Notes on The Casual Dram:20
Notes on the lineup…
Glenfarclas 'Family Cask' 2009 / 15 years old #1117 61.5%
Casks - Sherry Butt
Region - Speyside
Distillery founded - 1836 (there is evidence of distilling on the site as far back as 1790).
The Grant family bought the distillery in 1865, but it became part of the Glenfarclas-Glenlivet Distillery Co, jointly owned by the Grants and Pattison Elder & Co in 1895. When the Pattison crash hit in 1898 - the Grants bought the distillery outright - it has remained in Grant family ownership ever since.
Benromach 'DramFest 2025' #626 2014 59.8%
Cask - 1st Fill Sherry Hogshead
Region - Speyside
Distillery founded - 1898
Benoromach was built in 1898, coinciding almost perfectly with the end of the boom that had preceded it for the previous 20 or so years. It closed a year after opening and had a chequered run for the next 90 years until independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail purchased it, deciding to resurrect the lesser used smoky Speyside style from yesteryear.
SMWS 2.138 Glenlivet 'Raisin toffee jam' 16 years 55.0%
Cask - 1st Fill Ex-Oloroso Sherry Butt
Region - Speyside
Distillery founded - 1824 (the year after the Excise Act was passed - The Glenlivet was the first Speyside distillery to apply for a licence).
Owner George Smith is credited with creating a new style of Speyside malt - with marked florals, esters and a pineapple note that held it apart from the heavier Speys of the time.
The distillery is also credited for being the first to crack the American market, making it arguably the first ‘Single Malt brand’.
Caol Ila 'Adelphi' 2014 / 10 years old #326024 55.4%
Cask - 1st fill Oloroso Sherry hogshead.
Region - Islay
Distillery founded - 1846
Caol Ila spent most of its life supplying malt for blends and didn't release a single malt until 2002 with the release of the 12-year-old. It was demolished and rebuilt in 1972, and in the downturn of the 1980s, produced an unpeated highland style to fit with the demands of the era.
Rumours are that Diageo is stopping the custom of selling surplus casks to independent bottlers - and so its days as an independently bottled whisky could be coming to an end.
Mystery whisky
Whiskybase score - 87.81
