Glen Keith

SCOTCH SINGLE MALT WHISKIES > G

GLEN KEITH

24 years old

40 %
CONNOISSEURS CHOICE
Distilled 1965
Bottled 1989
Proprietors: Chivas Bros Ltd
Gordon & Macphail, Elgin

GLEN KEITH

10 years old

43 %

Distilled: 1994
Glen Keith Distillers
'the pool of the Salmon'

The Glen Keith distillery stands beside the fast-flowing river Isla, above a deep pool where wild salmon swim and leap. The Gaelic name is 'linne a bhrasan'. Here nature is unspoilt; the air and the water pure and sweet. It is the very heart of Scotch Whisky country.

Eind 1994 voor het eerst als officiële botteling uitgebracht door Seagram, eerst met op het etiket de vermelding 'Distilled before 1983' en tien jaar oud, daarna staat alleen vermeld: 10 years old. Uitgebracht in hun serie 'The Heritage Selection' samen met Ben Riach, Longmorn en Strathisla.

GLEN KEITH

28 years old

40 %
CONNOISSEURS CHOICE
Distilled 1967
Bottled 1995
Proprietors: The Chivas Bros Ltd
Gordon & Macphail,   Elgin

GLEN KEITH

22 years old

51,2 %

IN CELEBRATION
500 YEARS OF SCOTCH WHISKY
1494 - 1994
James MacArthur & Co, Ltd, Edinburgh

The Glen Keith Distillery was built on the side of an old meal mill and started production in 1958. It stands on the banks of the River Isla, on the opposite bank from its sister distillery Strathisla. Water for distilling is drawn from Newmill Spring an peat comes from Knockando. The distillery licence is held by Chivas Brothers.

The whisky has a light, sweet and attractive aroma, with a taste that is equally light and well balanced on the palate with just a hint of fruit. This is an ideal pre-dinner dram.

This bottling has been done at cask strenght and without the whisky having been chill filtered, thus retaining the full flavour of the cask in which it has been matured.

GLEN KEITH

10 years old

55.9 %

SINGLE CASK
SCOTCH MALT WHISKY
Distilled May 1993
Bottled Feb 04
Society Cask code 81.8
Outturn 336 Bottles
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society,
The Vaults, Leith, Edinburgh
'Solvent and chewy sweets'

A modern distillery (1957-60), built on the site of a corn-mill by Chivas Brothers, facing their delightful Strathisla Distillery at Keith, to ptoduce filling for Chivas Regal and Passport - the first distillery to be built in Scotland since 1900.

Originally it was designed for triple distillation and had three stills; a further two were added in 1970.

Mid-gold in color - it comes from a U.S. hogshead - this example of the make is light and volatile, perfumed and redolent of artificial fruits, acetone and cream soda. Water brings up chewy sweets and floor polish, with blossom, nettles and meadows and a light vanilla note.

The flavor is sweet and soft, but with an unusual taste of charred paper in the short finish - unexpected and interesting.

GLEN KEITH

12 years old

46 %

CONNOISSEURS CHOICE
Distillation Date: June 1993
Bottling Date: May 2005
Cask Type:
Refill American Hogshead
Proprietors:
Chivas Bros. Ltd
Gordon & Macphail, Elgin

An aromatic whisky with sweet, herbal notes and a peppery edge.

October 2012

The mothballed Glen Keith distillery will be reopened in April 2013 by Chivas Brothers

2013

New Glen Keith

Investment: 8.000.000 pound

Malt: upeated Optic / Concerto blend

Mashing: Full – lauter mashtun, 8 tonnes mash

Fermentation: 9 x Oregon pine

6 x stainless steel washbacks

36000 litres each

Fermentation time: 60 hours

Wash stills: 3 x 12000 litres charge

Output: 2,500.000 litres

Expression: 17 years old in the Cask Strenght Editions

GLEN KEITH
VINTAGE 1 9 9 5
15 years old

46 %
THE ULTIMATE SINGLE MALT
SCOTCH WHISKY
Distilled: 08/11/95
Matured in a Hogshead
Cask no: 171180
Bottled: 29/10/11
275 Numbered Bottles
Natural Colour
Non Chillfiltered
Selected by The Ultimate Whisky Company.NL

GLEN KEITH
VINTAGE 1 9 9 2
20 years old

46 %
THE ULTIMATE SINGLE MALT
SCOTCH WHISKY
Speyside Single Malt
Distilled: 01/10/92
Matured in a Bourbon Barrel
Cask no: 120564
Bottled: 15/08/13
189 Numbered Bottles
Natural Colour
Non Chillfiltered
Selected by The Ultimate Whisky Company.NL

GLEN KEITH
1 9 9 2
21 years old

46 %
Speyside Single Malt
THE ULTIMATE SINGLE MALT
SCOTCH WHISKY
Distilled: 01/10/92
Matured in a Bourbon Barrel
Cask No: 120571
Bottled: 30/07/14
211 Bottles
Natural Colour
Non Chillfiltered
Selected by The Ultimate Whisky Company.NL
Amersfoort

GLEN KEITH
24 year

46 %
THE ULTIMATE SINGLE MALT
SCOTCH WHISKY
Speyside Single Malt
Distilled: 05/06/91
Matured in a Bourbon Barrel
Cask no: 73632
Bottled; 23/10/15
238 Numbered Bottles
Natural Colour
Non Chill Filtration
Selected bij The Ultimate
Whisky Company.NL.

