Glencadam 11 Year Old 2011 SMWS Single 1st Fill Ex Bourbon Cask 82.46 Grist Tea Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2023) 70cl

1 of 202 bottles from a single 1st Fill Bourbon Cask

The SMWS are one of the Britain's most revered independent bottlers with a worldwide network of partner bars with one mission of getting as much whisky at natural cask strength without water to different nations including USA, Canada, Switzerland, UK, Austria, Germany and many others.

These older labels from the first runs are mostly with distillation methods that include direct heat which was replaced with steam for many distilleries for environmental reasons changing the taste of whisky forever. It'll get real interesting when nuclear fusion is used to distil whisky. We might glow green for a few weeks after we drink the stuff. Who knows.... but all we know is that the old stuff has a musky taste that is VERY welcomed by people nowadays trying to time travel through whisky's past.

TASTING NOTES

Initial nosing suggested lemon air freshener, warm milled grist, mentholated green herbs and sweet dairy vibes such as custard and condensed milk. A little water and we got shoe polish, sunflower oil, orange peels and almond oil, plus a wee note of baked peaches and honey. The palate when neat opened with lots of pineapple icing, tropical fruit juices, poached pears and green tea with a dash of wormwood. Water brought mixed dried herbs, soda bread, lemon cough drops and pear juice.

About Glencadam

Despite nearing 200 years of existence, Glencadam is only now beginning to emerge as a celebrated single malt.

Glencadam’s new make character of flowers and pear drops is a direct result of a distillation regime that maximises reflux – the lyne arms on the stills are angled upwards. Its mature character, especially when matured in refill American oak, has a soft buttery quality that adds a silkiness to the palate.

Glencadam, which is situated in the Burgh of Brechin, was built in the era of optimism that followed the passing of the 1823 Excise Act. After passing through a number of owners, it became part of the estate of Glasgow blender Gilmour Thompson & Co which bought the distillery in 1891.

The blending house ceased trading in 1954 when Glencadam was sold to Canadian distiller Hiram Walker, which was then starting its first acquisitive sweep through Scotland. Through a process of amalgamation it became part of Allied Distillers and was seen as being the ‘home’ of the Dundee blend Stewart’s Cream of the Barley.

Allied mothballed the plant in 2000 but it was purchased three years later by London-based Angus Dundee [see Tomintoul]. Angus Dundee’s blending lab is now located at the distillery.

A quiet player for most of its existence, Glencadam is slowly emerging as a single malt in its own right. Its recent proprietary bottlings have not been chill-filtered or caramel tinted.

62.4% ABV

70cl