Glencadam Burns Night Whisky Tasting.
Wi'tippeny, we Fear nae evil;
Wi'usquabae, we'll face the devil
This Burn's night past we were lucky enough to host Global Brand Ambassador Iain Forteath from Glencadam. We thought we would be tasting 5 whiskies, with some Haggis, neeps and tatties to soak it all up, however Iain very kindly surprised us by bring along two extras for us all to sample!
Glencadam first opened in 1825 in Brechin, making it one of the closest distilleries to Dundee. It is now the only distillery in the county of Angus.
Glencadam has had a few different owners, the first being a Mr Cooper in 1825 - and has been mothballed on and off throughout it's history. It was closed during both world wars. The warehouses were instead used to barrack soldiers. There is still a mark on the grass by No. 2 warehouse where their commissary was. Glencadam was bought in the 1950s by Hiram Walker, which subsequently became Allied Domeq, who closed the distillery in 2000.
Glencadam Single Malt has always been premium whisky for blending, and as such was highly sought after for some of the world’s most prestigious blends. Glencadam was finally bought by Angus Dundee Distillers on 1st June 2003, an independent Scottish company, which prompted "The Re-awakening" - which we'll get to in a minute!
Our first (surprise!) whisky of the evening was "The Origin" 1825 (£25 from Aitken Wines) - Glencadam's un-aged whisky, of a unique marriage of whisky matured in first-class American white-oak bourbon barrels with whisky finished in the finest Spanish Oloroso Sherry butts.
This was followed by "The Rather Delicate" 10 year old (£36 from Aitken Wines) - which has a delicate, rounded elegance. Clean, crisp citrus tones. A pleasing harmony between a natural sweetness and the soft spicy oak.
Next up was "The Re-awakening" 13 year old (£46 from Aitken Wines) - this was the favourite of the night, with over 10 bottles sold then and there!! It's extremely rare because in the year 2000, Glencadam distillery fell silent. This silence became a deep sleep for three years until its joyous “Re-Awakening” in the Autumn of 2003. This limited edition whisky from the re-start of distillation truly represents and commemorates “The Re-Awakening” of Glencadam Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky.
After a small Burns Supper break, we were treated to a blind tasting from a Copper Dog, and were asked to guess what it was. No one came quite close, as it was a surprise Indian Whisky called Rampur, which is very hard to get a hold of in the UK!
After that it was back to Glencadam, with "The Rather Exquisite" 17 year old (£98 from Aitken Wines) which actually received a MASTER from the Scotch Whisky Masters in 2015. This Triple Cask Portwood Finish is a fine example of centuries of craftsmanship and tradition.
Next, it was onto "The Rather Enriched" 19 year old (£107 from Aitken Wines) which is also Limited Edition. The Sherry cask finish has been created by the careful selection of mature whisky finished in Oloroso Sherry butts. The malt whisky was transferred from Bourbon casks into the hand-picked butts to finish its maturation for a generous period of time. This process of finishing bestows on the whisky refined characteristics, most notably, tones of Sherry sweetness. Our Master Distiller deemed that the time was right to bottle the whisky at 19 years of age when the malt whisky flavour notes had reached harmony with the rich, raisin-y and fruit cake characteristics of the Sherry wood.
Just 6000 bottles were produced from the Sherry butts. The result is an “enriched” and beautifully crafted Glencadam Highland Single Malt expression. Each bottle is individually numbered - and we finished off one of them! This was our second most popular whisky on the night.
Lastly, we ended on something really special - "The Excpetional" 21 year old (£105 from Aitken Wines). Its is refined, gentle, floral with orange citrus and candied peel sweetness balanced by underlying peppery oak tones, and everything you want in a 21 year old whisky.
So a huge thank you to Iain for coming along - and a big thank you to all of you for attending as well!
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Slainte!