More Drams, Less Drama

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: James E. Pepper 3yo batch 2 TBWC

18th December 201918th December 2019Coldorak

Behind the eighteenth 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 James E. Pepper 3yo batch 2 Pedro Ximénez Cask Finish, bottled at 50% abv by that Boutique-y Whisky Company. Colonel James E. Pepper created his whiskey brank in Lexington, Kentucky back in 1800. The distillery, first known as Henry Clay distillery, then Old Pepper distillery and eventually James E. Pepper distillery, closed down in 1958, and was abandonned for more than 50 years before an entrepreneur named Amir Peay bought it and relaunched the brand name in 2008. Distillation resumed in December 2017 on the distillery site, so it means this rye whiskey has been sourced, probably from MGP. This release is part of a 3 finishes series, with batch 1 being an Oloroso finish, this batch 2 a PX finish, and batch 3 an Ale finish. Batch 2 had an outturn of 1077 bottles and can be bought for £46.95 on Master of Malt.

Quick review: Cotswolds 3yo batch 1 TBWC

18th December 201918th December 2019Coldorak

Behind the seventeenth 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 Cotswolds 3yo batch 1, bottled at 50.4% abv by that Boutique-y Whisky Company. Cotswolds is a very young English distillery as it has been founded in 2014 and produces whisky, gin and other spirits. They have three small stills: a wash still (2400 litres) and a spirit still (1600 litres) for the whisky and a Holstein still (500 litres) to distil gin and other spirits. This Boutique-y release had an outturn of 1783 bottles and can still be found on Master of Malt for £58.95.

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.

Quick review: Strathclyde 31yo batch 4 TBWC

10th December 201911th December 2019Coldorak

Behind the tenth 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 Strathclyde 31yo batch 4, bottled at 45% abv by that Boutique-y Whisky Company and the first single grain of this calendar. The black and white label details the chemical components created when the cooperage toasts the wood making the barrel, those substances being what’s behind the flavours we recognize in our whiskies. But boutique-y being boutique-y, you’ll quickly see that they cannot stay serious and scientific until the end and give a quicker explanation for those not that interested. And what about Strathclyde, a distillery many people never heard about? It’s a grain distillery located in Glasgow on the south bank of the River Clyde, in a district called Gorbals, and is pretty awful looking (it was an old cotton mill). It’s owned by Pernod Ricard (Chivas Brothers) and is used mainly as a component for Ballantine’s and Chivas blends. I could not find a price for this whisky.