E-Signment #3
(Contributions by Louis and Craig)

Introduction by Louis Perlman

Browse thru any comprehensive single malt scotch inventory list, and you'll see names like Cadenhead, Signatory, and the like appended to many of the entries. Sometimes, there will be abbreviations only, i.e Cad. and Sig. More perplexing, these bottlings will be much more expensive than the standard offerings for the same age, or conversely, younger bottles for the same price. This is exactly what happened to me for my first year and a half in this hobby. It was then that I discovered the wonderful world of private bottlings.

Why should anybody but the distillery be bottling its whisky anyway? Well, there a couple of reasons. It may come as a big surprise to many SMS lovers, but most of the malt whisky distilled in Scotland goes for blending. Many distilleries don't even market their whisky as a single, or may do so only on a limited basis. Caol Ila is an excellent example of the latter. Another reason is that of quality control. It is very important that the bottle of Macallan or Highland Park that you taste at a bar or at a friend's house tastes exactly like the one you go out and purchase the next day. So perfectly good, or even excellent, casks that just fall outside of the distillery's standards can be sold to private bottlers. And finally, there is the remaining stock of distilleries that have been closed down in the last two decades. Since the distillery itself obviously won't be marketing it, the private bottlers once again fill an important niche.

So who are these private bottlers anyway?
The best known and largest is Gordon and McPhail. G&M specializes in the aforementioned malts that would otherwise unavailable to the general public, although they also market some that would be. Most of these are offered at standard strength, although there are exceptions. But most of the 'action' in the private bottler arena is with smaller bottlers, who bottle mostly at cask strength, and without chill filtering or caramel coloring added. Let the distilleries say what they want about the last two practices, but leaving them out certainly gives a purer view into the character of the whisky.

At the top of the list is William A. Cadenhead, usually referred to by the last name only. They are owned by the parent company of Springbank, and operate shops in London and Edinburgh, with literally thousands of bottlings available. Cadenheads tend to be a bit pricey. Only the younger bottles can be found in the USA for less than $80, middle age bottles are in the $80-100 range, and pretty much anything 20+ years old will command a 3 figure price tag. Cadenheads also have a reputation for packing a lot of heat, so keep the water close by.

The Signatory Vintage Scotch Whisky Co. LTD (whew) was formed in 1991. They have a standard series marketed in taller bottles, mostly of defunct distilleries. These are very affordable, and are often quite excellent. Their recent 8yr Ardbeg and 9 & 10 yr Caol Ila are prime examples. But Signatory is best known for the cask strength bottlings, which come in shorter, stout bottles. These are also excellent values, as there is an excellent choice of 20+ year old bottles starting at $70 or so, and rarely going above the $100 point. The angels seem to like the Signatory's, as the ABV in the older bottles often drops down close to the 50% level.

Then there is Murray McDavid, whose principals trace their whisky lineage back to Springbank. Unusually, MMcD bottles all of their offerings at 46% ABV. This is considered by many to be the ideal drinking strength (including this author). Refinement is the word here, and all but the oldest bottling are in the $50-80 range.

Adelphi is actually a former distillery. You can tell the Adelphis in the shop by their small rectangular labels at the bottom of the bottle, which one retailer bemoaned to me makes them harder to get customers to pay attention to. The young to middle age bottles are  affordable in the $60-80 range, but the older ones are quite expensive (and special, of course).

Glenhaven offers the best values for cask strength bottlings any ware, which often cost less than similarly aged distillery bottles!! I have been advised that Glenhaven is now out of business, so purchase on sight (one caution though, there has been extreme price gouging on Glenhavens in the NYC area).

Other private bottlers who's stock is now available are Hart Brothers and Scott's Selection. Hart Brothers bottles at standard and cask strength, and at various price points. Scott's Selection is the product of Robert Scott, a distiller with 50 years of experience. While a few of the bottling are affordable, most are older bottles ranging from expensive to very expensive.

A few individuals have also tried their hand at bottling. French vintner Michel Couvreur has a number of selections aged in his own casks, and writer James Macarthur has a handful of his own bottlings. The latter are VERY hard to find though, and typically go for around $100.

A defunct bottler worth keeping a eye out for is the former USA based Whyte and Wyte. Their 1959 35yr Glenfarclas and 1969 21yr Bunnahabain are legendary among serious whisky lovers. If you you stumble across a bottle, it will likely be in the e-bay or Sothebys price category, but you never know what is gathering dust in the corner of some little liquor store somewhere.

And last but least (dollars, that is) is Coopers Choice. They have a small bunch of standard strength bottlings, all in the $33-40 range (!). Highly recommended are the Dallas Dhu 17 and Millburn 18, both distilleries no longer in operation.

