Glencadam 9 Year Old 2011 SMWS Single 2nd Fill Ex-Bourbon Cask 82.28 Memories of Days Gone By (2020) 70cl

1 of 221 bottles out of a single 2nd fill ex bourbon barrel. 

A punchy delicious single cask from Glencadam bottled by the SMWS.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society was founded in Edinburgh in 1983 by Phillip 'Pip' Hills who, while travelling around Scotland in the 1970s, fell in love with whiskies drawn straight from the cask. After he expanded his syndicate the Society was purchased by Glenmorangie PLC in 2004. In 2015, the Society was sold back to private investors. In June 2021, the private owners floated the holding company The Artisanal Spirits Company plc on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.

It has a unique code system where the first number refers to the distillery and the second refers to the cask from which the bottle comes. SMWS also offers the largest range of distilleries of any independent bottler. These curiously named drams really do have something for every whisky lover!

The SMWS are one of the Britain's most revered independent bottlers with a worldwide network of partner bars with one mission of getting as much whisky at natural cask strength without water to different nations including USA, Canada, Switzerland, UK, Austria, Germany and many others.

TASTING NOTES

The aroma reminded one panellist initially of standing in front of the whole class writing a mathematical equation with chalk on a blackboard (the good old days!), while most of us got a basket of fruit full of lychees, mandarins as well as strawberries and pineapple junks. Oozing with sweetness and tropical goodness on the palate neat but be aware, at the same time a fiery gingery heat. Nothing a drop of water cannot solve as the scent of fresh oak, vanilla biscuits and candy floss was followed by the very moreish taste of Scotch pancakes served with mixed berries and custard.

The tasting notes describe it as pancakes, mixed berries & custard

About Glencadam

Glencadam’s new make character of flowers and pear drops is a direct result of a distillation regime that maximises reflux – the lyne arms on the stills are angled upwards. Its mature character, especially when matured in refill American oak, has a soft buttery quality that adds a silkiness to the palate.  

Glencadam, which is situated in the Burgh of Brechin, was built in the era of optimism that followed the passing of the 1823 Excise Act. After passing through a number of owners, it became part of the estate of Glasgow blender Gilmour Thompson & Co which bought the distillery in 1891.

The blending house ceased trading in 1954 when Glencadam was sold to Canadian distiller Hiram Walker, which was then starting its first acquisitive sweep through Scotland. Through a process of amalgamation it became part of Allied Distillers and was seen as being the ‘home’ of the Dundee blend Stewart’s Cream of the Barley.

Allied mothballed the plant in 2000 but it was purchased three years later by London-based Angus Dundee [see Tomintoul]. Angus Dundee’s blending lab is now located at the distillery.

A quiet player for most of its existence, Glencadam is slowly emerging as a single malt in its own right. Its recent proprietary bottlings have not been chill-filtered or caramel tinted.