Whisky Business: City AM’s monthly look at the world of whisky.
The key to whisky’s unique flavour is patience, but for producers, there will always be a trade-off between patience and profit. While the process of distilling whisky only takes a few days, Scotch whisky must be matured for a minimum of three years, a significant hurdle for new entrants.
Despite this, there’s a growing market for ultra-aged whiskies, such as Glenlivet’s 55-year-old. Launched last year, the bottle is part of a series of five bottlings called the Eternal Collection, designed to represent the pinnacle of Glenlivet single malt on the distillery’s 200th anniversary.
Hot off the heels of this unique release, Glenlivet has launched its oldest permanent expression, The Glenlivet 40 Year Old. The new single malt Scotch whisky has been matured and refined for at least 40 years, carefully finished in custom casks from the heart of Jerez in Spain. These were seasoned with a bespoke blend of Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sherries.
The cask journey
The process of creating a whisky like the Glenlivet 40 year old starts at the very beginning of the distilling process. Glenlivet cask master Kevin Balmforth says the team checks “every single drop religiously”, and each cask is rated and scored. The record of cask scores “goes back decades,” and if there’s any deviation, the team can pinpoint precisely when or where the issue emerged. “We are sampling the stocks thousands of times a year, thousands of times to see how they were showing at different ages…equates to thousands and thousands of samples,” Kevin explains. Some casks won’t make it through this rigorous process.
Kevin, who’s been in the business for 25 years, is now in the “golden period” his career, where the casks he helped lay down 20-25 years ago are now being bottled. “I can say I was there at the beginning when it was actually produced,” he notes.
Glenlivet aims to maintain its quality throughout the maturation process, but some casks are just “incredible”, Kevin explains. These are the ones the team puts aside to reserve “for as long as they are needed.” The genuinely unique casks will eventually become part of one of the distillery’s special editions, such as the Eternal Collection or 40 year old. They’re put aside in a special reserve, and “we can draw on that stock when we need to,” Kevin explains. There aren’t many casks that make it this far, so when one does make it, “we are quite familiar with it,” Kevin explains.
Maintaining the brand
Maintaining the brand is a vital part of Kevin’s job, and a big part of that is bringing the next generation into the business. New employees need to show a “passion for whisky,” and need to have “at least two to five years experience.” The job itself is constantly changing, Kevin says. “The concepts they had in their head will change when they come here because there’s nothing like actually doing it.” That’s why the team have to have the drive and the passion to want to work together for what could be many decades to guide the Glenlivet casks through their lifespan.
Glen Moray – two bottles from an old distillery driving innovation
The very first Glen Moray whisky was distilled in 1897 and was aged in an unusually wide variety of casks. Today, the brand has carved out a segment for itself in the market by using specially selected American oak casks, previously used to age bourbon. The casks are sourced from a single distillery in Kentucky, giving the distillery’s expressions a unique flavour profile.
For those drinkers who are looking for something that blends the sweet notes of bourbon with the smokiness of Scotch without breaking the bank, Glen Moray is undoubtedly worth exploring.
The Glen Moray 15-year-old blends these two styles perfectly. The whisky is part of Glen Moray’s Heritage range, relaunched last year with revamped packaging designed to attract drinkers to explore its passion for flavour. Three single malts make up the collection, aged 12, 15 and 18 years. The 12-year-old is aged in select Bourbon casks, while the 18-year-old is exclusively aged in first‐fill Bourbon casks.
The 15-year-old, on the other hand, spends half its life in American oak casks and half in maturing oloroso sherry casks. The result is a complex and rich whisky with notes of dried fruits, spice and dark chocolate, flavours that are only accentuated by age. It’s the perfect warming dram for a cold winter’s night and stands up well against more expensive whiskys that have spent longer in the barrel. A great allrounder for whisky drinkers that prefer something with sweetness and a little less smoke. 40% ABV, RRP: £57
At the other end of the spectrum, Glen Moray Pheonix Rising is finished in new charred oak casks, a cask type that is rarely used at Glen Moray distillery. This unique approach gives the whisky a peppery finish that fads into flavours of malt. 40% ABV, RRP: £30
American whiskey takes the UK market by storm
One of the fastest-growing segments of the UK spirits market is American whiskey. Sales of American whiskey, particularly bourbon, surpassed £1bn in 2016, and the market has continued to grow ever since, with some analysts even suggesting sales could overtake those of Scotch in the near future.
Two leading brands in the UK are Yellowstone and Never Say Die. The former recently became one of the first whiskeys to be recognised under the US Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau’s new Single Malt Whiskey protected status. To qualify, whiskeys must be made from a fermented mash of 100% malted barley produced in the US and aged for a minimum of two years. The Yellowstone Single Malt is a unique departure from the blended options dominating the market.
Never Say Die, on the other hand, is the first bourbon to be distilled in Kentucky, aged while crossing the Atlantic, and finished in England. The transatlantic ageing process creates a flavour profile that’s entirely unlike anything else on the market.
With trade tariffs back on the agenda, consumers may have to act quickly to get their hands on these unique products. The launch of the Never Say Die brand was delayed by four years due to the crippling retaliatory tariffs imposed on US imports to the UK by the EU in 2018.