GLEN KEITH
VINTAGE 1 9 9 1
24 years

46 %
THE ULTIMATE SINGLE MALT
SCOTCH WHISKY
Speyside Single Malt
Distilled: 05/06/91
Matured in a Bourbon Barrel
Cask no: 73630
Bottled: 02/02/16
193 Numbered Bottles
Natural Colour
Non Chillfiltered
The Ultimate Malt Whisky Company.NL.

GLEN KEITH

25 years

47.1 %

Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Cask Strenght Collection

Signatory Vintage

Distilled: 05/06/1991

Matured in Bourbon Barrels

Cask no; 73642 / 73643

275 Bottled

Bottle No: 238

Natural Colour

Casks individually selected and bottled

by Signatory Vintage Scotch Whisky Co,

Pitlochry.

Speyside
GLEN KEITH also see GLENISLA

Keith, Banffshire. Licentiehouder: The Strathisla - Glenlivet Distillery Ltd. Werkmaatschappij van The Chivas & Glenlivet Group. Eigendom van Seagram.
In 1957 kocht Seagram een stuk grond aan de oever van de Isla, gelegen boven een diep, stil deel van deze rivier, dat in het Keltisch bekend staat als 'linne a bhradan', de springende zalm, tegenover de, aan de andere kant van de rivier gelegenStrathisla.
Met de bouw werd begonnen in 1957 en in 1958 werd Glen Keith opgestart. Voor dat doel werd een oude graanmolen omgebouwd tot distilleerderij.
Glen Keith begon met drie ketels, en men distilleerde drie maal tot 1970 toen er twee ketels bijkwamen en er voortaan twee maal werd gedistilleerd.

Vanaf 1970 worden de ketels met gas gestookt.In 1980 werdGlen Keith verreweg gecomputerieseerd.

Het proceswater komt van Balloch Hill, het koelwater van deIsla. n 1983 werd een zesde ketel toegevoegd. Glen Keithheeft een Saladin box, maar die is sinds 1976 niet meer in gebruik.

Glen Keith wordt samen met Strathisla, Benriach enLongmorn uitgebracht in de serie The Heritage Selection.

Op 18 December 2000 wordt Seagram voor 8.15 miljard dollar overgenomen door Diageo en Pernod Ricard. Diageo betaalt 5 miljard (= 61 %) Pernod Ricard de rest. Pernod Ricard krijgt de Schotse whiskymerken en distilleerderijen in zijn bezit.

Glen Keith kan ongeveer 3,7 miljoen spirit per jaar produceren. De Mash tun is 8.4 ton. De negen Wash backs zijn elk groot 44.500 liter. De drie Wash stills zijn elk 15.300 liter, de drie Spirit stills elk 11.100 liter
en worden indirect met stoom verhit.

Er is vanaf de opening van Glen Keith in 1957 een aantal jaren een experimentele, Islay achtige whisky gemaakt,Glenisla. Deze is nooit in de handel geweest.
Glen Keith is situated on the banks of the River Isla, a stone's throw from its sister distillery - Strathisla. A converted grain mill, the distillery started production in 1958 using triple distillation to produce a lighter style of whisky.This continued until 1970 when the number of stills was increased and the double distillation process was adopted.

January 2010
Chivas whisky bond's roof repairs at Keith could take up to six years
The job is also likely to resukt in a bill of millions of pounds
The repair job to fix the snow - damaged roofs of 38 foorball pitch - sized
bonds could take up to six years, it emerged last night
Roofs of the Chivas Regal brand's Keith buildings, where French company Pernod
Ricard is maturing 100 million gallons of malt whisky, collapsed under the weight
of snow earlier this moth
Last night a source close to the company, who asked not to be named, estimated a
six - month repair job for each roof
He said each bond stored 100.000 casks which would have to be painstakingly
lifted out one by one
He added, "We can't put people into the sheds for the safelty aspect"
"They are going to have to crane people in from the top and they are going to have
on a platform"
"The cannot go inside with forklifts and take them out six at a time because of
safety aspect of it"
Ït is going to amount to millions for the repair job"
"Hiring helicopters and cranes and digging their way in with men and machines.
It is going to cost a fortune"
It is understood casks of high - valua whisky destined for the Asian market will reach maturity in three warerhouses next week
The source said: "The have been a priority""
"They were worried that they would get lost, that would be a lot of money down the
drain"
A spokesman for Chivas Regal said last night the damage was still being assessed
He said:"It will probably be quite a bit of work"

