Independent Bottlers can be in a great position to sniff out unusual casks. Unlike distillery bottlers they don’t have to make a huge batch consisting of 100’s of barrels, vatted to create their releases. Instead, at least in this case, they are looking for individual outstanding casks to be bottled as single-cask bottlings. The Chieftain’s line of bottlings is one of several offered by Ian Macleod Distillers Limited a privately owned bottler who has been around since 1933. These bottlings are natural color and non-chill filtered. Depending on the barrel size, and age of the whisky, each single cask can produce 300-700 bottles.

From their website: “Ian Macleod Distillers Ltd are the brand proprietors of Glengoyne Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Isle of Skye Blended Scotch Whisky, Lang’s Blended Scotch Whisky, Hedges & Butler, King Robert II, London Hill Gin, The Chieftain’s and Dun Bheagan Ranges, Smokehead Islay Single Malt, Six Isles Island Blended Malt Scotch Whisky, Wincarnis Tonic Wines and Macleod’s Single Malt Whiskies. We currently produce and sell over 15 million bottles of spirits per year.”

Several new bottlings for the Spring have entered the market here and elsewhere. They are the Chieftain’s Aultmore 12 year old, a Speyside offering, from Cask 1137 and bottled at 46% ABV, the Chieftain’s Glen Grant 13 year old, also a Speyside bottling, from  Cask 10445, 46% ABV, the Chieftain’s The Cigar Malt 15 year old from an unspecified Speyside distillery (perhaps Mortlach?), Cask 61182, 46% ABV and the Chieftain’s Ardbeg 12 year old, Cask 1040, 46% ABV.

These are all very decent bottlings and in some cases, extraordinary. Let’s start out with the Aultmore. This 12 year old is one of the components of Dewar’s blends along with Aberfeldy and other single malts. It is a russet colored dram with a nose that starts out as a muted red rose scent, then malty, creamy and slightly smoky. On the palate it is slightly spicy, oaky and deliciously malty. I rate this dram 85-90. About $57

The next bottling is a component of Chivas Regal blends, Glen Grant. This 13 year old has a nose of honey, caramel, vanilla and banana.  On the palate is dark chocolate, banana and vanilla again and a spicy raspberry with dark chocolate becoming dominant on the finish. This bottling is unusual for being aged in a White Burgundy wine barrel. It is certainly interesting, but not a home run. This dram I rate an 80-85. About $63.

Finally is the Ardbeg 12. This one was unusual, compared to distillery bottlings of the Ardbeg 10.

It has no where near the heady, smoky smack-in-the-puss that the distillery Ardbeg 10 has, but it does have a nice balance. On the nose it is floral. lightly smoky and fruity. On the palate it is chewy, oily, slightly peaty, spicy and sweet. This was aged in a 2nd refill sherry cask, so that may be the reason that is milder than most bottlings of Ardbeg. (The cask having already given up its strongest influence the first time around.) I give this bottling an 85-90. About $73.

All of these bottlings are a good value but the one that went home with me on the night of this tasting was the Aultmore.  To me it was the most interesting for being unusual. In the case of The Cigar Malt which I rated higher I felt that if I had a hankerin’ for a really kick-ass sherried dram I would probably go for something a little more intense although those that I have in mind like the Beltramo’s Highland Park, cask #2498, distilled 1996, bottled 2005, 19-years old, 53.8 ABV are older and more expensive too. 

Its always a case of whether the whisky you pay for was a good value as far as YOU are concerned.  Enjoy!

Thanks to Dave Davis of The Wine Merchant in St. Louis and Ed Kohl of ImpEx Beverages Inc. for the tasting.