Independent bottlers vs Owner's bottlings...

It's not quite that simple.

The owner may sell

- standard X year old, this will always taste the same, from year to year (ok, certain minor variations may occur).

- vintage 19xx, all 19xx will taste the same, but they may taste different from the 19yy and 19zz vinatges, and also different from the X year old.

- cask, all bottles from a specific cask will taste the same, but may be different from other casks, and any or all of the above.

Independent bottlers may offer the same variety, and difference in taste. Independent bottlers seem to strive for different niches in the market, some focus on cask and cask strength bottlings, while other on vintages and ages different from the owner.

I would have to disagree with your statement "..no control/inspection/procedure is followed...". The larger independent bottlers have a reputation to protect and sell a quality product.

Anders

"Michel" skrev i meddelandet news:bn6vul$tm54b$ snipped-for-privacy@ID-210277.news.uni-berlin.de...

A standard bottling from a distillery will be of the same quality, and they will at all time strive to have it taste the same year in and year out. The only time the taste changes dramatically is when the owners decide to change the product (normally they then substitute the old product for a older or young one, e.g. change from 10 to 12yo), or the distillery changes owners who have a different philosophy (e.g. Ardbeg).

Most of the independent bottlings are single casks. Therefore you will get a huge variation on the taste. A distillery bottling will consist of several hundreds or thousands of casks which are blended together to create the standard product. Casks that doesn't fit in the taste-profile are either stored longer, bottled as a 'special edition' or sold to brokers and independent bottlers. So you can get a independent bottling that tastes better than the 'real'-thing, but you can also get it the other way around.

For a novice I would never recommend a independant bottling, since the risk of getting a bad bottle is too high. I myself had a taste from a independant bottling of Glenrothes that had a rubbery taste with a hint of burnt clutch, extremely horrid. It was served to me with the message than the cask had gone bad, so it wasn't as if I got tricked. But when you've had a few bottles from the distilleries, and feel like you're ready for something else, then a independant bottling may be a good thing. Some bottlers seem to deliver better products than others, so most people find a bottler they trust and mainly keep with that one. Me, I prefer Adelphi (can be hard to get hold of), Gordon & MacPhail (for Speyside whiskies), Cadenhead's (a bit more risky) and Signatory has also quite a few gems.

----- Martin Oslo, Norway

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