October 2012
The mothballed Glen Keith distillery will be reopened in April 2013 by Chivas Brothers

Balloch Hill Spring

Mash tun: 1 x 8.4 tonnes
Washbacks: 9 x 44.500 litres
3 wash stills x 15.300 litres
3 spirit stills x 11.100 litres

Output: 4.000.000 litres

2013
New Glen Keith
Investment: 8.000.000 pound

Malt: unpeated Optic / Concerto blend
Mashing: Full - lauter mashtun, 8 tonnes mash
Fermentation: 9 x Oregon pine

6 x stainless steel washbacks 36000 litres each

Fermentations time: 60 hours

Wash stills: 3 x 12000 litres charge

Output: 2,500.000 litres

Expression: 17 years old in the Cask Strenght Edition

With sales of Chivas Regal rising throughout the 1950s, Sam Bronfman felt that he needed another distillery to supply juice for his blends – not just Chivas but Passport and 100 Pipers. He picked the site of a former meal mill in Keith, directly behind his existing Strathisla plant. As well as providing fillings for blends, Glen Keith became theSeagram’s experimental plant and still houses the Chivas Brothers lab.

It ran triple-distilled malt from the word go and alternated it with double distilled until the 1980s, ran trials with a wheat mash, was the first distillery to use gas-fired direct heating (all its stills are now steam-driven) and in its time also produced heavy peated variants [Glenisla] one made with peat smoke being passed through water which was then concentrated and the other in the normal manner. There were also trials with different yeast types. The fact that the stills were different shapes and sizes helped in these innovative trials.

It was mothballed in 1999, only reopening (under new owner Pernod Ricard) in 2013 after a complete refit which saw a new mash tun and washbacks being installed.

While there was a 10-year-old bottling it was never a front-line malt. There are occasional sightings of it (and Glen Isla) from independent bottlers.

1957-60

Glen Keith distillery is built by Seagram

1970

Two more stills are added, making five in

total. All are direct gas-fired

1994

A 10-year-old expression released

1999

The distillery is mothballed

2013

Glen Keith officially reopens with five stills

operational

2017

A Distillery Edition is released

2019

Thre The Secret Speyside Collection

Series are released

Capacity: 6.000.000 Ltrs

Output: 6.000.000 Ltrs

CAPACITY (MLPA) i

FERMENTATION TIME i

55 hours

FILLING STRENGTH i

63.50%

GRIST WEIGHT (T) i

HEAT SOURCE i

Steam

MALT SPECIFICATION i

Unpeated

MASH TUN TYPE i

Briggs lauter

NEW-MAKE STRENGTH i

69.30%

SPIRIT STILL CHARGE (L) i

9,250

STILLS i

3 wash; 3 spirit

WASH STILL CHARGE (L) i

11,760

WASHBACK CHARGE (L) i

35,300

WASHBACK SIZE (L) i

46,000

WASHBACK TYPE i

9 wood; 6 stainless steel

WASHBACKS i

WATER SOURCE i

Crossburn and Newmill Springs

WORT CLARITY i

Clear

GLEN KEITH DISTILLERY RELEASES SINGLE MALT

October 2017

Chivas Brothers is releasing a permanent no age statement (NAS) single malt from Glen Keith distillery for the first time.

Glen Keith Distillery Edition

Speyside malt: Glen Keith Distillery Edition is the site’s first NAS whisky

Glen Keith Distillery Edition has been matured in ‘traditional’ American oak casks and bottled at 40% abv.

Said to contain notes of honeycomb, vanilla toffee and poached pears, the expression is being launched in the UK this month at £30 for a 70cl bottle.

The Speyside distillery, located near Strathisla in Keith, produces a light and fruity style of single malt that’s predominantly used in the Chivas Regal, Passport and 100 Pipers blends.

The distillery opened in 1960, but the first official bottling of Glen Keith, a 10-year-old, wasn’t released until 1994.

The distillery was mothballed in 1999, but was reopened in 2013 by Chivas Brothers’ owner Pernod Ricardfollowing a complete refurbishment.

James Middleton, channel director for impulse at Pernod Ricard UK, said the launch of Glen Keith Distillery Edition follows a 90% increase in sales of single malt Scotch whisky in the UK impulse segment in the eight weeks leading up to Christmas last year.

‘The single malt market has been one of the most dynamic and profitable sectors of the spirits market in the last 10 years and is at the forefront of a movement in consumer taste towards spirits with greater authenticity and substance,’ he said.

The launch of Glen Keith as a single malt follows those of Chivas Brothers stablemates Glenburgie, Glentauchers and Miltonduff.

Last month the three distilleries, whose whisky is mostly commandeered for the Ballantine’s blend, were launched as 15-year-old single malts under the Ballantine’s brand.

