|
|
Release Notes
When you're talking luxury whisky in today's single malt whisky market, you're talking four to five-figure price points based more on age statements and brand names than on quality or flavor. In 2015, a bottle of 25 year old Macallan will run you $1200. So how is it that K&L can track down a single cask of 33 year old Glenlivet, aged in sherry, and bottled at cask strength for $399? Sometimes it's best not to ask questions. We've done it, however. We've brought it one of the most impressive, crowd-pleasing, all-encompassing single malts of the year with this 1981 Glenlivet, and it's everything you hope it will be. Dark caramel, Christmas cake with baking spices, fudge, candied ginger, and loads of richness that coat the palate all the way through to the finish. The question you should be asking, however, is: will one bottle be enough?
K&L
Bottle #9 of only 115 bottles filled from refill sherry hogshead 9459 on July 8th, 2015. The whisky was distilled on November 5th of 1981.
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: Glenlivet
| Established: 1824 |
| Silent since: False |
| Address: Ballindalloch, Banffshire AB37 9DB, UK |
| → website |
2001 - Seagram Spirit & Wine (and their subsidiary Chivas Brothers) are bought by Diageo and Pernod Ricard. The Chivas Group which owns Glenlivet (along with Aberlour, Longmorn and a bunch of other distilleries) ended up in the "stable" of Pernod Ricard eventually. The Glen Keith distillery was also acquired, but mothballed right away.
When King George IV visited Scotland in 1822, whisky was as much part of Scottish society and culture as it is today. Strictly speaking, producing and and selling whisky was illegal - but it still happened everywhere in Scotland. To bring some sense of order to the situation, the government introduced a system of rules and customs in 1823 and lowered the price of a license.
After a many legal battles in court, only the Glenlivet distillery is allowed to use the name THE Glenlivet.
Even after the court"s decision some other distilleries and bottlers bravely continued to use the name "Glenlivet" on their labels. Many of the old Cadenhead"s bottlings from the 1980"s still have the word "Glenlivet" printed boldly behind the name of the distillery. In fact, even in the third millennium their range included bottlings like Aultmore-Glenlivet, Balmenach-Glenlivet, Balvenie-Glenlivet, Convalmore-Glenlivet, etcetera. As far as official bottlings are concerned: a Balmenach-Glenlivet 14yo OB was bottled in the 1970"s and I have a wonderful "kitsch" bottle of "Tomintoul Glenlivet 12" from the 1980"s on my shelves when I write this. It actually looks more like a perfume bottle. Another legendary antique bottling came from a distillery that"s actually located some twenty kilometers to the North of the Glenlivet distillery; the "Aberlour Glenlivet" 8 years old. Some batches prove that a malt whisky doesn"t really need 20 or 30 years of ageing.
The pistols were a personal gift from the Laird of Aberlour who was impressed with the perseverance of George Smith. Glenlivet still honours its founder; the aforementioned pistols are exhibited at the distillery and the name of George Smith can still be found on the labels. The fact that he was a man of vision was proven by the fact that a mere ten years after the Glenlivet distillery received its license in 1824 all illegal competition in the Glen Livet valley had been eradicated.
But this didn"t mean that Glenlivet wouldn"t have any more competing neighbours... The fame of the Glen Livet valley had already widely spread at the time of the visit of King George IV to Edinburgh; some people claim he actually asked for it by name. Because the name of the "terroir" became very well known, more and more distilleries in the area added "Glenlivet" to their own name. A joke from those days was that the name "Glenlivet" meant "The long Valley" - because so many distilleries were located there. Until 1984, many distillers still put "Glenlivet" behind their name on their labels.
Thanks to the reduced licensing costs the small illegal distillers in the Highlands were now also able to obtain a license. One of the first distillers to step forward was George Smith who rented a small farm from the Duke of Richmond and Gordon. George was a farmer, but also a scholar of latin & architecture.
George Smith had actually started distilling whisky when it was still illegal. This was a "cottage industry" though; he managed to produce no more than 50 gallons (200 liters) of whisky each week. The decision to apply for a license was viewed as treacherous by George"s illegal neighbours - or at least a form of unfair competition. Consequentially, George Smith received numerous threats from his neighbours. Later he wrote about this early period of Glenlivet: "I was warned before I began by my civil neighbours that they meant to burn my new distillery to the ground, and me in the heart of it". But that didn"t stop him... The first few years were difficult, but George Smith maneged to survive - perhaps partly thanks to a pair of "hair trigger pistols" he carried with him night and day. Arsonists were suitably deterred...
When I write this, the Glenlivet distillery is able to produce over eight million litres of alcohol per year. That"s quite a bit more than the circa 10,000 litres that George Smith was able to produce each year less than two centuries ago. The brand is available in more than a hundred different countries, so it"s safe to say that Glenlivet is breathing down Glenfiddich"s neck in the ongoing race for the title of biggest selling malt whisky.
In the new Millenium
2004 - A 15yo "French Oak" official bottling is introduced to replace the old 12 years old version.
2005 - The first "Nadurra" bottling is released; dozens will follow in later years.
Trivia:
- In 2008 Chivas Brothers announced that they are planning to further expand their Glenlivet distillery. They will be adding a new mash tun, six stills and eight washbacks.
- The site of the first Glenlivet distillery was at George Smith"s own farm at Upper Drumin, a little over a mile North of the current site at Minmore . As production expanded, George Smith and his son John Gordon built the current distillery at the site of Minmore Farm in 1858.
- If the name "Glenlivet" is used on an older bottling that was released in the 1970"s or 1980"s, that doesn"t necessarily mean it contains malt whisky distilled at Glenlivet. In the past it has been used as a name for the "terroir" in the Speyside region. So, it"s possible to find bottles of Macallan-Glenlivet, Balvenie-Glenlivet, etc.
