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.
Rampur Double Cask
Rampur distillery is located in the Uttar Pradesh region of India and is owned by Radico Khaitan. While technically distilling spirits since 1943, by the turn of the century Rampur was launching brands under it’s own name for the domestic market and, increasingly, for international ones. The Rampur Double Cask is double distilled from six-row barley and matured using both American ex-bourbon and European ex-sherry casks.
Glen Scotia 8 Year Peated PX Cask Finish
When the COVID-19 pandemic broke in early 2020, one of its countless casualties was the shuttering of events to help minimize the spread of infection. The 2022 Campbeltown Malts Festival was the first one to be held since 2019 and like many other whisky festivals, special bottlings were released to mark the occasion. While Campbeltown only currently maintains three operating distilleries within the region and thus does not have quite the footprint as, say, the Feis Ile, the enthusiasm of all attendees and participants more than makes up for it. Glen Scotia was founded in 1832 by Stewart & Galbraith and Company. It has passed through several owners over the centuries and was most recently purchased by the Loch Lomond Group in 2014. While there are currently five core expressions, the Glen Scotia 8 Year Peated PX Cask Finish was matured for seven and a half years in American first fill bourbon barrels before spending another year finishing in Pedro Ximénez hogsheads.