"Connoisseurs Choice" November, 2018 releases:

Glen Keith Distillery (1993) 49.3% ABV

Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice Collection November 2018

Colour: Lightest gold

Region: Speyside

Distilled: Tuesday, 21 September, 1993

Bottled: Thursday, 13 September, 2018

Years old: 24

Cask No.: 111152

Cask Type: Refill bourbon barrel

Outturn: 205 bottles

Batch: 18/078

Connoisseurs Choice Tasting Notes :

Aroma: Warm pear and apple cake aromas accompany an elderflower cordial. Tropical fruit – pineapple, coconut, and lime – develop and complements a gentle camomile undertone.

Taste: Medium-bodied; citrus and vanilla combine, evoking flavours of a baked cheesecake. The developing tangy stewed rhubarb edge dissolves and reveals long malty notes.

Finish: A delicate herbal edge rounds out this balanced dram.

Personal tasting notes Official sample provided by Gordon & MacPhail

Nose: Light and engagingly fruity with an initial evocative combination of freshly baked Madeira cake and baked bramley apple aromas and a hint of vanilla custard.

A resiny aspect develops with more hints of tropical fruit mixed with a camomile based herbal tisane.

Taste: A stylish, well-rounded and balanced mouth feel. Delicate hints of vanilla and a lime citrus note peek through a creamy maltiness. The tart notes help cut through the underlying syrupy sweetness. The influences of the bourbon barrel ageing are noticeable.

Finish: Medium length with a delicate herbal piquant aftertaste

In short, a light, accessible, classic dram, loaded with fruits and made for sharing with friends appreciative of the lighter Speyside types of whisky.

Pernod Ricard UK is adding one of Speyside’s best kept secrets to its range of ‘Expertly Selected Whiskies’:

Glen Keith, Distillery Edition. Creating smooth, distinctive Speyside high quality Malt Whisky for decades,

Glen Keith has previously been reserved for use in premium blended whiskies and for rare cask releases. The

Distillery Edition is the first Single Malt expression from the distillery to be made available at an accessible

price.

The Glen Keith distillery perches on the Linn of Keith, a sparkling, free-flowing waterfall on the River Isla. It’s a

historic spot, once the stronghold of the Ogilvies of Milton, a band of one of the most prominent ancient

clans of Scotland. Distilled by Master Craftsmen and aged in the finest traditional oak casks, the new liquid is

a smooth, distinctive single malt with a hint of fresh-picked orchard fruits and rich toffee notes.

James Middleton, Channel Director for Impulse atPernod Ricard UK, comments: “The single malt market has

been one of the most dynamic and profitable sectors of the spirits market in the last ten years and is at the

forefront of a movement in consumer taste towards spirits with greater authenticity and substance. We’re

incredibly excited to be able to offer a product in time for Christmas, which has not been widely available

previously, as only rare Single Casks of Glen Keith have been sold before.”

Glen Keith is one of six Scotch Whiskies Pernod Ricard UK is urging retailers to

stock-up on this Christmas. Middleton, continues: “Christmas is the perfect time of

year to drive purchases of Scotch whisky, with sales increasing 68% in the eight

weeks ahead of the big day. Malt Whisky, in particular, experienced a strong uplift

of 90% last year1

As shoppers look to trade up and select the perfect gift, the fact

that this is the first-time Glen Keith has been available at an affordable price makes

it the perfect gift this Christmas.”

Available across the off-trade from October 2017, Glen Keith has an ABV of 40%

and an RRP of £30. The packaging features a distinctive illustration of the distillery,

conveying its strong back history and sense of place. The gold signifiers and clear

glass bottle emphasise Glen Keith as a premium and distinctive newcomer to the

Single Malts category;

NOSE

Ripe fruit aromas of pears and apricots, thick vanilla custard and a subtle sweet citrus orange zest.

TASTE

Sweet flavours of honeycomb and soft vanilla toffee, perfectly balanced with poached pears and delicate

notes of marzipan.

FINISH

Long and smooth with sweet notes of butterscotch.

For more information, please contact Lottie Sylvester at Pernod Ricard UK on 07979 396468 or

charlotte.sylvester@pernod-ricard.com.

About Pernod Ricard UK

Pernod Ricard UK is part of Pernod Ricard, number two in wines and spirits with sales of €9,010m in

2016/2017. Created in 1975 by the merger of Ricardand Pernod, the Group has undergone sustained

development, based on both organic growth and acquisitions: Seagram (2001), Allied Domecq (2005)

and Vin&Sprit (2008).

Pernod Ricard holds one of the most prestigious brand portfolios in the sector, including 19 brands among

the top 100 worldwide. Pernod Ricard UK has identified the following key priority brands in the UK market:

Absolut, Havana Club, Malibu, Lamb’s, Kahlúa, Plymouth Gin, Monkey 47, Chivas, Jameson, The Glenlivet,

Martell, Perrier-Jouët, G.H. Mumm, Brancott Estate, Campo Viejo, Graffigna and Jacob’s Creek. Pernod Ricard

UK is a member of The Portman Group promoting responsible drinking.

Glenisla

BRAND

An experimental peated Speyside malt produced at Glen Keith distillery on Speyside in the 1970s.

