The Malt Cask

The Lowlands: a single malt producing region, but let's face it, definitely not top of the list when we think Scotch whisky. Not that many distilleries for a start and apart from the recently opened Daftmill, nothing that really tickles your fancy... And yet today, my review is heading to the Lowlands with a distillery which has been very short-lived as it opened in 1965 only to close in 1985. That doesn't sound like a good start...! Glen Flagler was set up by Inver House Distillers as part of a distilling complex in Airdrie -East of Glasgow- with a sister distillery called Killyloch. During its two operating decades, Glen Flagler was mainly destined for Inver House blends but some single malt was also produced, in particular a 5 year-old and an 8 year-old as well as the 'All-Malt' NAS I am reviewing today. Unfortunately, financial troubles in the 1970's and 80's meant that Killyloch first in the 70's and then Glen Flagler in 1985 ceased production befo

Once a very popular whisky producing region, Campbeltown went from over 30 distilleries in the 19th century to only 3 today. However, these three, spearheaded by Springbank, seem to have gathered quite a following. The Glengyle distillery, which is of interest to us today, was founded in 1972 but went silent after WWII. It was renovated and rebuilt by the Mitchell's Glengyle Ltd company in the early 2000s and started production again in 2004. So why is the distillery called Glengyle and yet it's whisky is called Kilkerran? Simply because the Loch Lomond group still owns the name Glengyle. So after a series of 'Work in progress' bottles showcasing bourbon and sherry maturation, they released their first 12 year old in 2016. They have since launched a yearly 8 year-old cask strength, some heavily peated and some 15 year-old single casks, all very well received by whisky enthusiasts across the world. Today, I am looking at the standard 12 years old. 70% of it h