A couple of closing notes;
Not all distilleries are enamored with the idea of someone else bottling their product, Glenmorangie and Laphroiag at the head of the list. Also, the casks in question may be aged at the distillery, on the premises of the bottler. For that reason, even distilleries that don't quite make the first list will insist that private bottlings may be quality drams, but 'can't' properly give a true picture of the distillery. And finally, this whole topic seems to be a bit controversial right now for quite a few more reasons. But that's what part of the purpose of this e-ssignment is all about, although there will be plenty of controversy left over.

(Comment by Johannes: I think Louis covered the major independent bottlers. There are only two less significant bottlers I can add; Van Wees in Holland with the 'Ultimate' series and Ian Macleod & Co Ltd with the 'Chieftain's Choice' series.)

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'Why private bottlings are special to me' by Louis Perlman

My first year and a half in the world of SMS was spent in the predictable manner. Surveying the standards, and then venturing upscale a bit with Glenmorangie and Macallan 18's, and even the G&M 1974 Ardbeg and the Springbank 12/100. Of course I doted on Michael Jackson's ratings, as well as those of the Malt Whisky File. But then I stumbled across some tasting notes of a bunch of Cadenhead's. This was different. There was a sense of passion that isn't there in the standard ratings. Now we wouldn't expect there to be any in an impartial digest. Quality drams get good ratings, and lesser ones, lower ratings.

And then came The Great Revelation. It doesn't matter if Michaeal Jackson rates the distillery bottling an 86 or 76. It's this particular cask that matters. If it does what the whisky lover likes, then go for it. And so I have. Since then, private bottlings have made up the overwhelming majority of my purchases. Of the list of bottlers I've compiled in the intro, I've got all but the James Macarthur and Michel Couvreur in my collection, and a handful of each, at that. So what makes these bottlings so special, at least to me?
Well here are my reasons.

1) Multiplicity of choices. Take the number of distilleries, and multiply by the number of bottlers, not to mention that any age might be offered.

2) Variety. A bottling that the distillery itself doesn't offer. Maybe it's the exuberance of youth or wisdom of age in a younger or older bottle. Or maybe a bourbon casked Macallan or Lagavulin or something in a sherry cask that usually isn't.

3) More variety. By comparing the distillery and private bottlings. Some of the most fun that I have with this hobby is getting together 3 or 4 bottles from the same distillery for a mini-survey.

4) Save money. Now I just mentioned in the intro that the private bottlings were pricier than the distillery offerings. That certainly is true for young and middle age bottles, but as the age increases, the reverse happens. For example, the Macallan 25yr (43%) goes for around $200 here in the US, but the Murray McDavid 1974 that actually bested it in one tasting only costs $140. The Highland Park 25 yr (53%) goes for $175, and an Adelphi 27yr 1972 60% is $135. I guess those wood boxes with the plastic velvet inserts must add 2 or 3 dollars at least.

5) As the old saying goes, "it's not the kill, but the thrill of the chase". It isn't all that difficult to find a 30 year old Sprinbank nowadays, but the real fun is when somebody notifies the web page you hang out on that a certain bottling is 'something special',
and you and all of your virtual drinking buddies all go out and order it right away.

6) Exclusivity. There aren't going to be more than a few casks of many bottlings. So when they are gone, they're gone. It's a little club with you and just a few hundred other people (this isn't usually going to be the case with distilleries that are still in
operation, but typically distill for blending, but you never know).

7) Pride of ownership. Combine any or all of the above, and you get that nice, warm, fuzzy feeling every time you open the door to your liquor cabinet. These are your good friends, and they're right there, waiting patiently for you without complaining. When
your have company, whisky lovers or not, you look around, and pull out just the right bottle.

Anyway, private bottlings are going to play a part in your collection, once you acquire enough bottles to be considered a collection. So look around, shop around, and enjoy. One last point. It always pays to get to know the owner or manager of a quality liquor store. He might have a few interesting bottles hidden 'behind the counter' for his good customers, and keep you in mind when a limited number of something special comes in.

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Ode to Independent Bottlers by Craig Daniels

Every dedicated and intrepid maltster owes a significant debt of gratitude to the independent bottlers for at least three main reasons.  Firstly, the independents are the only source of malts from distilleries where the proprietor has decided not to market a single. This was especially true in earlier times (around 1981) when less than 60 distilleries had a single on retail shelves.  It is also interesting to note that of the sixty or so that quite a few were not bottled by the proprietors but under license by Gordon & MacPhail.  For example "official" bottlings of Balblair, Scapa, Mortlach and Old Pulteney up until the very recent past were only by G&M.  Before United Distillers released the Flora and Fauna series and the Rare Malts Series the only source of single malts from about third of all Scottish malt distilleries were from independents.  While I'm happy about United Distillers' policy change, one wonders whether the change of heart was more due to the realisation that there was demand out there (and profits that they were missing out on) in a burgeoning niche market.