The real Glen Isla is one of the famous Angus glens than runs north to the ski resort of Glenshee. On the other hand, the eponymous malt whisky was a short-lived experiment to produce a smoky Speyside malt at Glen Keith – the Speyside distillery Seagram built next to its Stathisla distillery in Keith in the late 1950s.

Glen Keith was experimental from the start, testing out triple distillation and gas-fired direct heating for its stills. Among very rare independent bottlings of Glenisla, veteran nose Charlie Maclean found lots of ‘honey-glazed ham’ but precious little peat in a 1977 release from Signatory.

GLENISLA

If Maclean struggled to detect smoke it may be because Glenisla was peated in a very peculiar way. Under Seagram, Chivas Brothers had been sending 45-gallon drums of peated water from Stornaway to Glen Keith, where it was run through an angled condenser to concentrate the phenols. Apparently it was added 10 gallons at a time to the wash charge and its impact on the whisky must have been considerably less than using well-peated malt in the traditional way – a method Glen Keith also used.

Glenisla was only produced in the 1970s, and then only for a couple of years. The whisky was blended away, most notably in Chivas’ Century of Malts in the 1990s, although a very small amount has surfaced as a single malt bottled by Signatory.

Pernod Ricard

2001 - present

CURRENT OWNER

Chivas Brothers Holdings

2001 - present

PREVIOUS OWNER

Seagram Distillers

1977 - 2001

THE SECRET SPEYSIDE COLLECTION

July 2019

Secret Speyside Collection: Braes of Glenlivet, Caperdonich, Glen Keith, Longmorn

The Secret Speyside Collection is the largest range of single malts yet released by Chivas Brothers, covering 15 whiskies from four of the region’s distilleries: Braes of Glenlivet, Caperdonich, Glen Keith and Longmorn.

It’s perhaps open to question just how ‘secret’ Longmorn is – the single malt has been launched and relaunched in recent years, amid some controversy over pricing – but it’s certainly rare to see releases from the other three distilleries.

If you’ve never heard of Braes of Glenlivet, that’s because it’s been known as Braeval since 1994, to avoid confusion with its more illustrious stablemate. All three of the whiskies here were produced – just – before the change of name.

Whether you buy into regional flavour profiles or not, Richard Woodard finds that there’s a definite theme here of Speysidean fruit flavours running through all four of the distilleries on show, with some of the highlights including an ‘opulent’ 30-year-old Braes, and a ‘serious, but fun’ unpeated offering from closed distillery Caperdonich.

Meanwhile, there’s little to choose between a consistently excellent trio of malts from Glen Keith, and Longmorn’s exotic, hedonistic fruit character is very much to the fore, especially in a standout 23-year-old.

The fruit-fest is only interrupted by two peated Caperdonich bottlings, with the ‘wonderfully aromatic and exotic’ 21-year-old a real highlight. Caperdonich’s two oldest Secret Speyside expressions – 25-year-old peated and 30-year-old unpeated variants – are still in cask and will be released later in the year.

The accompanying music takes in the diverse delights of The Killers, Belle & Sebastian, Mascagni, Elvis Costello, Thom Yorke and Cowboy Junkies. Click on the links in ‘Right Place, Right Time’ to listen.

Braes of Glenlivet 25 Years Old

Braes of Glenlivet 27 Years Old

Braes of Glenlivet 30 Years Old

Caperdonich 18 Years Old Peated

Caperdonich 21 Years Old Peated

Caperdonich 21 Years Old Unpeated

Caperdonich 25 Years Old Unpeated

Glen Keith 21 Years Old

Glen Keith 25 Years Old

Glen Keith 28 Years Old

Longmorn 18 Years Old

Longmorn 23 Years Old

Longmorn 25 Years Old

BRAES OF GLENLIVET 25 YEARS OLD

SCORE

Scoring explained >

Braes of Glenlivet 25 Years Old

PRICE BAND

£ £ £ £ £

ABV

48%

PRODUCTION TYPE

Single malt whisky

REGION

Speyside

FLAVOUR CAMP

Fruity & Spicy

NOSE

All is sweetness here: richly fruited, with cantaloupe and apricot, then more exotic hints of lemongrass and kaffir lime, before the cask chimes in with coconut and vanilla. Those cask-driven notes give a little lift to what might otherwise be a sugary fruit-fest, as do the perfumed spices – coriander, crushed cardamom pod. These are content to sit at the back while the fruits leap around centre-stage. Water brings red apple, dessert pear and some honey and waxed floorboard.

PALATE

Immediately sweet, but not cloying. There’s a dryness from the cask and a fair prickle of heat. Tangy marmalade notes appear, again stopping it all from becoming sickly. Well-mannered. Water helps to open things up, allowing those perfumed spices to say a few lines.

FINISH

Stewed red fruits, vanilla custard. Slightly drying.

CONCLUSION

I wonder if 48% is the correct bottling strength here. Much to admire, but not showing its best without a decent splash of water.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

Enjoying a fruitarian diet on Cantaloupe Island.

