May 14, 2015
On 13th May, 2015 The House of Fine Whisky at Checkers LiquorShop unveiled Glenburgie, its 16-year-old extremely rare, single cask addition to the Private Barrel Co. Label, exclusive to Checkers. The new single malt Scotch whisky which traces its origins back to 1810, launched just in time to celebrate World Whisky Day on the 16th of May.
Launched at an event hosted at Café Dijon in Cape Town, attendees were treated to a showcase of the best in the Private Barrel Co. range hosted by whisky connoisseur, Marsh Middleton, coupled with a live Twitter tasting where top whisky aficionados, media and influencers were given the opportunity to be part of the launch via Twitter and by watching a live YouTube stream, with their very own whisky tasting kits.
The twice distilled, 16 year old matured Glenburgie whisky was chosen as the newest edition of the privately bottled single cask range for Checkers after a long search. This is the tenth whisky variant for the Private Barrel Co. label since the launch of the privately bottled whisky brand in November 2012.
This spectacular cask of rich and sweet whisky from the Speyside region of Scotland was hand selected and recommended by James Mulholland, Glenburgie's Distillery Manager and signed off by Master Distiller Alan Winchester.
Whisky Connoisseur Marsh Middleton says that, “Private Barrel’s Glenburgie is from a first fill ex-Bourbon barrel, meaning the barrel in which the Scotch whisky was matured previously had bourbon whisky in it only. This is important because, ‘first fill’ casks are highly active and usually make for richer and deeper flavours.”
Tasting Notes:
Glenburgie is light amber in colour, conjuring up soft and sweet aromas of red toffee apples, rich vanilla and a touch of hazelnuts. On the tongue one discovers a rich and sweet taste reminiscent of old fashioned mixed fruit boiled sweets giving it a syrupy and luscious texture with a velvety smooth, long and lingering finish, with distinct Speyside characteristics.
Speyside whiskies are among Scotland’s lightest and sweetest single malts and the maturation brings with it more body and complexity.
The original cask strength was 55.6% prior to dilution. It was slightly diluted and not chill-filtered to maintain most of the textures of the whisky. Glenburgie is thus a unique non chill-filtered single cask bottled at 48% ABV.
“We have chosen the perfect time to launch this whisky, just in time for World Whisky Day on Saturday, inviting everyone to try a dram and celebrate the ‘water of life.’ We saw this as a perfect opportunity and time to unveil our rare offering to South Africa,” spokesperson for Checkers, Joseph Brönn (Deputy Operations Manager Supermarkets) adds.
Glenburgie will be on shelf in July but pre-orders for the 228 bottles available are open from the 20th of May via the Checkers website at a cost of R999.99 per bottle.