- Almost half of all the Glenlivet whisky that is bottled as a single malt is sold in the USA.
from Malt Madness
The Owner: Chivas Brothers
| Established: 1801 |
| Silent since: False |
| Address: Strathisla Distillery, Seafield Avenue, Keith, Banffshire, AB55 5BS, United Kingdom |
| → website |
Chivas Regal is a blended Scotch whisky produced by Chivas Brothers, owned by Pernod Ricard. According to the brand packaging, Chivas Brothers was first established in 1801 in Aberdeen, Scotland. The Chivas brand"s home is Strathisla Distillery at Keith, Moray in Speyside, Scotland. It is the market leading Scotch whisky aged 12 years and above in Europe and Asia Pacific. Chivas Regal sales have grown by 61% between 2002 and 2008.
In the early 1900s, Chivas Brothers decided to create their most aged blended Scotch whisky to export to the U.S, where the booming economy after the turn of the century was fueling demand for luxury goods. The whisky was named Chivas Regal.
Chivas Regal 25 Year Old was launched in 1909 as the original luxury Scotch, and became a leading brand in the U.S. Chivas Regal continued its success until prohibition in the 1920s.
In 1843, Chivas Brothers were granted a Royal Warrant to supply goods to Queen Victoria. Chivas Brothers was described in 1890 as "undoubtedly the finest purveying business in the north of Scotland" by "Scotland of Today" magazine.
During the 1850s, James Chivas decided to respond to his affluent customers" demands for a smoother whisky, by beginning to blend whiskies to create a proprietary blend to Chivas Brothers. Their first blended Scotch whisky named "Royal Glen Dee" was launched, followed in the 1860s by their second blended Scotch whisky, "Royal Strathythan".
The House of Schivas, a large mansion, was built at Schivas in Aberdeenshire in 1640. The name is derived from the Gaelic "seamhas", meaning narrow place.
Chivas Brothers traces its roots to the opening of a grocery store at 13 King St, Aberdeen in 1801. The store sold luxury foodstuffs such as coffee, exotic spices, French brandies, and Caribbean rums to a wealthy clientele. In 1842, Chivas Brothers were retained to supply provisions to the royal family at Balmoral Castle upon Queen Victoria"s first visit to Scotland.
Chivas Regal was purchased by Seagrams in 1949, which provided a much wider distribution and marketing system.
Chivas Regal was re-launched as Chivas Regal 12 year old in the US following the disruption of both Prohibition and World War II. Chivas became a fashionable brand of the era, and became associated with Frank Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack. Chivas Regal was the Scotch whisky requested by Sinatra, along with other spirits brands backstage at performances, and Chivas sponsored Frank Sinatra"s Diamond Jubilee Tour in 1990.
The Strathisla distillery is owned by Chivas Brothers, and Strathisla Single Malt is one of the malt whiskies used within the Chivas Regal blend.
Strathisla Single Malts have a natural sweetness and help to define the taste of Chivas Regal.
In 1950, the company Chivas Brothers was able to buy the Strathisla Distillery which produces the Strathisla Single Malt, which is used within the Chivas Regal blend.
The Chivas Regal range was expanded with the launch of higher aged whiskies, in 1997 with the launch of Chivas Regal 18 year old, and in 2007 with the launch of Chivas Regal 25.
Chivas Regal was acquired by Pernod Ricard in 2000 upon the break up of Seagrams Group.
The home of Chivas Regal and location of its visitor centre is located at the Strathisla distillery. The distillery was founded in 1786, and is the oldest working distillery in the Highlands of Scotland - Strathisla Distillery, located in Speyside.
from Wikipedia
The Owner: Pernod Ricard
| Established: 1975 |
| Silent since: False |
| Address: 12, place des Etats-Unis, 75783 Paris Cedex-16, France |
| → website |
HELLO WORLD!!! Pernod Ricard owns a wide variety of brands including: Chivas Regal, Glenlivet, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Seagram"s, Pernod absinthe, Absolut, Ricard pastis, Martell cognac, Jaconb"s Creek wine, pernod anise, Havana Club rum, Ballantine"s scotch, Kahlue, Malibu rum, Beefeater gun, Stolichnaya vodka, Mumm champagne and more.
Pernod Ricard came into existence when old rivals Pernod and Ricard merged to form Pernod Ricard S.A.. Ricard was founded 1932 in Marseille by Paul Ricard. Pernod started with Henri-Louis Pernod who opened his first absinthe distillery in Switzerland in 1797, followed by Maison Pernod Fils in Pontarlier. In 1926 these distilleries merged with Distillerie Hernard in Paris to form Les Etablissements Pernod.
After the 1975 merger that formed the current company a series of buy-ins and takeovers began that continues until this day. In 1988 PR acquired Irish Distillers which includes Jameson Irish Whiskeys, in 1989 PR acquired Orlando Wyndham (makers of Jacob"s Creek wine), in 2001 PR purchased 38% of Seagram"s Wines and Spirits, in 2005 PR purchased Allied Domecq and in 2008 PR bought V&S Group which includes the Absolut Vodka brand.
Reborn from the Pernod Fils company as a producer of anise liqueur following the ban on absinthe, it is now a worldwide conglomerate. It owns the alcoholic beverage division of the former Seagram corporation, among many other holdings. In 2005, the company acquired British-based international competitor Allied Domecq plc.
In 2008, Pernod Ricard announced the acquisition of Swedish-based V&S Group including Absolut Vodka.
Pernod Ricard (Euronext: RI) is a French company that produces alcoholic beverages. The company"s most famous products, Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis, are both anise liqueurs, and often referred to as simply Pernod or Ricard. The company also produces several other types of pastis.
from Wikipedia