Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve
The Glenlivet was founded in 1824 by George and John Smith, and has remained almost continually open for over two centuries apart from a few years during World War II. Currently owned by the Chivas Brothers Group under the Pernod Ricard corporate umbrella, it is currently the largest selling scotch in the United States and second biggest in the world. While a minority of the distillery’s 10.5 million liters per year output goes into Chivas Brothers blends, the vast majority goes into single malts like the Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve. The bedrock of the Signature Collection, this single malt is matured in oaks with a selection of first-fill American oak casks.
Dalmunach Duncan Taylor 7 Year
Dalmunach was built in 2012 and opened in 2015 by the Chivas Brothers Group, which is under the larger Pernot Ricard corporate umbrella and is currently one of the largest distilleries in Scotland. Duncan Taylor is an independent whisky bottling company that was founded in 1938 and posseses an extremely large collection of single malt and single grain whiskies. The Dalmunach Duncan Taylor 7 Year was matured for nearly eight years in ex-bourbon casks and highlights a Speyside distillery that does not offer its own single malt, a rare glimpse indeed.
Founders Series: Ardbeg-a-thon
The Founders Series takes advantage of Scotchology’s founders meeting to celebrate our 10th Anniversary in August of 2023. Since we can’t meet in person as often as we were able to when the club first started, we decided to make the most of our time together and sampled a truly broad, exciting range of whiskies in some semblance of batching. The second batch features Ardbeg, a Scottish single malt that for some of us helped kick off our initial love of whisky and an early favorite in the early days of the club. As of this publication, we have reviewed whiskies from Ardbeg than any other distillery. But even that metric quite convey how often we go back to the proverbial well in between reviews or the special place it holds in our appreciation and personal collections.