KWM Whisky Advent Day 8 – Gordon Macphail Glentauchers 1996

Glentauchers Distillery was established in 1898, at the height of a major boom in whisky production. There was a surge in distillery openings in the 1890s as global demand for Scotch whisky surged. The distillery was built out of granite by the prominent blender James Buchanan. As with many distilleries built around the turn of the 20^th century, the legendary Charles Doig was the architect.

The distillery’s production surged in the 1960s during the next major whisky boom, when two new pairs of stills were added to the first set. Even though it had been modernized just 20 years earlier, that was not enough to save the distillery from the industry downturn of the 1980s. Glentauchers was mothballed in 1985 and sold off by Diageo in 1989 to one of its competitors Allied Distillers. Allied reopened the distillery in 1992 with an intention of using the whisky in its Ballantine’s blends. Allied became a part of the Chivas Group in 2005.

Bottlings of Glentuachers single malt have been almost non-existent for most of its history, with the exception of the odd independent bottling. The one major exception to this is Gordon Macphail, who have had a long standing relationship with the distillery. Glentaucher’s is one of the many distilleries with which Gordon Macphail has an arrangement to bottle and sell semi-official bottlings, the Distillery Label range. A few Chivas Visitor Center bottlings have been released over the last few years. Early this fall it was announced that Chivas would be releasing Glentauchers 15 Year single malt for the first time, along with Glenburgie and Miltonduff.

About Gordon Macphail’s Distillery Range: “Building and nurturing long-lasting relationships has always been key to curating our collection of single malt whiskies. It’s our relationships from the Sherry bodegas in Jerez, Spain, and the American Oak cooperages in Kentucky – where we source casks of the finest quality – to those who distil the Scottish malt spirit – which we fill into our casks – that has helped shape our foundations and continue to develop the future of Gordon & MacPhail. The result of the mutual support and friendship with some of Scotland’s single malt producers means that Gordon & MacPhail has traditionally matured and bottled whisky from a collection of distilleries, releasing them with a ‘house’ label, unique to each distillery.”

“From the Orkney distillery of Scapa, through to Speyside classics such as Strathisla, Longmorn, and Glen Grant, our ‘Distillery Labels’ series showcases individual producers with whom Gordon & MacPhail has been working, sometimes for over a century. It was these trusted relationships which allowed us to be amongst the first companies to capture examples of the unique styles and individual production from a variety of Scotland’s single malt distilleries, bringing them to the consumer. The ‘Distillery Labels’ range dovetails into the ‘Rare Vintage’ collection, home to our exceptionally rare single malts also featuring the original historic distillery labels.”

Gordon Macphail Glentauchers 1996 – 43% – First Fill Sherry Butts – Bottled 2016 – Andrew’s Tasting Note: “Nose: fresh, creamy and very fruity; loads of melon, lemon merengue, lime zest and cream cheese icing; milk chocolate and palines. Palate: still creamy, honeyed and nutty; loads of soft vanilla with a back bone of soft leather and light but nutty sherry; more cream cheese icing with lemon zest, some tart grapefruit and lemon merengue; the melon tones are still there but the citrus and oak are in control. Finish: light and elegant with a good length; creamy and citrusy with floral tones. Comment: sadly this is an Advent Calendar exclusive, there are no bottles to be had; just as well, this is a tempting breakfast dram! – !!SOLD OUT!!