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Release Notes
Last year's cask of 1988 sherry-aged Blair Athol from Signatory drove our customers into such a frenzy that we still get phone calls asking about it over a year later. The big, rich, caked-in-sherry flavor blended beautifully with the soft-fruited core of the Highland whisky's profile, creating an absolute beast when bottled at full proof. We're happy to announce to all those who've been begging us for more that we were able to return to Signatory this past spring and purchase the lone sister cask to that beloved Blair Athol, bringing one last batch of that sherry-matured magic to K&L customers one last time. Whereas last year's cask showcased all the sweetness and sugary spice that Oloroso sherry can offer, this whisky is much drier and earthier on the palate. It's full of coffee bean, dried prunes, and burnt almonds, lingering far longer on the finish with a more dynamic finale of dried earth and savory splendor. It's a fitting finale to one of the most talked-about and requested whiskies in K&L history. We're happy we were able to finish out the legacy with a bang!
K&L
Bottle #475 of 544 bottles filled from Refill Sherry Butt #6844 on August 17th, 2015. The whisky was distilled on October 14th of 1988.
Yours Truly
The Bottler: Signatory Vintage
| Established: 1988 |
| Silent since: False |
| Address: Edradour Distillery, Pitlochry, Perthshire & Kinross, PH16 5JP, Scotland |
Signatory owns the smallest distillery from Scotland, Edradour since 22 july 2002
In April 1992, as the company began to grow, they moved to much larger premises. Here, they were granted a licence to bottle their own products on site. They set-up a small line bottling system, primarily geared towards the bottling of single casks. Although the actual bottling of whisky is semi-automated, the emphasis is very much a hands-on operation, with hand labeling and packing of products. To add to the exclusivity of their bottlings, they often declare the cask number, date of distillation,and date of bottling on our labels. In addition,each bottle is individually hand numbered.
It is their aim, as an independent bottler to offer a range of whiskies, some of which are not bottled by the proprietor of a particular distillery, and some at different ages/strengths to those offered as distillery bottlings. The majority of their bottlings are the product of single casks, with the malt whisky enthusiast being given the opportunity to sample the subtle differences which occur with each different cask.
The name of Signatory derived from the fact that their initial intention was to find someone famous to sign the labels for bottles produced from one single cask. The first cask we purchased was a cask of 1968 Glenlivet, which was sold long before we could find a famous person.
Until April 1992, when they moved to their current premises in Newhaven (Edinburgh), they operated from a bonded warehouse in Leith. Leith was once a well known port for importing wine from France. As this industry declined, many of the whisky companies began to occupy the old warehouses for cask storage purposes. In recent years, this has also declined, with the larger companies moving to the west of Edinburgh, where transport links are better.
The company was founded in 1988. It is a family owned and managed company, being one of only three true independent bottlers. They always like to draw a distinction between the independent companies who bottle their own products, and the independent companies whose products are bottled under contract. The other fully independent bottlers are: Gordon & MacPhail and Wm. Cadenhead.
from Whisky-Distilleries.info
The Distillery: Blair Athol
| Established: 1798 |
| Silent since: False |
| Address: Pitlochry, Perthshire, PH16 5LY, Scotland, UK |
Blair Athol is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland, founded in 1798 by John Stewart and Robert Robertson near the picturesque little town of Pitlochry. The young Blair Athol distillery was closed not long afterwards, however - until it was revived again by John Robertson in 1825/"26. It ran continuously for a decade after that.
One more thing: I wrote that Blair Athol was founded in 1789. Actually, the distillery that was founded on this location was called "Aldour", after the Allt Dour burn that still provides the distillery with its water today.
