Oban
Distillery Bottlings
Posted 25 February 2019
The Oban Bay Reserve is one of ‘chase’ bottle of the series of Game of Thrones whisky tie-ins. It sold out in a flash at the big retailers. Though like the entire series, hold onto your horses - winter will be coming once again - thousands upon thousands of new bottlings are on the horizon. Releases are few and far between from the West Coast based distillery, and it’s popularity, particularly in the US is high. The bottling looks rather stark (pun intended) compared to the other seven releases – black smoked glass, certainly fitting for the Night’s Watch - though presented with a rather tacky plastic label.
83%
Oban was constructed in 1794 by brothers John and Hugh Stevenson and is located in the Western Highlands. The distillery is one of Scotland's smallest with just two, small, onion-shaped still and a pair of worm tubs (which are run hot to increase the amount of copper contact and preserve the distilleries light, fruity new make style). Oban was one of the very first entries into the single malt category when in 1979 they launched a 12 year old expression. Ten years later, owners Diego launched their 'Classic Malts' line-up, and a relaunched 14 year old Oban was added to the range.
84%
Whilst barely a week goes by without some distilleries announcing a new expression, new bottlings from Oban are few and far between. The 14 year old has been in the Classic Malt line-up since its inception and is regularly stocked as a go-to option in many bars the world over – likewise, the Travel Retail ‘Little Bay’ can be regularly spotted whilst wandering aimlessly around airports – but, in general, Oban fans have it hard – and there’s little to no juice in the hands of independent bottlers. It therefore stuck me as small surprise that the Oban Bay Reserve bottling from the Game of Thrones series seemed to be the expression that sold out on pre-order the quickest last week. Popular show meets popular but rarely sighted new Oban.
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