Glentauchers 1976 24 Year Old First Cask Single Cask #7652 Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2000) 70cl

Glentauchers 1976 24 Year Old First Cask Single Cask #7652 Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2000) 70cl

This single malt was distilled at the Glentauchers Distillery in Speyside. It was then hand-selected, produced and bottled by Direct Wines for the First Cask series.

First Cask is a generally undervalued series, with some fine examples of well-aged whiskies from renowned distilleries going for relatively low prices compared to similar ages and vintages from other independent bottlers or official releases.

The First Cask series seemed to have a keen taste for older muskier spirits that reflected the previous older distilling methods and all quite old. Usually older than 20 years of age for its members. What a time to have been alive back in the 1990s and 2000s drinking old scotch when nobody really focused on it. How the internet, events, festivals and life have changed everything for whisky itself and what it means to us.

None of these bottles disappoint at all. One sits there drinking it (or stands), taking in the nose and always being really surprised by the depth for a 46% bottle of whisky as you tell the person who is with you that they "have to smell this!" and then proceed to trying it and with less whisky, being more satisfied. After trying a few FC bottles, it is the same great experience every time. One cannot get enough of this.

First Cask bottles are highly collectable due to the large range of distilleries and vintages bottled. The series was bottled exclusively for the First Cask Whisky Circle, a select whisky club run by Direct Wines Ltd. The bottles were released to members four times a year and have since found their way onto the secondary market.

About Glentauchers

A substantial granite distillery (designed by Charles Doig) on the outskirts of Keith.

Glentauchers’ make has always gone into blends which lie on the lighter side of the flavour spectrum, initially Buchanan’s and Black & White, and these days Ballantine’s. Accordingly, the set up – long ferments, slow distillation – has always been one where flowers have been preferred to earthy weight.

Another member of the ‘1890s gang’, Glentauchers was established in 1898 by James Buchanan & Co. to provide fillings for its Buchanan’s and Black & White blends.

Experiments in ‘continuous pot still distillation’ were trialled here (and at Convalmore) at the start of the 20th century. This involved running a 100% barley mash through an adapted pot still. Production was upped considerably in 1966 when the number of stills increased from the original pair to half a dozen.

Glentauchers was one of the many distilleries which fell foul of the slump in demand in the early 1980s and was mothballed in 1985. It was, somewhat surprisingly at the time, snapped up by one of Diageo’s rivals, Allied Distillers, in 1989 [the Allied estate became part of Chivas Brothers in 2005] when it became a named component of Ballantine’s, although the firm didn’t restart production until 1992.

It is not commonly seen other than as a bottling from Gordon & MacPhail. However, in July 2017 Glentauchers was released as a 15-year-old single malt (alongside expressions from Glenburgie and Miltonduff) under the Ballantine’s brand.

46% ABV

70cl