Independent bottlings vs. distillery bottlings.

I'm a fan of the independent bottlers in general, but I wouldn't say that they were always or inherently better. After all, the owners get the first choice of which casks to bottle and which to sell.

Owners bottlings - and I mean the distilleries' standard or common expressions like the Dalmore 12, Aberlour 10, Glenmorangie 10, and so on - are vatted from a large number of casks and some producers take considerable effort to create a standard uniform product. The individual character of any particular cask is lost to the creation of the house style. Whether this style is greater than the sum of its parts is a judgement call and I don't think it always is.

While independent bottlers often bottle a single cask at a time, or a small parcel of only a few casks. Their product is much less consistent, but you get a very clear and distinct flavor of what that particular cask actually tasted like. If they happen to have an excellent cask to begin with you get an exceptional bottling. But I wouldn't say everything the independents bottle comes from an excellent cask. And consider that what doesn't get bottled by one independent may be sold on to get bottled by another independent.

While the single cask and specialist bottles produced by the owners themselves tend to be some of the very best of all. They have both the access to the best casks in the warehouse and the virtues of single cask or small parcel bottling as well.

I was just about to post this and I see Johanna's message just popped onto my server, which answers you more completely than I did. But I'll add this: it has often been easier to find cask strength and high proof bottlings from the independents than in official bottlings by the owners, and some of the Gordon and Macphails bottlings at 40% really make you wish you could have tasted the same whisky at higher ABV.

Bart

Yes and no. The distillery bottlings keep a house profile, averaged from available casks and presumably consistent over time. Surplus casks will then be available for independents - and may, or may not, be perceived as superior, imho. Anders

Thanks to all of you for confirming what I suspected. The guy I talked to is in a whisky club that tastes only independent bottlings, because they think them superior. The guy waved the authority of his club at me, while all I had was my humble opinion.

Good point Douglas but while Signatory's Glenrothes 1992 from their Unchillfiltered Collection is a great dram, I would still pick the OB as being still better. (Although the Unchillfiltered Collection is vastly superior to their regular line up of bottles.)

Johanna

Does this club also sell these independent bottlings to their members? I am familiar with a club that tries to promote independent bottlings as being equal or superior to distillery bottlings in order to boost their sales. As always, caveat emptor.

Johanna

I'd have to look into that. The man was a friend of my girlfirend's family, so I don't see him that much. (I've seen him only twice until now)

IMO, not a chance. You can locate many a gem fron the independants if you are willing to seek them out and sometimes pay more. A case in point, I have never tasted a decent independent bottling of Highland Park, while the 12 OB is always right on target. With Ardbeg, however, there are *plenty* of great ones so I suppose it's difficult to generalise.

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