Notes on The Casual Dram:13 - Sunday 27 Ocotober - Mean Doses Taproom
Notes on the lineup… (tickets available here)
Ben Nevis 'Adelphi' - 5YO 2015-2020 58.9%
Cask - 1st Fill Oloroso Butt
Cask number - 10715 (split cask - the web claims the other half was labelled for Loch Fyne Whiskies in Inveraray)
Number of bottles - 379
Cask size - a split cask producing this number might suggest a Butt?
Whiskybase score - 87.32/100 (88 ratings)
Ben Nevis distillery is situated in Fort William, Scotland at the base of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles.
The distillery draws its water from the Allt a’Mhuilinn which originates from two pools on Ben Nevis. Founded in 1825 and has been owned by Nikka since 1989.
Ben Nevis is famous for its traditional heavy Highland style. The ferments are quick (which typically results in a malt forward, nutty profile) the washbacks are wooden and the distillery is the last in Scotland to use brewer’s yeast to ferment the beer. Brewer’s yest is thought to add further sweet nut flavours to the malt.
Ardnamurchan 'SMWS' 149.7 'A coal scuttle of jam and treacle' 7YO 61.7%
Cask - 1st Fill Ex-Oloroso Butt
Cask number - 149.7
Cask size - 450 to 500 litres
Number of bottles - 650
Whiskybase score - 87.38/100 (23 ratings)
Established in 2014 by Adelphi (the independent bottler) the Ardnamurchan distillery is situated on the Argyll Peninsula on Scotland’s west coast. The distillery is powered by local renewables, including a hydro electricity generator and a biomass boiler. The distillery also recycles by-products, such as draff, which is combined with pot ale to produce animal feed
In their own words the flavour profile is one “that is expected of the west coast of Scotland, gentle peat smoke, rich and oily with honey, fruit and salinity on the palate.” It is thought that the water used to bring the new make down to fill strength is integral in the flavour profile.
Tullibardine 'The Single Cask' 6YO Sherry Cask Aged Whisky 65.5%
Cask - 1st Fill Sherry Hogshead
Cask number - 9900135
Cask size - 225 to 250 litres
Number of bottles - 322
Whiskybase score - 86.11/100 (12 ratings)
Tullibardine was famous for its heavy nutty style but since shifting to a focus on single malts and contributing less to blends, it has upped the floral, estery high toned notes and has invested heavily in new casks.
It has a funny history. A distillery called Tullibardine was first built in the town of Blackford in 1798 but it ran for just one year. It reopened soon after under new management and had a slightly more impressive run closing this time in 1837. The original site was demolished and it wasn’t until 1949 that the famous distillery designer William Delme-Evans bought the Gleneagles Brewery site (also situated in Blackford) and built a new distillery called Tullibardine. It was the first to be built in Scotland since 1900.
The distillery changed hands a few times and then lay silent between 1994 and 2003, when a business consortium snapped it up. They sold off some of the site as a retail park, using the money raised to get distilling up and running again. They found, unfortunately, that a lot of the stock in the warehouse had been filled into tired old casks.
Now owned by Picard - the (failed) retail park venture has been bought back and a newly repackaged and reformulated range of single malts has been introduced.
Glen Garioch 'North Star' 2014/2023 - 8YO 53.3%
Cask - Bottled from a refill hogshead, with an Oloroso finish.
Cask size - 225 - 250 litres (size of finishing vessel unknown).
Whiskybase score - 87.00/100 (6 ratings)
At Glen Garioch, based in the eastern highlands, ferments are short, giving a deep cereal and spice note to the new spirit which also has a distinctive waxy, tallow-like, character. When mature, the heaviness changes into a thick, fat texture, allowing honeyed fruits and heather to emerge.
It has been unpeated since the 1990s, but in recent years, small batches of smoky barley have once again been run.
