Glentauchers 1991/2007 43%
Glentauchers and blends like ‘Black and White’ and ‘Teachers’ have a long relationship – James Buchanan who founded Glentauchers also created the ‘Black and White’ blend, and the distillery’s spirit has mostly gone to feed blends then as it does today. So while fairly obscure to Malt aficionados, it was regarded as an important distillery back when blends were king. (Still are? Debatable.)
(Wikimedia)
And so it was rebuilt very early on, in 1965, and expanded to 6 stills shortly after. This went on till 1985 when the distillery was mothballed and reopened under Allied ownership in 1990, who proceeded to refine the distillation regime and then use it as previous owners had. Hence here we do not see a history of storied Official bottlings, rather it is and has always been left to the independents. Nonetheless vintages of 1985 and earlier can be regarded as a different ‘make’ than those 1990 and younger. Also Pernod acquired Glentauchers in 2005, further change is almost certain.
But what of the spirit? A hint perhaps, since one does not simply walk into a bar and expect to find rows of Glentauchers: ‘Light, dry, dusty’ says the esteemed Michael Jackson (speaking on earlier distillate); ‘Full weight… Rounded… Sweet’, says Dave Broom, in their respective publications. It seems this distillery has always bent to the blender’s will.
(whisky.com)
A word on the livery: This is the Gordon & Macphail semi-official distillery label. They’ve been bottling Glentauchers under this label for years.
(commercial image)
Nose: Not the most expressive, in fact rather delicate but the spirit definitely has the upper hand: Malt bins, toasty griddle cakes, dosed with honey, topped with butter and cream. Meadow-y yellow flowers and light nectar. Also an interesting touch of wet earthiness. Petrichor?
Palate: Still hot, a spicy prickle, and everything else is rather subdued and non-existent: A generic maltiness, some pear slices, some feints, vitamin chews still in their plastic wrapping.
Finish: Short and somewhat chemicaly.
Too strange and really too weird. Nose was promising but the taste of it was just.. not working for me. Were they still working out the kinks in 1991?
Whiskyrific RSS
- Bowmore 25 yo Blackadder 1973 / 1998 Blackadder #3174 51.2% vs Bowmore 20yo 1976 / 1996 Signatory 3548/49 52.6%
- Balblair 1975 / 2012 2nd Release 46% vs Balblair 10 yo Gordon & Macphail 100 proof
- Convalmore 24 yo 1978 /2003 Rare Malts 59.4% vs Convalmore 40 yo 1977 / 2017 Cadenhead 56.8%
- Lochside 29 yo 1981 / 2010 The Perfect Dram 51.1% vs Lochside 31 yo 1966 / 1998 Silent Stills #3910 57.7%
- Royal Brackla 16 yo Zenith 57% vs Royal Brackla 17 yo Intertrade 63.9%~bottled 1987
- Laphroaig 30 yo 43% ~ early 2000s vs Lagavulin 30 yo 1976 / 2006 52.6%
- Highland Park 13 yo 2006 for Simplywhisky Singapore #1646 64.7% vs Highland Park 30 yo 1989 / 2019 Gordon & Macphail 19/003 51.1%
- Pulteney 13 yo 1967 / 1980 Cadenhead 46% vs Laphroaig 21 yo Cadenhead for Sestante 52.1% ‘White Label’
- Ben Nevis 21 yo 1996 / 2018 Whisky Doris #2028 52.2% vs Ben Nevis 21 yo Private Bottling #1407 48.8%
- Glen Ord 40 yo 1965 Royal Mile Whiskies 40.1% vs Glenury Royal 24 yo 1973 / 1997 Signatory #6851 53.7%
whiskyrific 