Strathclyde 31 year old – Batch 4 Single Grain

Strathclyde

Strathclyde distillery was founded in 1927 by Seager Evans and Co and was built on the site of an old cotton mill and was initially intended to produce neutral spirit for Gin production, the first spirit started to run off the still in 1928. The company was then acquired by the New York based Schenley Industries in 1956,  they invested heavily in the site including the addition of producing the Single malt whisky brand Kinclaith, which started producing in 1957 and continued to produce the single malt until 1975.

Unfortunately the Kinclaith still was closed in 1975 after the site was acquired by Whitbread with the intention of concentrating upon the Grain and Neutral spirit side of production.

Today the distillery is part of the Pernod Ricard group and has the capacity to produce 40 million litres of alcohol per year from the two column stills, spirit runs to 94.5% and is predominantly wheat based.

That Boutique-y Whisky Company

No longer is the company just bottling whisky / whiskey / Bourbon / Grain but sister companies including That Boutique-y Rum Company and That Boutique-y Gin Company are now in full swing and follow on from the success of the whisky side..

Funky labels and terrible puns still adorn all the bottles and the clues on the labels as to what’s stored within the bottles are still as demanding as ever !! But its always fun to try to decode them..

The latest venture from the company has taken them away from the small batch / single cask market to which they are well known for and sees them now releasing a permanent ” World Blend ” to the portfolio, an interesting move considering..

The company initially set up with the intention to release small batch expressions with most seemingly around the 200 – 1000 bottle mark which in reality is actually limited editions unlike some companies that release the “Limited Edition ” 25,000 bottle editions..

They then announced that all releases would carry an age statement as at that time there was a fairly decent amount of distilleries / companies going in the opposite direction and releasing NAS with fancy names and charging just a little more for the privilege of buying younger whisky without any inclination of doing so !! Now a ” world blend ” a podcast ( uncorked ) a Dram club for bloggers, whisky enthusiasts and youtube vloggers which just shows the company is always moving forward with the times….

Batch 4 – 31 year old Strathclyde

Day 7 from the Boutique-y Whisky Company Advent Calendar sees us enjoying another single Grain whisky and again a whopping age statement adorns the label – 31 years is no baby but when it comes to grains it is pretty much a normal thing !!

Distillery.. Strathclyde

Region.. Lowland

Age.. 31 years

Abv.. 45%

Cask.. ex Bourbon barrel

Bottler.. That Boutique-y Whisky Company

Nose.. Butterscotch and popcorn spring out of the glass along with vanilla fudge, honey and freshly baked apple pie, vanilla ice cream and toast with butter melting..

Plate.. A little more spicy with that very typical grainy character, a subtle chocolate note softens a citrus bitterness and Manuka honey brings the sweetness with an earthy note tagging along..

Finish.. Spices linger with hints of oak..

Thoughts.. As we know most of the single grain whisky produced is dispersed into the blends which on the back of grain whisky like this its actually criminal that more is not released into the market upon its own merits.. Luckily for us whisky drinkers indie bottlers like TBWC has seen fit to purchase the odd cask and treat us to the delights..

When you consider grain whisky has always been the poor relation to single malt and often frowned upon by many as a drink that could not stand alone, its only since the prices have risen on the single malt market that those who once shunned grain whisky as poor quality and certainly not good value for money have suddenly had to re evaluate their opinions and start to look into grain whisky as an alternative and more affordable dram to the precious single malt whisky..