it’s so crucial to the structure of their many popular blends. It sits in a little valley just across the River Spey from the tiny village of Archiestown, hence the moniker, which will be otherwise lost on even the most travelled Scotch lover. Archiestown, is of course a beautiful little place to visit, but not really on the road to or from any of the major public distilleries and Dailuaine is not open to visitors either. But, if you’ve ever made the journey into Speyside through the town Aberlour, you’ve travelled by this excellent distillery, just off the A95 and within striking distance of several other classics – Glenfarclas, Benrinnes, Knockando, Tamdhu, Cardhu, Glenallachie. It was teaspooned with a molecularly insignificant amount of Glendullan to demote it to a lowly “blended malt,” but this excellent whisky tastes impeccable nonetheless. Dark malt and complex fruit coupled with the perfect kiss of creamy American oak from this refill hogshead.
2003 Craigellachie 16 Year Old “Old Particular” K&L Exclusive Single Sherry Butt Cask Strength Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (750ml) (Pre-Arrival) $109.99 View
One of the most distinctive malts in all of Scotland. Craigellachie utilizes worm tubs with a very low copper content that, in combination with very long fermentation times, contributes to a rare and desirable sulfurous trait in whisky (not to be confused with the strong and undesirable sulfurous notes occasionally found in older sherry butts that were treated to prevent spoilage). The end result is a pungent aroma that when young is often described as meaty or like boiled cabbage, but when matured works its way into complex sweet fragrances such as pineapple and other tropical fruits and floral notes. These beautiful flavors offer aromatics in combination with palate weight and make Craigellachie a prized malt for blenders and single malt enthusiasts alike. When in combination with sherried wood, there is nothing else like it. The tropical flavors mingle with the nuttiness of the sherry to make a whisky unmatched in flavor, weight, and aromatics. These rare casks typically command astronomical prices, but as always, thank to our long standing direct relationships in Scotland, weâve been able to secure a cask or two that offer unparalleled value in the single malt category.
1997 Hector Macbeth (Glenfiddich) 23 Year Old “Hepburn’s Choice” K&L Exclusive Single Sherry Butt Finish Cask Strength Blended Malt Scotch Whisky (750ml) (Pre-Arrival) $119.99 View
One of the original teaspooned malts here at K&L that longtime customers may already be familiar with is Hector Macbeth. While nearly all of this year’s blended malts had another distillers spirit dropped into it right before bottling, this was teaspooned at the time of production by the original maker with the intention of being sold off to the independent market. This is really how teaspooning came to be a thing in the first place. Blue chip distilleries, like Glenfiddich in this case, donât want a bunch of people trading on their name. They do however, still want to sell casks into the blending market to raise quick cash. While we donât know what they put into the cask in this case (although my money is on the sister distillery next door – Balvenie) we do know that it tastes just like youâd expect sherry finished Glenfiddich at cask strength to taste. If youâve ever had the excellent Glenfiddich 15 Year Sherry Solera bottling and thought, ‘I wish this was full proof,’ this is the malt for you. The extra 8 years of aging doesnât hurt either.
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