The Gaelic name of the stream means "burn of the otter" - hence the picture of an otter on the label of the Flora & Fauna bottling shown above. I already mentioned that Blair Athol distillery is well worth a visit - at least I think so. It"s conveniently located about half a mile South of the centre of Pitlochry, definitely worthy of a vist itself. In fact, it"s a perfect stop on any trip through Scotland, because you can find the Edradour distillery nearby as well. In the unlikely event that you experience one of Scotland"s short spells of nice weather, a walk from Pitlochry to Edradour (+/- five miles) through the hills surrounding the village is a very pleasant experience indeed. And if you"re touring through the Midlands in the comfort of a car, Aberfeldy isn"t that far away either.
In 1998 Blair Athol"s owners United Distillers (UD, part of the well-known Guiness Group) and International Distillers and Vintners (IDV, part of the Grand Metropolitan Group) merged into a new whisky industry giant; United Distillers and Vintners (UDV, more or less synonymous with Diageo). UDV/Diageo owns almost 30 malt whisky distilleries.
Diageo hasn"t opened up all its distilleries to visitors, but Blair Athol is "hospitable". The tour of the distillery is excellent; very relaxed yet informative. The distillery grounds are quite beautifully laid out around a gently curving stream. The buildings are covered in vines and/or that typical black fungus that seems to like whisky almost as much as us maniacs.
A string of different owners followed in rapid succession; Alexander Conacher & Co., John Conacher & Co, Peter Fraser & Co., Elizabeth Conacher and P. McKenzie & Co Distillers Limited. The Blair Athol distillery was finally closed in 1932, before being purchased by Arthur Bell & Sons Ltd. in 1933. Although Arthur Bell owned Blair Athol, they didn"t actually use it until it was fully rebuilt in 1949. Blair Athol distillery yard Blair Athol whisky from Scotland
In 1973 two more stills were added to the existing two and in 1992 Blair Athol was expanded with a visitor centre. Four malt maniacs visited Blair Athol in the summer 2003; in fact it was the very first malt whisky distillery in Scotland I visited myself. Read the report about our visit to Blair Athol in my Liquid Log (it"s entry #140) for some interesting information about this Midlands distillery.
In the new Millenium
- 2005 - the "Bells Special Reserve" is launched; a vatted malt whisky (a blend of different malt whiskies).
- 2010 - The 12yo "Flora & Fauna" expression of the Blair Athol whisky has been the only semi-official bottling from the distillery for many years, but in or around 2010 Diageo introduced cask strength "distillery only" bottlings... Not just of Blairathol, mind you - from distilleries like Lagavulin and Talisker as well.
- 2010 - The Blair Athol distillery is partly refurbished; the eight old washbacks (four made from wood, four from steel) are replaced by six brand new washbacks - all made out of steel this time.
Trivia:
- These days (after the year 2000) bottles of Blair Athol whisky are relatively hard to find. There are no recent OB"s that I know of - unless you count an overproof version that became available exclusively at the distillery around 2010. That being said, Bells used to release a semi-official bottling in the 1980"s. Two later "semi official" whisky bottlings were a 12yo Flora & Fauna released in the 1990"s and a 27yo 1975 "Rare Malts" whisky.
- At some point the whisky PR people got it into their heads that blended whiskies needed a "spiritual home". Blair Athol distillery is considered to be the "spiritual home" of Diageo"s famous Bell"s blend. The blend supposedly also contained Caol Ila, Dufftown, Glenkinchie and Inchgower - and loads of cheap grain whisky of course...
- Most of the Blair Athol malt whisky that is destined for Bell"s and other blends (at least 90%) has been matured almost exclusively in bourbon casks while the whisky that will be used for single malts comes from sherry casks.
- A few years ago the production capacity of Blair Athol was 2,000,000 litres of pure alcohol per year. After Diageo started to push the Bell"s blend, production at Blair Athol was increased to 2,500,000 litres per year.