BRAES OF GLENLIVET 27 YEARS OLD

SCORE

Scoring explained >

Braes of Glenlivet 27 Years Old

PRICE BAND

£ £ £ £ £

ABV

48%

PRODUCTION TYPE

Single malt whisky

REGION

Speyside

FLAVOUR CAMP

Fruity & Spicy

NOSE

Ripe red apple jumps out first, with a savoury edge – a dusting of nutmeg – pulling at the fruit. Then there’s a swirl of yoghurt-covered hazelnuts, some ginger and finally some butterscotch. Quite perky, with good breadth. Water brings out lighter citrus flavours and a beguiling hedgerow note, so it’s worth a splash.

PALATE

There’s that red apple again, then a hint of black banana, wood polish and richer, dark fruits – blackcurrants, damsons and super-ripe plums. Then sweeter tones of light butterscotch and barley sugar. Water teases out a little liquorice (comfits), but go easy or you’ll sacrifice the fruit.

FINISH

A lift of acidity and, after a while, some sweet caramel.

CONCLUSION

It’s a bit of a shape-shifter, but the fruit is the main attraction. Excellent balance.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

Riding the wave with The Changingman.

BRAES OF GLENLIVET 30 YEARS OLD

SCORE

Scoring explained >

Braes of Glenlivet 30 Years Old

PRICE BAND

£ £ £ £ £

ABV

50.3%

PRODUCTION TYPE

Single malt whisky

REGION

Speyside

FLAVOUR CAMP

Fruity & Spicy

NOSE

Not only the oldest and strongest of the Braes trio, but also the palest. A little shy after the exuberance of its younger siblings, but there’s some plum and light vanilla, then densely packed aromas of date and fig. With time, some brighter red fruit aromas of loganberry and red cherry. With more time, light ginger, fenugreek and then lime flower. Finally, much sweeter scents of fondant icing. Take your time!

PALATE

Velvety, rich, opulent, with the fruit giving way to a wonderfully savoury tang of rancio. Damson jam on hot buttered toast, then a little coconut and overripe banana right at the back of the mouth. Despite the higher abv, you don’t need water.

FINISH

Fresh pear to cleanse the palate.

CONCLUSION

Here the natural sweetness of the distillate is counterbalanced by judicious cask influence and the complexity and depth that only time can bring. Don’t rush this though, as it’s quite shy.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

Wading through the water, going with the gentle flow of Bea’s Song.

CAPERDONICH 18 YEARS OLD PEATED

SCORE

Scoring explained >

Caperdonich 18 Years Old Peated

PRICE BAND

£ £ £ £ £

ABV

48%

PRODUCTION TYPE

Single malt whisky

REGION

Speyside

FLAVOUR CAMP

Smoky & Peaty

NOSE

Whoah Nelly! Tasting the two peated Capers last, it’s quite a shift after the sweet fruit-fest of the other malts in this range. Smouldering bonfire, then camphor and that coal tar soap my grandmother insisted on buying. The peat’s very much in charge here, but there are lingering scents of poached pear that come into sharper relief as the smoke blows off. There’s a herbal element that links with the smoke to create a hint of Lapsang. It’s distinctive, but not overpowering. Water douses the smoke into Plasticine, but brings out zesty orange.

PALATE

Savoury smoke, more luscious fruit – a sweet, baked apple pie with a slightly caught crust. A little hot, with a blast of cayenne pepper. Some orange zest and ginger playing catch-up, but the enjoyably aromatic smoke is quite dominant.

FINISH

Smoked meat with a honey glaze.

CONCLUSION

There’s lots to like here, but it’s a little fierce and ragged around the edges. A promising nose, but the palate is slightly underwhelming.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

Lively, but just a little too Vicious at times.

CAPERDONICH 21 YEARS OLD PEATED

SCORE

Scoring explained >

Caperdonich 21 Years Old Peated

PRICE BAND

£ £ £ £ £

ABV

48%

PRODUCTION TYPE

Single malt whisky

REGION

Speyside

FLAVOUR CAMP

Smoky & Peaty

NOSE

Only three years older, but the smoke has retreated and evolved into the aromatic scent of olive wood embers, with an accompanying waft of the smokehouse. This allows the lush and luscious fruit to come through – ripe, bright clementine in particular. Next comes a little cigar box and richer cedar wood notes. The smoke just gentles these flavours along, without ever seeking to dominate them.

PALATE

Mouth-coating, almost oily, with rich mandarin before smoked meat builds through the mid-palate towards an explosive finish. The smoke is much less shy now, returning to bonfire-and-camphor country. Water flattens, rather than enhances, but brings added sweetness.

FINISH

Again, that elusive herbal quality. Long and savoury, with perfumed smoke.

CONCLUSION

The difference between these two malts feels like more than three years – again illustrating the limited relevance of age statements. This has more poise, and is wonderfully aromatic and exotic. Nicely done.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

Lost among the temples, Alone in Kyoto.

