Signatory ?

U¿ytkownik "dopey" napisa³:

Signatory is the name of an independent bottler. A very good one, I have to add. They don't usually give the age of a whisky on their labels, but give you much more important information from which you can calculate the age, namely the date of distillation and that of the bottling. Apart from that, you can probably find some info on the type of cask used, its individual number, the number of bottles it yielded, and the individual number of the particular bottle you are holding in your hands...

Other great independent bottlers include: Murray McDavid, Cadenhead, Adelphi and a few others.

Cheers, Rajmund

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Thank you Rajmund ... why would Laphroig (or any other maker) use an independent bottler ?

$20 US for a bottle of Laphroig seems awful cheap.

Not that I'm complaining :-)

Thanks again.

Paul

Signatory is one of several independent bottlers that buy casks from distillers and bottle them on their own (and may mature them in their own warehouses as well). Some others are Murray McDavid, Whyte & Mackay, and Cadenhead.

Independent bottlings usually have the distillery name in small type, not using trademark typefaces or logos. Some distillers don't allow even that, so the bottler might simply give the geographic area of the distiller.

IB's may be quite different from the official bottlings - they often come from a single cask, and it may not be a "typical" cask for the distillery (e.g. a bourbon-cask Macallan). OB's may be a vatting of different batches, ages, or cask types, to try to keep the product fairly consistent from year to year.

I have an IB of Highland Park 20 from Signatory - it's pretty nice, but I'm going to have to get an official bottling of the HP 18 to compare it against. The IB has a pepperiness that makes me think of Talisker without the peat.

No age statement: may be a very young whisky, or perhaps a vatting of old and young whiskies. If an age statement appears on a bottle, it is the age of the youngest whisky in the mix, even if only a small percentage comes from a young cask. A cask that has been aged too long might be "fixable" by adding some younger whiskies, for instance, or a young whisky might be brought down to drinking strength by adding older whisky.

NAS isn't necessarily a bad thing; for instance, Aberlour A'bunadh is (IMHO) exceptional. FWIW, I *don't* consider Aberlour 10 to be "toxic s**nk water." ;-)

It's very hard to say how the Signatory NAS Lagavulin would compare, but at $20, I'd give it a shot.

Thanks Russ. Great info.

Ah, yes. My comment that has defined my worth as a human being (or more accurately lack thereof) to some in this group :-)

I must say that I did down a dram of the Aberlour 10 last night, partly because of the comments in reaction to my (admittedly overly) harsh assessment. To be more specific, I find Aberlour 10 to be totally lacking in character, with a disturbing aftertaste that hints of the medicinal/chemical. This is the same flavor that keeps me from liking Glenlivet very much.

But, to be totally fair and honest, my bottle of Aberlour is about

Cheers and thanks again Russ. I have only had Laphroig once and liked it very much so $20 for the Signatory is a pretty easy call.

Paul

Hi Paul , Signatory are an independant bottler based in Edinburgh , they now also own Edradour Distillery . Does it actually say Lagavulin on the bottle ? They usually do an Islay Vintage bottling (in the UK and Europe), which can be 40% or Caskstrength , it has been a 5yo and a

Slainté Gordon

I picked up a bottle of the Signatory Islay 5 yo and it is outstanding. Easy drinking Islay.

U¿ytkownik "dopey" napisa³: [snip!]

I'll second that.

I would also have to try very hard to squeeze Aberlour 10yo among my favourites. I respect others' opinion - those who regard it highly - but to me it's just a cheap mismarriage of some burnt-rubber sheery stuff with a slightly smoky whisky, which could be quite drinkable otherwise, but in this combination puts me off the shop shelf where it stands quite effectively. Wouldn't call it undrinkable though. I think their attepmt at copying the Balvenie 12yo DoubleCask's success by producing Aberlour 15yo Double Wood (or whatever it is called) is pathetic - worse than the 10yo by far.

Cheers, Rajmund

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U¿ytkownik "dopey" napisa³:

I think others have already made this clear (I'm still recovering from my recent trip to Scotland, so I'm not being a very careful reader). The whisky distilleries do not _need_ independent bottlers. Actually, some of the big names quite dislike the idea of indies bottling their stuff under the distillery names. Search the archives for threads on the Murray McDavid (an indie) vs. Allied (owners of Laphroaig) conflict over the former using the Laphroaig name on their expressions, which eventually resulted in them using the name Leapfrog on their independent Laphroaigs. It so happens that the whisky the distilleries produce is not always suitable for the official bottlings - for various reasons. Sometimes it is because it is just too good (althought these days they would issue a limited expression rather than give it away). Anyway, those casks find their way to the various indies who bottle them under their own lable, but they usually name the distillery the whisky came from. Unless it is the case of the fabulous Whisky That Cannot Be Named 50yo 1953 from Adelphi, which is a 50yo Glenfarclas, but Jamie Walker of Adelphi will not openly admit that even in a face-to-face conversation.

Cheers, Rajmund

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----- Original Message ----- From: "Rajmund M" Newsgroups: alt.drinks.scotch-whisky Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2004 6:23 PM Subject: Re: Signatory ?

Glenfarclas is probably the most aggressive distillery in defending their trademark from the indie bottlers. I have a truly amazing "Ballindalloch"

Ballindalloch just happens to be the town where Glenfarclas is situated.

Al Jones