A single cask ex-bourbon bottling of the workhorse distillery Glentauchers from Chivas / Pernod Ricard's "Distillery Reserve Collection" of cask strength 500ml bottlings, which are available from any of the company's visitor's centres. Plus the occasional appearances on the usual auction sites...
Even among other "workhorse" malt whisky distilleries in Speyside, Glentauchers is easily one of the lesser-known. These workhorse distilleries produce malt whisky that is destined for blended whisky brands, either those owned by the same parent company, or for contract fillings owned by other companies. Many of these distilleries wouldn't exist without the blenders, and often don't release any single malts under their own labels, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they don't or can't produce good quality single malt. Pernod Ricard have a few of these quiet workhorses under their ownership, mainly used for their two largest blended Scotch whisky brands; Chivas Regal and Ballantine's. The most widely known of these would be Miltonduff, Braeval (a.k.a. Braes of Glenlivet), and Glenburgie, and they're only known at all because of the independent bottlers. Glentauchers - pronounced "Glen-tock-ers" - is an even quieter example of these quiet workhorses, only really producing for the Ballantine's and Chivas Regal, and only known at all thanks to the work of the independent bottlers. This is quite a large distillery, with an annual production capacity of over 4-million litres of spirit, and is located in the middle of the Speyside region, roughly halfway between the towns of Craigellachie and Keith. But there's no visitor's centre, and there have only been three official bottlings (i.e. sold by the distillery's owners under the distillery name) of Glentauchers single malt since Pernod Ricard acquired the distillery in 2005 when they purchased Allied Distillers. Glentauchers was originally founded in 1897, and wound up being owned by Diageo until they mothballed the distillery in 1985 and sold it to Allied in 1989. Glentauchers has six wooden washbacks and six large pot stills, and is the only Scotch whisky distillery owned by Chivas / Pernod that is not automated, being kept relatively traditional and hands-on so the owners can use it as a training ground for their production staff.
Glentauchers is mainly seen as a single malt from independent bottlers like Gordon & MacPhail or Signatory Vintage, plus a few smaller examples, at a variety of ages and in a variety of cask types, and is known for producing malty and floral style of whisky thanks to relatively long fermentation times and low fill levels in the pot stills for increased reflux. The example that we're looking at today isn't an independent bottling though, it's one of the few Glentauchers released as a single malt by the parent company, although I'd only call it a semi-official bottling. This bottling is from the Pernod / Chivas Brothers "Distillery Reserve Collection", which are 500ml bottles of cask strength single malts, either single casks or small batches of a few casks, that are only available from the company's visitor's centres. Sort of distillery exclusives then, except the range of Pernod distilleries are available from each site. For example you can visit the Strathisla Distillery visitor's centre and buy a Distillery Reserve Collection bottling of a Glen Keith, a Miltonduff, or a Glentauchers. Many of the Chivas sites do not have visitors centres or aren't open to the public at all, as with many of the corporate-owned workhorse distilleries in Speyside, so this is a good way to get some of these lesser-known distilleries a tiny bit of attention, rather than letting the independent bottlers be the only examples of these distilleries' whiskies bottled as single malts.
The example that we're looking at today is a single cask 10-year old Glentauchers; distilled in October 2008, fully matured in a first-fill ex-bourbon barrel, and bottled in June 2019 with a yield of 348 x 500ml bottles at a cask strength of 52.6% ABV. I nabbed it for a reasonable price from an online auction, since the only Chivas distillery I've visited so far was Aberlour back in 2017, and they didn't have any of these Distillery Reserve bottlings available at the time. This is the youngest Glentauchers that I've tasted to date and also the most spirit-driven, with most of the few being aged in the teens and coming from Gordon & MacPhail and Signatory. The flavour profile here is typical Speyside really, but more on the malty end of the spectrum rather than fruity, and they can also be slightly floral as well, which is a slightly unusual combination. Let's get to it!
Glentauchers Distillery Reserve Collection 10-Year Old, 52.6%. Speyside, Scotland.
Distilled Oct 2008, matured in single first-fill ex-bourbon barrel, bottled June 2019. Cask #95106, 348 x 500ml bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.
Colour: Pale gold.
Nose: Fresh, malty, balanced. Biscuity, malted barley, runny honey, lemon drops (boiled sweets/lollies), and a touch of spearmint. Passionfruit cheesecake with biscuit base, floral with lavender-scented hand soap (in a pleasant level), lime juice, and some ground white pepper.
Texture: Medium weight. Malty, floral, clean, balanced, easy-drinking. No heat at all.
Taste: Malty, rich, balanced, cleanly flavoured. Oat biscuits with a touch of golden syrup mixed through, malted barley, passionfruit curd, runny honey, and a touch of lime juice. Hints of dried lavender & aniseed around the edges.
Finish: Medium length. Malted barley, tea biscuits, and lime juice carry through, then that floral lavender hand soap returns, along with the passionfruit cheesecake (with sweet biscuit base), and runny honey. Touch of aniseed around the edges.
Score: 3.5 out of 5.
Notes: Just a tasty easy-drinking ex-bourbon Speysider with a great malty, clean, unadulterated flavour. Great balance with the sweeter malty, honeyed, biscuity notes countered by the passionfruit & lime juice acidity. This isn't the most complex or challenging whisky out there by any means, but that's not always necessary or even wanted, sometimes you want a (relatively) spirit driven, clean, refreshing whisky with no real rough edges. A whisky that won't steal your attention away from a conversation, but also isn't boring or forgettable by any means. Which is exactly what we have here!
This is certainly the best semi-official bottling of Glentauchers that I've had to date, not that there are many to choose from!