- The Blair Athol distillery is located in the charming little town of Pitlochry, just like Edradour. The distillery receives around 40,000 visitors each year in their whisky visitor centre.
from Malt Madness
The Owner: Diageo
| Established: 1997 |
| Silent since: False |
| Address: 8 Henrietta Place, London, W1G ONB, UK |
| → website |
Diageo also distributes Unicum, its lighter-bodied variant Zwack and Jose Cuervo tequila products in North America. However, Cuervo operates as a separate company in Mexico and is not owned by Diageo. Similarly Grand Marnier is distributed by Diageo in many markets, including exclusively in Canada, and a deal was reached in 2009 to significantly expand this partnership in Europe.
Furthermore, Diageo owns the Gleneagles Hotel.
Diageo was formed in 1997 from the merger of Guinness plc and Grand Metropolitan plc. The creation was driven by the two executives Anthony Greener and Philip Yea at Guinness plus George Bull and John McGrath of Grand Metropolitan. The product portfolios of Guinness and Grand Met were largely complementary with little overlap.
Diageo is the world"s biggest whisky producer with 28 malt distilleries and two grain distilleries.The company operates the Scotch whisky distilleries of Auchroisk, Benrinnes, Blair Athol (situated at Pitlochry), Caol Ila, Cardhu, Knockando, Glen Elgin, Clynelish, Cragganmore, Dalwhinnie, Glenkinchie, Glen Ord, Lagavulin, Oban, Royal Lochnagar, Strathmill, Talisker, Teaninich, Mannochmore, Mortlach and Glenlossie, which are sold not only under their own name but used to make the various blended scotch whiskies sold by the company, and owns the stock of many closed distilleries such as Port Ellen, Rosebank, Brora, Convalmore, Glen Albyn, North Brechin, Banff, and Linlithgow. The company have opened a new malt distillery adjacent to their maltings at Roseisle (1st new make spirit produced Spring 2009). This will be one of the largest malt distilleries in Scotland. The new building contains 14 traditional copper pot stills. An expansion programme is also underway at its Cameron Bridge Grain Distillery in Fife that will make it the largest grain distillery in Scotland. Diageo also owns the Port Dundas Grain Distillery in Glasgow, and jointly operates the North British Grain Distillery in Gorgie, Edinburgh, with The Edrington Group.
Diageo plc (LSE: DGE, NYSE: DEO) is the largest multinational beer, wine and spirits company in the world. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and has American Depositary Receipts listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The word Diageo was formed from the Latin dia (day) and the Greek geo (World), symbolising the use of the company"s brands every day, everywhere. Its head office is located in the City of Westminster in London. It is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Trivia:
- In December 2003, Diageo provoked controversy over its decision to change its Cardhu brand Scotch whisky from a single malt to a vatted malt (also known as a pure malt) whilst retaining the original name and bottle style. Diageo took this action because it did not have sufficient reserves to meet demand in the Spanish market, where Cardhu had been successful. After a meeting of producers, Diageo agreed to make changes.
- In 2006, the Cardhu brand quietly changed back to being a single malt.
- In July 2009, Diageo announced that, after nearly 200 years of association with the town of Kilmarnock, they would be closing the Johnnie Walker blending and bottling plant as part of restructuring to the business. This would make 700 workers unemployed and caused outrage from press, local people and politicians. A campaign against this decision was launched by the local SNP MSP Willie Coffey and Labour MP Des Browne. A petition was drawn up against the Diageo plans, which also involves the closure of the historic Port Dundas Grain Distillery in Glasgow.
- In February 2009 it was reported in the Guardian that the company had restructured itself so as to avoid paying tax in the U.K., despite much of its profits being generated in the U.K.
- Diageo is engaged in a tax scheme in the United States of America, commonly referred to as the "Rum Bailout", which will guarantee it USD$3 billion in revenues and profits.
- The National Puerto Rican Coalitionplans to run a series of ads in New York City and Puerto Rico urging a boycott of Diageo-owned alcoholic drinks to protest the giant British-owned corporation"s controversial production move of its Captain Morgan rum from Puerto Rico to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
from Wikipedia