The Batch 11 has been bottled at 59.8% ABV and is limited in number, although the exact quantity has not been revealed. It is both non chill-filtered and of natural colour. It will be available in specialist whisky retailers in selected global markets. A bottle will cost £68/ $78 US.
The coastal distillery of Glenglassaugh in the east Highlands has announced the released of an extremely old and rare single malt - the Glenglassaugh 50 years old. The whisky comes from a single ex-Pedro Ximénez sherry cask that has been maturing in a warehouse at the distillery for half a century. The cask was hand selected by Dr. Rachel Barrie, the Master Blender at Glenglassaugh.
This whisky is a limited edition single malt that celebrates the 50-year heritage of producing peated spirit at the innovative Speyside distillery of Benriach. The Benriach Smoke Season is a small batch release designed to showcase the spirit that uses malt peated using Highland peat, which has been distilled for a short period each year since the early 1970s and remains a rare practice for a Speyside distillery. It has been created by Dr. Rachel Barrie, the Master Blender for Benriach, and features peated spirit matured in toasted virgin American oak casks and first-fill ex-bourbon barrels. It is said to be the most intensely peated Benriach ever released.
This new single malt is the latest bottling in the highly anticipated Cask Strength series from the east Highland distillery of Glendronach, which is normally released annually. The Glendronach Cask Strength Batch 9 has been slightly delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and each batch is made to be different and have its own personal character. Batch 9 has seen whiskies matured in both ex-Oloroso and ex-Pedro Ximénez sherry casks of differing sizes (both puncheons and butts are included). These have been selected at different ages before being married together by Dr. Rachel Barrie, the Master Blender for Glendronach.
These two whiskies form part of the latest batch of the highly anticipated annual single cask series from the Highland distillery of Glendronach. The Glendronach Batch 18 consists of 18 single casks, which span a range of ages and vintages, and each was hand-selected by Dr. Rachel Barrie - the Master Blender of Glendronach. The oldest was distilled and filled to cask in 1990, while the youngest is from 2009.
All casks are either ex-Oloroso sherry, ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry or ex-Port in origin and are bottled at their natural cask strengths - these range between 48% and 61.9% ABV. All are also non chill-filtered and of natural colour. The price range is £97/ $129 US to £861/ $1,140 US. Each cask will only be available to purchase in an allocated region. The two reviewed here will only be for Europe and the UK. Full details of each cask are listed in our recent Inbox blog post here.
This whisky forms part of the newly revamped core range of single malts from the Speyside distillery of Benriach, which is designed to showcase Benriach's eclectic range of casks from around the world (these come from 20 different origins) and the three different spirit styles that are produced there - classic Speyside, peated Speyside (produced for only 5-6 weeks each year) and triple distilled (produced for just 1-2 weeks each year). The range has been entirely created by Dr. Rachel Barrie, the Master Blender for Benriach. The Twenty One combines both classic and peated malts together and features four cask types - ex-bourbon, ex-red wine, ex-sherry and virgin oak.
The whisky has been crafted by Dr. Rachel Barrie, the Master Blender at Glendronach, using just six ex-Oloroso sherry casks sourced from Jerez in Spain and all distilled and filled in 1989. These were then finished in ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry casks before being married together.
