Glengoyne Teapot Dram Batch #1

Built in 1833, what is now known as Glengoyne is a Highland distillery so close to the Lowland region border that its warehouses across the road actually fall into the latter geographical category. The distillery was owned by the Lang Brothers for 89 years, who used it as provision for their blends. In that time it was also important to those of Robertson & Baxter, who would eventually acquire the site in 1966, and bottled it as a single malt for the first time in the 1970s. It was not until the 1990s that the single malt brand became the distillery’s main focus however. An eventual restructuring by Robertson & Baxter’s parent company, Edrington, saw its operations quieted, and Glengoyne was sold to Ian Macleod Distillers in 2003.

An incredibly popular Glengoyne, this is the first batch of the Teapot Dram.

The name of the expression relates to a 150 year tradition at the distillery, wherein the Brewer would select a different cask in the warehouse each week for the workers to receive a dram 3 times a day, at 9am, midday and 3pm. The agreed share was for it to be no more than three fingers measured from the base of the tumbler, with the colleague in possession of the chubbiest fingers usually chosen for the job. Go figure. So large were some of these drams, that often the less hardy souls were unable to finish theirs, with the leftovers decanter into a copper teapot for some of the more seasoned drinkers to imbibe a little extra from throughout the day.

Matured in first-fill ex-Sherry casks, this is one of 3,105 bottles released in 2011.