About This Dram
We had one case of this whisky with us when we opened up our pop-up store at the Victoria Whisky Festival – and all six bottles sold in the space of about four minutes. Since then I’ve managed to get my hands on two dozen more bottles, and after tasting it for the first time at Saturday Night’s special Dram Association tasting at Uplands Golf Club I knew I had to share it with everyone before it’s gone again.
This whisky, whilst honestly very tasty, is a piece of history that begs to be explored. A closed distillery, whose site is not part of the legendary Forsyths Coppersmiths. There’s every chance that the beautiful stills that sit at Shelter Point were made on the very site that this whisky was distilled 21 years ago. 2002 is when Caperdonich closed its doors, never to be reopened, and as with many closed distilleries – it’s only after the closure that the single malt is discovered to be of particularly good quality. You see when Caperdonich was alive and kicking it was mostly ignored as a malt. It was destined for the blending market almost exclusively.
It had a pretty rocky start to its life. After opening in 1898, the stills fell silent just four years later. Back then though it wasn’t called Caperdonich, but rather Glen Grant 2 – an overflow distillery to increase the production of Glen Grant. Although the stills weren’t in use, Glen Grant still used the space for malting and other distillery related activities. Then, in 1965 after Glen Grant became hugely popular in Italy, the auxiliary distillery was kicked into life again. In 1977 it was even rechristened with its own name, finally stepping out from under the shadow of its big brother. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long past the new millennium, but it did put away quite a few casks of whisky in its twilight years which is now being discovered by enthusiasts such as ourselves.
The interesting thing about this release is how bizarrely inexpensive it is. It’s not really meant to be on our shelves at all, but rather on the shelves of Vancouver Airport, I assume. But even with our tax, it’s cheaper here than it was in London when it was available. And it’s already selling in the UK for double or even triple the retail price. I expect before long, it will be as hard to get and probably as expensive as Brora and Port Ellen – so get it while you can whisky lovers!
Tasting Notes
A lovely sunny afternoon in the orchard, sipping pear nectar and snacking on vanilla yoghurt coated almonds and ripe juicy apricots. Straw hat rustling in the breeze, and the strange but welcoming smell of a new book, its pages freshly cut.
