Glenglassaugh 12 Year Old Pedro Ximénez Cask Matured
The ultimate collector’s edition from one of the world's favourite whiskymakers: Glenglassaugh’s first ever aged Pedro Ximénez cask whisky, made by Dr Rachel Barrie herself.
United KingdomColour Burnt orange sunset
Nose Rolling waves of golden syrup, sun-dried raisin and demerara meld with honeyed pistachio toffee
Palate
Dark manuka honey, caramelised date and fig roll into lingering grapefruit and salted treacle
Finish Chewy nougat with macadamia nuts dipped in chocolate fondue
Food Match Grilled steak with a rich balsamic glaze, chocolate brownies with salted caramel sauce for dessert
Overview
Glenglassaugh was a ghost distillery for years. Now safely under the reigns of Dr Rachel Barrie, who’s famous for heading both GlenDronach and Benriach, this previously mothballed distillery is BACK.
Decades ago, a smooth and easy-drinking blend was a good blend. Glenglassaugh’s distinctive tropical-maritime Highland vibes were deemed “too flavoursome”, which ultimately contributed to the distillery’s demise in the 1980s.
Then, in 2008 the distillery began to once again crank out unedited flavour bomb spirit – with its original stills and equipment to boot, run the same way it was in 1986 – with only a handful of staff and tiny output volumes.
If this sounds familiar, that’s because the fabled ghost distilleries of Port Ellen, Rosebank and Brora were each shut down in the same era, and recently resurrected. Unlike Glenglassaugh, some of their old bottlings saw regular releases during their mothballed era, and launched both their auction prices and brand names into the stuff of legend. Glenglassaugh never had these types of releases while it was shut down so never gained the same mythical status.
All that’s about to change.
Having just released their new 12 Year Old spirit and already taken out Whisky Advocate’s Whisky of the Year for 2023, Glenglassaugh is on a path of redemption and then some.
Our exclusive release has been created by Dr Rachel Barrie just for Club Members, and Glenglassaugh don’t do this for anyone else. As their first ever aged PX release, this was matured in first-fill Spanish ex-Solera Pedro Ximénez butts and first-fill Pedro Ximénez puncheons – the exact same cask types that GlenDronach has access to.
Dr Rachel explains: “I’ve selected two different PX cask types to go into this. The PX butts amplify more of the syrupy nature of Glenglassaugh with less of the oak influence, and the PX puncheons give you the full oomph of the PX with the Spanish Oak. Marrying casks together is such a joy. These bring out the chocolate and salted treacle with its unctuousness, oiliness and depth, which takes it from the beach to the deep blue sea in the sweetest possible way.”
Bearing in mind this is the same genius behind the Club’s Whisky of the Year for 2023, the GlenDronach Cask Strength Batch 11, Dr Barrie has unparalleled knowledge when it comes to making Highland PX-matured malts. Her selection has added incredible layers to the malt’s classic tropical fruit character, ending with a chewy finish that’ll leave you wanting to top up your glass again and again.
Rolling in at 46.9% ABV, non-chill filtered and natural colour, this 12-year-old single malt is as moreish as they come.
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THE SPECS
Price: $125.00
Age: 12 Years Old
ABV: 46.9%
Maturation: An initial four years in American oak followed by eight years in first-fill ex-solera Pedro Ximénez butts & first-fill Pedro Ximénez seasoned puncheons.
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Glenglassaugh's History
The highly underutilised Glenglassaugh Distillery has a history unlike any other we’ve featured, as thanks to all manner of misfortune it’s only worked for 75 of the 148 years of its life.
The Highland coastal distillery was established in 1875 at Sandend Bay by a local entrepreneur called James Moir. Moir was a wine and spirits merchant who saw an opportunity to supply whisky through his existing business. He went in cahoots with his two nephews and the local copper smith Thomas Wilson, and business boomed from the start. The original plan was to bottle the whisky under his own label, but Glenglassaugh’s rich, complex whisky quickly found fame with blenders and most of it ended up being sold to William Teacher and Sons in Glasgow. Following Moir’s and Wilson’s deaths, the nephews reequipped the distillery and sold it off to Robertson & Baxter in 1892 who subsequently moved it to their other business, Highland Distillers, later in the same year.
Under Highland Distillers, Glenglassaugh’s complex whisky continued to add a much desired level of body and flavour to blends. Sadly however, Glenglassaugh’s remote location high up on the north east coast of Scotland also meant that it was an easy target for closure during busts in the whisky industry. The first of these occurred in 1907 and the distillery remained shut for 53 years until it was reopened in 1960 to help cover the demand for blended whisky during the boom of the 60s and 70s.
Glenglassaugh’s run of bad luck continued as the style of blended whisky had changed somewhat over the 50 years that it had been shut and modern blenders found it a challenging whisky to work with. It’s a highly individual malt that doesn’t mesh very well with other elements in a blend, but is perfect as a single malt. Unfortunately for Glenglassaugh the single malt market hadn’t yet been established in those days. A number of unsuccessful trials were undertaken over the years to try and change the whisky’s character and eventually Glenglassaugh fell silent once again in 1986 after only 26 years of operating – its superior quality (and another bust) being it’s undoing!
Luckily for all of us there’s a happy ending to the unlikely tale of woe and misfortune. In 2007 a group of whisky enthusiasts’ search for a single malt distillery led them to Glenglassaugh. While there had been painfully few single malt releases of Glenglassaugh over the years, these guys immediately recognised what Highland Distillers had been missing; that Glenglassaugh’s rich complex character made it excellent single malt. After months of routine refurbishments, Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, reopened the distillery on 28 November 2008 and under the leadership of industry veteran Stuart Nickerson the distillery was brought up to steam again.
In 2013 Glenglassaugh was acquired by The Benriach Distillery Company, bringing it under the control of Billy Walker, a living legend who’s spent the past decade restoring both Benriach and Glendronach back to the cult whiskies that they are today, then in 2016 American giant Brown Forman bought The Benriach Distillery Company. Under the watchful eye of Dr Rachel Barrie, Glenglassaugh’s whiskies are finally being bottled as single malts, the way James Moir probably intended when he first established the distillery…
Distillery Facts
Region: Highlands
Origin: Glenglassaugh Distillery, Portsoy, Aberdeenshire, AB45 2SQ, Scotland, United Kingdom
Founded: 1875
Water Source: Glassaugh Spring
Washbacks: 4, Wood, 2, Stainless Steel
Stills: 1 wash and 1 spirit
Capacity: 1,000,000 litres of alcohol per year