CAPERDONICH 21 YEARS OLD UNPEATED

SCORE

Scoring explained >

Caperdonich 21 Years Old Unpeated

PRICE BAND

£ £ £ £ £

ABV

48%

PRODUCTION TYPE

Single malt whisky

REGION

Speyside

FLAVOUR CAMP

Fruity & Spicy

NOSE

Quite delicate orchard fruit notes of russet apple and slightly overripe (faintly brown at the tip) pear. There’s a verdant quality here of sun-warmed summer lawn, vetiver and herb patch. It lacks a little magnitude, but makes up for this with subtlety.

PALATE

Broader than the nose suggests. A little fiery, but always this mouth-coating creaminess carrying cask-driven notes of vanilla, edging into condensed milk. Quite punchy and certainly mouth-filling. Water coaxes out more creaminess and a super-sweet vanilla-coated pear character.

FINISH

Clean, slight edge of spearmint, then more sweetness (Juicy Fruit chewing gum).

CONCLUSION

It’s a sweetie, and it’s a cracker. Just the right side of sugary.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

Unable to sleep on a hot summer’s night, you amble into the garden to enjoy the Dawn Chorus.

CAPERDONICH 25 YEARS OLD UNPEATED

SCORE

Scoring explained >

Caperdonich 25 Years Old Unpeated

PRICE BAND

£ £ £ £ £

ABV

48%

PRODUCTION TYPE

Single malt whisky

REGION

Speyside

FLAVOUR CAMP

Rich & Round

NOSE

Bigger and richer from the outset. A densely-packed nose of sweet plum, cooking spices, then rich cassis and mulberry. Where the 21 was a little shy, this is much more assertive. The more restrained orchard fruits take a while to come through, but they’re there. Polished desk and then more tropical fruits emerge. Slightly herbal and hard to pin down. Water brings out a new hedgerow scent of white flowers, then camomile.

PALATE

First the orchard fruits come through, having overcome their initial shyness. Then some earthy, age- and cask-related notes of polished wood and book cupboard. Only late on do darker notes of blackberry and even blueberry emerge, along with bitter black chocolate. Builds slowly to a crescendo, in contrast to the nose. Water sweetens and brings more overt cask notes.

FINISH

Chocolate, caramel, Fruit ‘n’ Nut bar. Endless.

CONCLUSION

A highly refined summer pudding in a glass. A serious whisky, but one that knows how to have fun.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

One of Mozart’s lighter moments: ‘Pa… pa-pa!’

GLEN KEITH 21 YEARS OLD

SCORE

Scoring explained >

Glen Keith 21 Years Old

PRICE BAND

£ £ £ £ £

ABV

43%

PRODUCTION TYPE

Single malt whisky

REGION

Speyside

FLAVOUR CAMP

Fruity & Spicy

NOSE

Deeply fruity notes of juicy orange and pineapple cubes. The texture hints at a syrupy sweetness, accompanied by the smooth tones of lightly waxed wood. Then this melds into creamy citrus, with summer hedgerow notes of honeysuckle and jasmine. There’s lightness, but depth too. Water lightens the fruit into reminiscences of Quosh (orange & pineapple), but doesn’t reveal anything particularly new.

PALATE

We’re back in that hedgerow at first, then there’s freshly shaved ginger (minus the heat), followed by bolder wood-derived notes of cashew and almond. A prickle of heat, even at 43%, but this is all about the fruit, which returns with a vengeance and in tropical guise.

FINISH

Slightly drying, but still perky.

CONCLUSION

Pure drinking pleasure. Not overly complex, but you can’t keep this down. A labrador puppy of a whisky.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

A summery single malt like this needs a Song for Sunshine.

GLEN KEITH 25 YEARS OLD

SCORE

Scoring explained >

Glen Keith 25 Years Old

PRICE BAND

£ £ £ £ £

ABV

43%

PRODUCTION TYPE

Single malt whisky

REGION

Speyside

FLAVOUR CAMP

Fruity & Spicy

NOSE

The polished patina seen in the 21 jumps out again, this time subsiding swiftly in favour of delightful, sun-warmed Amalfi lemon and Valencia orange (very Mediterranean), along with a slug of custard (not quite so Mediterranean). Smooth, seamless and utterly charming. Water coaxes out even more aromas: heady tangerine, Rose’s Lime Cordial.

PALATE

Ginger and warming baking spices, again that tiny prickle of heat, then darker flavours rush in – cola cube and dark marmalade. It’s lifted by an undercurrent of a greengage pudding spiked with cinnamon. Water brings more ginger and a bit of grip from the cask.

FINISH

Super-tangy, with some wood tannins bringing depth and structure.

CONCLUSION

The nose is a delight, but overshadows the palate a little. Still, a complex whisky that shows distillery character and cask in harmony.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

Such balance and harmony can only be Fleeting.

