Five Bottle Review | Various% ABV

Exploring a Vintage Glentauchers That Shouldn’t Exist

The first time I tasted Glentauchers was back in 2016 and I very much didn’t like it.

My notes opened with “nose is awful. Farm.“ and finished with “this isn’t very good.“ Looking back on notes from this era is extremely tricky, because I’m always trying to decipher whether the whisky was bad or my pallet wasn’t ready yet. I very much had bottles that I liked and rated highly back then, and still like today, but I do think I have a broader appreciation for flavor profiles that I did not have at that time.

Right or wrong, this resulted in a four year gap until my next Glentauchers. Next up was a 9 year old Glentauchers from Cadenhead’s. I hated that one as well, so we really were not off to a great start. It wasn’t until I started tasting older examples that I started to become curious. Old-aged refill bourbon showed enough of a fruitiness that I endeavored to explore the distillery more.

Most of Glentauchers goes into Chivas-owned blends like Ballantine’s, Black & White, and Teachers, but you do come across some independent bottlings.

Diving into the history a bit, Glentauchers was founded in 1898 as a joint venture between James Buchanan (of "Black & White" and "Buchanan’s" fame) and WP Lowrie and was named after Tauchers Farm. Modern history saw it rebuilt in 1965 with an expansion from two to six stills and the elimination of floor maltings in 1969. It was mothballed in 1985 by DCL before being acquired in 1989 by Caledonian Malt Whisky Distillers (owned by Allied Distillers, which became part of Chivas Brothers in 2005). Full production resumed in 1992. Keep in mind that mothball era: 1985-1992.

When I’m exploring old malts, I always yearn to try floor-malted bottlings. Not that floor malting is the end-all-be-all of flavor, but it sometimes coincided with other cost cutting and efficiency measures that resulted in the greater homogeneity across legacy distilleries that we experience today. Common barley source, common cask source, common storage warehouses, common bottling halls, common water for dilution, etc. Sadly as we can see above, and in the pictures, the First Cask from 1976 doesn’t make the 1969 cutoff.

When making a deliberate effort to get to know an unknown (to me) distillery, I quite enjoy getting a broad spectrum, both present and past. Doing this with the current core range vertical is a nice and accessible way of doing this as well, particularly at something like a Whisky show. But today, as is usually the case with my reviews, we explore the nuances of Glentauchers through four different decades and five different bottlers.

First Cask was an independent bottler for Direct Wines Ltd and they drew (either exclusively or primarily) from Signatory stock. If you’re ever researching a First Cask bottling for which there are no reviews, try looking at the same vintage on Whiskybase, but with Signatory as the bottler. More often than not, you’ll find a few Signatory bottlings with similar cask numbers. Sadly not true for Glentauchers, but it’s definitely the case for others.

When we look at the Cadenhead’s bottle, you might find yourself doing a double-take at the vintage-1989. Wait, wasn’t it mothballed 1985-1992??? Well, a somewhat recent discovery of mine is the not-unheard-of practice for mothballed distillery owners to occasionally do small production runs to ensure the upkeep of the facility. Perhaps that is what happened here. Searching Whiskybase yields no bottlings with 1986-1988 vintages, but there are 46 1989 bottlings, 40 for 1990, 8 for 1991, and 27 for 1992. If they filled 50 bourbon barrels at 200 litres each, it would take 10K litres of undiluted spirit. With a 15K litre spirit still capacity, that would make sense for a single production run.

There are not many bottlings for the next few vintages (post-1992), which would make sense if they put the vast majority into blends once production was fully ramped. Not exactly an open and shut case, but Allied Distillers bought Glentauchers in 1989, so perhaps they started up these limited production runs before fully reopening in 1992. Sounds about right to me.

The third bottle comes from Single Malts of Scotland, which is the annoying-to-google Independent Bottling arm of former Whisky Exchange director Sukhinder Singh, under the Elixir Distillers umbrella (which was not part of the sale to Pernod Ricard). The final two bottles come from Whiskybase’s “Archives” brand, and the oft-single cask Pernod Ricard official Distillery Reserve Collection.

Review 1/5

Glentauchers 1976, First Cask 24yo, Cask #7657, 46% ABV
£225 paid at auction

Score: 7/10

**Very Good Indeed.**
***TL;DR***
*A dusty almond cookie delight*

Nose

Almond croissant, marzipan paste, and butter cookies. Vanilla custard.

Palate

Sugar cookies, almond paste, and prominent baking spices. Quite drinkable.

The Dregs

Good, simultaneously distinctly Glentauchers and distinctly First Cask. Not fruity, but sweet and mellow, with a dusty/old quality to it.

Score: 7/10

Review 2/5

Glentauchers 1989, Cadenhead’s Authentic Collection 27yo, Bourbon Barrel, Bottled 2017, 51.2% ABV
£180 paid at auction

Score: 8/10

**Something special.**
***TL;DR***
*Rich baking spice Turkish delight*

Nose

Dusty almond with citrus rind and orange zest. Rich baking spice.

Palate

Rich and powerful. Pepper, cashew and almond.

The Dregs

This is quite rich and powerful, being both drinkable and deserving of some taming water. Again, not fruity, but weighty and tasty. Very good, just edging out the First Cask to tip into 8 territory.

Score: 8/10

Review 3/5

Glentauchers 1997, Archives for CaskAid 21yo, Barrel, Bottled 2019, 49.3% ABV
£130 paid at auction

Score: 7/10

**Very good indeed.**
***TL;DR***
*Lemon butter cookie delight*

Nose

Oat-crusted bread, and lemon zest. Baking spices. Light.

Palate

More citrusy palate than the 76 or 89. Drying finish as the oak comes forward.

The Dregs

This one is good upfront but the oak comes too far into the forefront to make this a session dram. Still, good.

Score: 7/10

Review 4/5

Glentauchers 1997, Single Malts of Scotland (Elixir) 23yo, Barrel, Bottled 2021, 53.2% ABV
£160 paid at auction

Score: 8/10

**Something special.**
***TL;DR***
*Lemon oat delight*

Nose

Very similar to the archives. Baking spices, oats, citrus.

Palate

Immediately friendly. A warm citrus hug, enveloped by an almond and marzipan paste. Still baking spice, and oat-y cookie

The Dregs

A welcoming, rich, and round tauchers, that pulls it together slightly better than all the rest. Like the 1989, this is at the bottom end of 8.

Score: 8/10

Review 5/5

Glentauchers 2007, Distillery Reserve Collection (official distillery release) 11yo, First-fill butt #44490, Bottled 2019, 60% ABV
£75 paid at auction (50cl)

Score: 5/10

**Average.**
***TL;DR***
*Like a new distillery STR cask, meh*

Nose

Stew of spicy red berries, burning sensation (no surprise). Reminds me of a young STR cask.

Palate

From-frozen berries compote. Rich but lacking in depth. Hot and spicy.

The Dregs

This one was cooked hot and fast. In my opinion the ABV is too high and perhaps unsurprisingly it carries little Glentauchers DNA. Not my favorite.

Score: 5/10

The Final Dregs

Frankly, save for the 2007, they are all remarkably similar. Quite good, with decent heft, richness, and sweetness. I hoped for a bit more fruitiness and none of them reach greatness, but all (again, save for the 2007) very good and easily satisfying the itch of anyone who loves distillate-forward ex-bourbon drams.

Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. IG

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