Glentauchers 1991

Glentauchers was established in 1898 by James Buchanan to be the back bone of the Black and White blended Scotch. The distillery was designed by architect John Alcock who made a building of beauty that makes a beautiful whisky. It changed hands a number of times until it was mothballed in 1985 by UDV (Now Diageo). It was purchased and re commissioned in 1988 by Allied distillers who operate it today. This month, the Glentauchers 1991 Vintage.

The distillery has 3 wash and 3 spirit stills so it is set up to make a LOT of whisky. 3.4 million litres a year is a LOT of whisky. The problem is that almost all of the production goes to make the Ballantines and Teachers Highland Cream blended scotches and more is the pity.

The Glentauchers 1991 vintage, was bottled in 2007, with 16 years of bottle age. The age has removed any hint of feinty, or nasty nail polish remover smell. In fact, the whisky is completely delightful. It is incredibly well integrated, with the oak delivering a rich vanilla character to the barley sugar common to speyside whiskies. These combine to create a honey suckle flavour, rich and deep in intensity. There is a touch of spice, maybe star anise and tamarind. There is some aromas of freshly baked bread. The mouth feel is luscious. It is a whisky that is dangerously easy to drink, and one that won’t last long in my collection.