Glentauchers 12 Year Old 2012 Blackadder Raw Cask Single Refill Sherry Butt #900473 Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2024) 70cl

1 of 657 bottles produced from a single refill sherry butt

Blackadder are a family owned independent whisky bottler established in 1995 by Robin Tucek who now runs the business with his son, Michael, and daughter, Hannah. Initially a whisky bottler, they have since developed their range to include other spirits, including rum and gin. They are most notable for not filtering the whisky where some of the bottles may have cask sediment left over which for a lot of whisky drinkers, is mega attractive. Certainly is for us. After all, wood is just carbohydrate anyway. 

About Glentauchers

A substantial granite distillery (designed by Charles Doig) on the outskirts of Keith.

Glentauchers’ make has always gone into blends which lie on the lighter side of the flavour spectrum, initially Buchanan’s and Black & White, and these days Ballantine’s. Accordingly, the set up – long ferments, slow distillation – has always been one where flowers have been preferred to earthy weight.

Another member of the ‘1890s gang’, Glentauchers was established in 1898 by James Buchanan & Co. to provide fillings for its Buchanan’s and Black & White blends.

Experiments in ‘continuous pot still distillation’ were trialled here (and at Convalmore) at the start of the 20th century. This involved running a 100% barley mash through an adapted pot still. Production was upped considerably in 1966 when the number of stills increased from the original pair to half a dozen.

Glentauchers was one of the many distilleries which fell foul of the slump in demand in the early 1980s and was mothballed in 1985. It was, somewhat surprisingly at the time, snapped up by one of Diageo’s rivals, Allied Distillers, in 1989 [the Allied estate became part of Chivas Brothers in 2005] when it became a named component of Ballantine’s, although the firm didn’t restart production until 1992.

It is not commonly seen other than as a bottling from Gordon & MacPhail. However, in July 2017 Glentauchers was released as a 15-year-old single malt (alongside expressions from Glenburgie and Miltonduff) under the Ballantine’s brand.

About Blackadder

Blackadder’s philosophy is very simple – they believe that the Cask is King. Sixty to seventy percent of the flavors in a whisky are taken up slowly from the cask as the spirit lies maturing in the warehouse. The action of changing temperature draws the spirit in and out of the cask.
A family operation started and piloted by whisky legend Robin Tucek, they sell to a few limited countries around the world, primarily Tiawan, Japan, the USA and Sweden.

Blackadder was established in 1995 by Robin Tucek who runs the family business with his daughter Hannah and son Michael. Blackadder International gets its name from fugitive 17th-century preacher, John Blackadder. He is famous for preaching against the evils of alcohol.

Hannah Tucek states that the Blackadder International company will always be family-run. Each of the three owner-operators brings something unique to the table. Michael Tucek used to be a chef. He uses his familiarity with a wide range of aromas and flavours to write all tasting notes. Michael feels that “our sense of smell is the most direct sense to our brain and also our most complex. It’s proven that once you go over three aroma compounds mixed together, everything is subjective and becomes very personal. Every aroma can evoke a different memory in each of us and we build up our aroma library as we grow. By not being afraid to say what we sense and share it, we can all learn something from each other.” Like Michael, Hannah grew up around whisky and has come to appreciate whisky at its pure state. Her father and brother joke that she is the one that’s really in charge.

Every cask is unique, with its own fingerprint. This is why they bottle most of their whiskies from single casks. They don’t believe in chilling or otherwise heavily filtering their whiskies, and they never, repeat never, add caramel colouring or flavouring to their spirits. They have always believed the personalities of their whiskies are colourful enough. Their raw cask is famous for the barrel char in each bottle.

65.6% ABV

70cl