There’s a wide gulf between celebrating our past and seemingly wanting to live in it. Whilst few would deny the importance of whisky’s history – indeed for a product with an unusually long manufacturing time doing so would seem counterintuitive – tradition and heritage should be the bedrock on which the industry’s future is built, not the crutch it always falls back on when it has run out of new things to say.
Speyside again, this time a 10 year old Glenburgie matured for its entire life in a refill ex-bourbon barrel. Juicy, Oak & Vanilla profile.
Another Spicy & Dry profile from this month’s outturn – this one an 11 year old from Glenburgie that’s been matured in a refill ex-bourbon barrel.
12 year old Glenburgie that’s been matured in a refill ex-bourbon barrel. View on SMWS
The original (smaller) Glenburgie was demolished in 2004 before being rebuilt with a swap from a pair of Lomond stills to three pairs of onion stills. Long a blending component for Ballantine’s, few OB’s have been issued outside of the Chivas Brothers Cask Strength and Distillery Reserve Collections. However, there’s plenty of IB’s out there (32 were bottled in 2018). This TWE exclusive Signatory has been matured in an ex-bourbon hogshead (#6585) for 23 years, before being bottled at 57.5% ABV. It's available from The Whisky Exchange for £120.
It was not all that long ago that The Whisky Exchange presented us with another 21 year old Glenburgie for Black Friday 2019. That was a vatting, here we’re into single cask territory (#900888) with a 1998 vintage matured in an ex-bourbon hogshead for 21 years. 254 bottles have been produced at an ABV of 55.4%. They’re available via the Whisky Exchange for £120 a pop.
All set for the annual stampede of frenzied shoppers prepared (and in some cases seemingly more than willing) to flatten each other in the name of bargain hunting? Whilst every year, more and more Black Friday ‘sales’ move off of the retail floors and onto the Internet, I read with interest a Which Report tracking the prices of 83 products offered as Black Friday deals in 2018 – 95% of them were still being offered at the same price or even cheaper six months later. Black Friday takes its cues from the most potent of consumer shopping traits – people’s seeming inability to resist what is portrayed as a deal.