All
Picked up a bottle of what's listed as "Cadenhead's Authentic Collection Scotch Whisky", 1988 Speyside, Distilled at Glenlivet (Minmore) Distillery. Cask Strength.
Not sure how this is *supposed* to be, but they guy at the shop recommended it.
It's quite good, though it's my first cask strength, so I've got some exploring to do. Tried it neat yesterday. Might add a little water.
Best regards, Justin
Hi Justin,
(H>
Minmore Glenlivet is Cadenhead's way of indicating the distillery known as "The Glenlivet". I'm not sure why Cadenhead does that, but it may be that The Glenlivet doesn't like independent bottlers using their name.
There was a dispute between Allied Distillers and Murray McDavid over the use of the name Laphroaig. Allied didn't want MMD to use "Laphroaig" on their independent bottlings of whisky distilled at Laphroaig. MMD won that dispute, on the theory that Laphroaig was the name of the place, not the name of the whisky, and the whisky could honestly be described as having been distilled "at Laphroiag" - and hence wasn't infringing on Allied's trademark. Calling a whisky *The* Glenlivet might be uncomfortably close to infringing on that name though. Likewise you won't see independent bottlers labelling whisky distilled at Macallan as *The* Macalllan. Cadenhead may just be avoiding a lawsuit.
"Minmore House is the original home of the Glenlivet whisky distilling family, and lies in the heart of the Crown Estate adjacent to the Glenlivet Distillery."
I haven't had that particular bottling, but I was tempted by another Minmore a year ago or so. Wish I had grabbed it.
There's a lot to explore with a cask strenght whisky. I would definitely recommend tasting it without adding any water, but I would also recommend trying it with a little water as well. It depends on the strength it was bottled at, of course, but as a rule of thumb adding about 1/4 (plus or minus) as much water as whisky will knock the strength down to something like the strength of a standard bottling. If your good with algebra you can work out the exact amount to add, but it's difficult to measure small amounts of water accurately. Sometimes the most interesting flavors appear in between cask strength and the standard 40 or 43 percent ABV.
Bart
...but only after first bottling some of it under the name "Leapfrog", is that not correct? 8;)
-- Larry
That's true. I have a MMD Laphroaig bottled as a 10yo, as an 11yo, and then as a 12yo it's "Leapfrog" - the text on the label tells the story in a somewhat mocking way. I saw a MMD Laphroaig 13yo, after the dispute, but didn't get it and haven't seen that one lately.
Bart
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