Also, of the half of all distillery owners that even bothered to market a single before around 1988, again well over half only had one official expression, which was less than satisfactory for those with a thirst for malt adventure. Only a handful catered to the then miniscule band of enthusiasts that were looking for both range and excellence in their malt whisky experience.  Just as an aside, this lack of concern by distilleries for malt lovers probably was a big part of the founding of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society as well as a big part of the reason for the ongoing success of both Gordon & MacPhail and William Cadenhead.

One other reason, which was quite unforeseeable at the time, is that the independents are now almost the only source of malt whiskies from distilleries taken out of production during the recession in the 1980's.  One of the more lamentable occurrences in the industry was when United Distillers shut down 15 distilleries between 1983 and 1986, quite a few with no hope of reprieve.  Some of these were probably no great loss, although, like conservationists and geneticists, a decline in diversity is always to be lamented. However some are a major loss to malt lovers. Those that produced superior whiskies and are now lost number among them great names like Millburn, Port Ellen, St Magdalene, Lochside and Glenury-Royal and while some official bottlings might be available through auctions etc, if you really want to explore the likes of Glen Mhor, Glen Albyn, Port Ellen, Dallas Dhu and Rosebank, then the independents are the most accessible, if not the only, source.

Another very important issue is range of product available.
When you find a malt you like, you want to try more expressions from the distillery, to check whether it was that particular malt that rose above the ruck or whether it is really the distillery style that attracts.  Now where the distillery markets 5 or 6 expressions such as luminaries including Glenmorangie, Bowmore, Glenfarclas Springbank and Macallan, this is easy enough to establish by checking out the proprietary offerings.  However when there is only one common (at least in this country) expression (Talisker, Lagavulin, Bunnahabhain and Longmorn fit the bill), one has to turn to the independents to conduct the experiments.  Where the official bottlings are rare and uncommon then a visit to Cadenheads or G&M is mandatory.  Good distilleries in this category in the Australian context are Glendullan, Glen Elgin, Caol Ila, Miltonduff and Glenrothes.

The last major reason, and it arises precisely because of the aforementioned comparative assessments (and the real clincher for me) is the excellence of the independent product combined with affordability.  It has been my happy experience ever since starting the malt adventure to discover that often the independent product is more appealing than the official version.  I suspect the main reason for this lies in the distilleries' focus on production for blending and even where they market a malt they are trapped by a distillery style which has been shaped by the demands of blenders rather than malt lovers.  In my own pantheon of the best thirty single malt whiskies I have ever tasted 12 of the thirty are from independents, 5 are from Gordon & Macphail, 1 from William Cadenhead (but the top independent), one from Whyte & Whyte, one from Signatory, one from Murray McDavid, one from James Macarthur, one from Coopers Choice and one private bottling of a Bowmore.  Now the really interesting thing is that apart from the Whyte & Whyte all the independent ones cost less that the best official releases from the distilleries.

My experiences with malt from The Glenlivet are a good illustration.  In the early days of my induction into the arcane world of malt appreciation, I kept wondering why over 20 distilleries in Speyside bothered to try and ride on the coat tails of G & JG Smiths' "The Glenlivet" and why history books and even relatively recent literature made such a big deal about the definite article as I'd always found the Seagram's 12 year old pretty nondescript, insipid and boring.  But when I took my first sniff and sip of the Glenlivet 15 from G&M, I started to appreciate why the definite article might have deserved a fabulous reputation.  Furthermore, I subsequently had the opportunity to line up a whole stack of proprietary offerings including the French Oak and the Archive 21, but they were slaughtered on the night by a fabulous 22 Cask strength from Signatory and the Signatory is available in America for around US$80 including tax, while the Archive will set you back closer to US$90 and it's not in the same league.  Of course, because the independents are often bottling limited runs and even single casks, the quality and style can tend to be variable, but sampling a whole stack of also ran malts makes the odd gem that you run across all the more rewarding, especially when the ones that impress you are genuinely affordable. My experience is that on the value for money scale the independents deliver in style.

Craig Daniels
Clan Drummond
"Adventures in Single Malt Whiskies"
Adelaide
South Australia

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Maybe more later....