A Tale of Wonder
Once upon a time there was a poor distillery, unloved by its owners who no longer had any need for its fabled whiskies. The dust was gathering in corners of the building, water was coming through holes in the roof and small items like pumps were disappearing.
Then after a period of around 21 years along came a group of investors who wanted to buy a distillery which could produce whiskies of the highest quality that they would be proud of. Samples of whisky were taken, consumed and it was declared that here was a whisky of the very highest quality, capable of winning the ultimate accolades. So discussions took place, money exchanged hands and soon the distillery was under new ownership, new hands were on the helm and the distilling equipment was being lovingly refurbished, ready for use.
On the 24th November 2008, 22 years after it fell silent, Alex Salmon, first minister of Scotland started the inaugural milling for the first mash of a new era for Glenglassaugh distillery. The first mash itself took place on the 28th November and the first spirit distillation on the 4th December with the first cask being filled on the 16th December of 2008.
In the meantime the owners faith in their investment has been rewarded with the aged whiskies winning the most prestigious awards of “Best Single Cask Scotch Whisky” and “Best 40 Year Old Scotch Whisky” at the International Wine and Spirit Competition 2009 plus a double gold medal for the 26 year old whisky at San Francisco International Spirits Competition and voted best 40 year old Scotch Whisky in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2010.
Those first casks filled in 2008 which will become 3 years old and officially single malt scotch whisky on the 16th December 2011.
To mark this momentous occasion Glenglassaugh Distillery Company is pleased to announce the release of a very special bottling. The very first cask, a refill butt, that was filled on that “first cask filling day in 2008” was emptied and refilled into 2 smaller casks on the 16th December 2010. These smaller casks were a first fill ex-Pedro Ximenez (PX) sherry hogshead and a first-fill ex-Palo Cortado sherry hogshead. On the 16th September 2011 the whiskies were returned from these two casks into the original butt and are now marrying for a period of exactly three months.
On the 16th December 2011 the cask will be emptied and approximately 650 bottles will be filled with the whisky, at cask strength, at natural colour and with no chill-filtration, by the employees of Glenglassaugh. It will then be shipped to those lucky individuals who can pre-purchase one of these unique and very rare bottles and we will try to achieve this in time for Christmas.
The bottles are now available for pre-ordering by either purchasing direct from the on-line shop, www.glenglassaugh.com or by visiting us at the distillery.
The 700ml bottle which will be packaged in an outer tube with a certificate of authentication and will cost £90.00 plus shipping. It is possible to pick-up the bottle direct from the distillery from 19th December onwards in which case there will be no shipping charge.
The Small Print
There will be no discounts for cask owners on this purchase.
Sales will be restricted to one bottle per person per email address and anyone who tries to purchase multiple items will have any money paid refunded for the second and any subsequent purchase and there will also be an administration charge added.
All orders received through the on-line shop will be accepted as confirmation of purchase of a bottle, unless the money is refunded due to duplication of order.
More Octave Developments
Our initial sales of ex-sherry Octaves for filling and maturing, was so successful that we had started a waiting list for the second shipment even before we had received the first delivery. Well most of the first orders have all now been filled and the good news is that the second, larger order, should be here before the end of the month. So far we have not sold it all out but even as I type this blog, another order appears so we may end-up pre-selling them all before they arrive.
All of the original delivery of the sherry Octaves had been ex-Oloroso sherry but in the next delivery we will be able to offer the alternative of ex- Pedro Ximenez Octaves too. We will also be able to offer filling either type of cask with peated or un-peated spirit.
If you have already ordered your sherry Octave and it is due to be filled from the second delivery then please let us know whether you wish an ex-Oloroso cask or an ex-PX cask.
Once again please feel free to leave any comments.
Slange
Stuart