GLEN KEITH 28 YEARS OLD

SCORE

Scoring explained >

Glen Keith 28 Years Old

PRICE BAND

£ £ £ £ £

ABV

43%

PRODUCTION TYPE

Single malt whisky

REGION

Speyside

FLAVOUR CAMP

Fruity & Spicy

NOSE

Spice to the fore – those baking spices from the 25, but there’s much more heft and muscle here as cask and age assert themselves. A wave of dark fudge softens any austerity, and then the fruit comes through: mango, ripe orange, shifting into damson and then date. Water takes us back to the hedgerow, as well as the playroom (Fuzzy-Felt), before the spice returns.

PALATE

Smooth and sumptuous, but with an added savoury depth now of allspice, then liquorice and bitter, dark chocolate. The fruit hints at a top-class crème de cassis from Dijon, and it builds into an indulgent slice of Jamaican ginger bread. Big. Delicious.

FINISH

Chewy tannins and whispers of rancio. Later, stewed blackcurrants in dark chocolate. Very long.

CONCLUSION

This ticks every box of complexity and depth. There are times when the cask threatens to become too assertive, but it always steps back from the brink. All three of these bottlings trace a clear line of distillery character and evolution.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

It’s a stadium-filling, Runaway success…

LONGMORN 18 YEARS OLD

SCORE

Scoring explained >

Longmorn 18 Years Old

PRICE BAND

£ £ £ £ £

ABV

48%

PRODUCTION TYPE

Single malt whisky

REGION

Speyside

FLAVOUR CAMP

Fruity & Spicy

NOSE

Unctuous exotic fruit – walking through a sunlit orangery, but there’s mango and apricot growing here too. This drives off to leave more fruit, but of the orchard variety this time. Then there’s lots of vanilla and creamy fudge, giving a feeling of decadence. Otherwise, the cask is relaxed enough to sit back and watch, contributing a note of pencil sharpener. Water sweetens things even more, bringing out orange zest and barley sugar.

PALATE

Big and exotic, but with quite a prickle from the alcohol. It feels hotter than 48% and this rather conceals the perfumed fruit of the nose, leaving coconut and vanilla in their place. Water helps enormously, opening up the fruit and bringing notes of anise and then mint.

FINISH

Super-sweet, dripping with mango juice.

CONCLUSION

Plenty to like here (if you’re a fan of sweet fruit), but the palate is a little out of kilter.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

Keep your balance, or you’ll be Falling Down.

LONGMORN 23 YEARS OLD

SCORE

Scoring explained >

Longmorn 23 Years Old

PRICE BAND

£ £ £ £ £

ABV

48%

PRODUCTION TYPE

Single malt whisky

REGION

Speyside

FLAVOUR CAMP

Fruity & Spicy

NOSE

Indulgent, seamless peach folded into Chantilly cream with a slice of lemon meringue on the side. Absurdly, hedonistically fruity, like Glen Keith on steroids. There’s spice too – ginger, but also something dark and reduced. It’s complex. Water dumbs things down a little, with light fruit cordial notes.

PALATE

Wonderful texture, with an explosion of tropical fruit darkening into cassis and black cherry, which in turn tips over into a slight, but pleasing, bitterness. Some dark chilli chocolate. Water makes it all a little too austere.

FINISH

Delightfully sweet. Luxuriant.

CONCLUSION

A crowd-pleasing blockbuster of ripe fruit, but a hydrophobic one.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

A winning Intermezzo just before the final act.

LONGMORN 25 YEARS OLD

SCORE

Scoring explained >

Longmorn 25 Years Old

PRICE BAND

£ £ £ £ £

ABV

52.2%

PRODUCTION TYPE

Single malt whisky

REGION

Speyside

FLAVOUR CAMP

Fruity & Spicy

NOSE

Compared to the fruit-driven delights of the preceding pair, the cask is very much in charge here, and the higher alcohol is also immediately noticeable. The oak brings out sweet spices – cinnamon especially – then there’s dessert apple. A marmalade tang lurks at the back, before giving way to dark set honey. The combination of orange and assertive wood brings to mind a first-division VSOP Cognac. Water allows that orange character – mandarin now – to fully shine, with creamy light spice, cider apple and aromas of a stable hay rack.

PALATE

There’s texture from the higher alcohol, but the extra heat is manageable. Longmorn’s fruits have retreated before the sawmill buzz of active oak. There’s a tang of black cherries in kirsch as it fades. Water dries a little, but also brings light spices and that slightly bitter black cherry note again.

FINISH

Dark chocolate.

CONCLUSION

The cask is just a little too dominant here for my taste, but it’s still a decent dram. A darker, more forbidding Longmorn.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

It’s going to be a Black Night.

Glen Keith 31yo ‘Lost In Time’ 47.5% Straw bales, sugared almond, peppermint creams and Wall’s vanilla ice cream – it’s like a family outing to a petting zoo. There’s a malty undertow with a glimmer of waxed fruit. Water adds tinned peaches and green edge of carnation.

Those peach pop up again in the front of the mouth along with a little lavender and some sage. Even with three decades in cask there’s still a slight rigidity to the delivery and it slips away gently. An (expensive) aperitif. ***