Ladyburn 48 Year Old 1973 Blackadder Raw Cask Single Cask #5679 Statement Edition #52 Lowland Malt Scotch Whisky (2022) 70cl
1 of 96 bottles produced from a single bourbon cask of now closed, Ladyburn.
As with all of the Raw Cask series, this whisky has not been filtered at all and may contain harmless cask sediment.
Blackadder are a family owned independent whisky bottler established in 1995 by Robin Tucek who now runs the business with his son, Michael, and daughter, Hannah. Initially a whisky bottler, they have since developed their range to include other spirits, including rum and gin.
The Statement Series represents the highest level of Blackadder: single cask, minimal intervention, and maximum expression of cask and distillate.
About Ladyburn
Once producing a floral, citrus malt within Girvan's grain complex, Ladyburn's whisky is now incredibly rare.
An incredibly rare whisky, Ladyburn has only been bottled on two occasions by its owner. Independent bottlings are equally hard to find. It appears to have been a straight down the line malt with some delicate floral/lemon notes and a crisp finish.
The whisky boom of the 1960s resulted in a brief fashion for malt distilleries being ensconced within grain distilleries: Kinclaith in Strathclyde; Glenflagler and Killyloch from Moffat; Ben Wyvis in Invergordon; and Inverleven & Lomond in Dumbarton. Ladyburn was a member of that gang.
It was built within William Grant & Sons’ Girvan grain complex in 1966, its four stills destined to produce fillings for the Grant’s blends and also to free up stock from Glenfiddich which was, by then, beginning to make a name for itself as a single malt brand.
However, when the grain side of Girvan’s operation needed to expand in 1975, Ladyburn was dismantled. Its spirit lingers on because, in 2007, another single malt distillery opened within Girvan – Ailsa Bay.
About Blackadder
Blackadder’s philosophy is very simple – they believe that the Cask is King. Sixty to seventy percent of the flavors in a whisky are taken up slowly from the cask as the spirit lies maturing in the warehouse. The action of changing temperature draws the spirit in and out of the cask.
A family operation started and piloted by whisky legend Robin Tucek, they sell to a few limited countries around the world, primarily Tiawan, Japan, the USA and Sweden.
Blackadder was established in 1995 by Robin Tucek who runs the family business with his daughter Hannah and son Michael. Blackadder International gets its name from fugitive 17th-century preacher, John Blackadder. He is famous for preaching against the evils of alcohol.
Hannah Tucek states that the Blackadder International company will always be family-run. Each of the three owner-operators brings something unique to the table. Michael Tucek used to be a chef. He uses his familiarity with a wide range of aromas and flavors to write all tasting notes. Michael feels that “our sense of smell is the most direct sense to our brain and also our most complex. It’s proven that once you go over three aroma compounds mixed together, everything is subjective and becomes very personal. Every aroma can evoke a different memory in each of us and we build up our aroma library as we grow. By not being afraid to say what we sense and share it, we can all learn something from each other.” Like Michael, Hannah grew up around whisky and has come to appreciate whisky at its pure state. Her father and brother joke that she is the one that’s really in charge.
Every cask is unique, with its own fingerprint. This is why they bottle most of their whiskies from single casks. They don’t believe in chilling or otherwise heavily filtering their whiskies, and they never, repeat never, add caramel colouring or flavouring to their spirits. They have always believed the personalities of their whiskies are colourful enough. Their raw cask is famous for the barrel char in each bottle.
44.9% ABV
70cl
