Strathearn Inaugural 2024
Official Release | 50% ABV
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
It’s good, they can call it what they like
Who actually cares?
I was struck by a small whisky factoid recently. As the 20th century slid into the 21st and scotch whisky appreciation stepped out of its slippers and into its running shoes, half of Scotland’s malt distilleries were in the hands of two producers; Diageo and Chivas Brothers.
Contrast that to today; despite their respective growth, the number owned by those same two companies is less than a third of operational malt distilleries. Hopefully, that’s a good thing. Most of the explosion in new distilleries today are at the hands of passionate and driven individuals and teams of whisky folk. I feel like, slightly different from some incumbent producers, they’re the types who actually care about the liquid and its legacy.
I won’t focus on actual capacity today, which remains heavily weighted towards those two corporate juggernauts. Ramsay did a great job of putting scale into perspective in his recent feature.
However, if we consider brand diversity and variety, versus twenty-odd years ago, things have really blown up. I think it’s interesting to look at the brands available today, their presentation betrays whether or not the brand owners are bothered about the actual liquid. When it comes to the demands of whisky botherers, we can use the specs to try to measure how they’re doing.
Today we’re searching for transparency, as well as celebrating genuine provenance and geography. While eschewing marketing copy and paste, today we prefer natural, flavourful liquids. It’s more than a fad, it’s a movement. We only need to glance at how ‘craft’ has fundamentally changed the way we consume beer.
So what of the adaptability of those two biggest incumbents? Do they embrace any of that? Do they even care?
While Diageo have grown their distillery count, they haven’t really added much to their brand portfolio, if we’re honest. It was admittedly already decent, but bar the odd NAS or official release here and there, not much real product development has come from the company who brought us the seismic Classic Malts of the 1980s. That’s okay though, some of those original products have become the stuff of classic legend.
And to be fair, with the reopening of Port Ellen and Brora, as well as the building of Roseisle, they’ve gone from 27 operational distilleries in 2007 to 30 today. Of those operational distilleries, in 2024 - leaving price and availability to the side for a moment - we can buy and taste something from every one of them, pretty easily. Of course we need to include the patchy availability of the Flora & Fauna series and last year’s Roseisle Special Release to get there, but generally speaking, all are available.
Much copy is shared throughout the pages of Dramface filled with utter despair at some of the seemingly clumsy and arbitrary decisions taken by scotch whisky’s biggest producer, but if we look at the stewardship of Diageo’s distilleries, it would seem they present them in a general state of pretty good health.
It’s less positive for the whisky enthusiast when we look at Chivas Brothers, currently owned by Pernod Ricard. With 17 distilleries under their belt in 2000, they’ve shrunk that diversity somewhat and are now operating with 12, all in Speyside with the exception of Scapa.
Despite huge increases in capacity, some preservation has been lost. Let’s forgive them the loss of Imperial; they built Dalmunach over the top of scotch whisky’s unluckiest distillery. But Caperdonich is now part of Forsyth’s copper works, Inverleven was dismantled and scattered to the wind, Lochside was eventually demolished and, thankfully, Glenallachie and Tormore have since been placed into more nurturing hands.
Preservation has also been lost with really half-assed efforts into offering single malts of an official nature. Sure, Aberlour and Glenlivet are omnipresent, but I’ll wager they take up little space in your sipping room. So let’s move on to two that are loved. It’s heart-breaking to see how little effort is put into consistent brand-building for two of whisky’s greatest malts; Longmorn and Scapa. What is available is either a patchy and pale imitation of what’s actually made there (Scapa) or horrendously overpriced and poorly positioned premium releases (Longmorn). No one’s talking about them, certainly not in a positive light. I dream of them being sold to someone who cares.
Moving along the Chivas portfolio, there are weird, discount supermarket-style releases from Allt-a-Bhainne and Glen Keith, but these cheap malts feel weirdly like something that competes with blended scotch instead of building any brand enthusiasm for what may yet be decent whisky. They’re watered-down malts that really don’t give even a glimpse of what their respective distilleries actually make. Braeval has the most out-of-reach and oddest official bottles I can recall and Strathisla has tried to move from the supermarket aisle to a premiumised brand as if it were a toggle switch and, from what I can tell, with minimal success or impact. £60 for their 40% 12 year old, anyone? Didn’t think so.
That leaves Glentauchers, Miltonduff and Glenburgie but, weird and transient releases under the Ballantines brand aside, there’s nothing official to get excited about from these three capable distilleries either. Let’s be honest, everything we enjoy from Chivas Brothers, with very little exception, is from independent bottlers.
The same could easily be said for Diageo but, say what we like - at least for now - there exists some voices of sanity and savvy understanding of whisky within their organisation. A sense of genuine stewardship seems to, somehow, prevail. I get similar warm and fuzzy feelings of eyes-on-the-future from John Dewar & Son, and also Inver House. But, apart from glimmers of light from Glen Garioch’s current direction, Beam Suntory join Pernod Ricard/Chivas Bros in the Chaos Camp of rendering great malt whiskies into sub-standard and poorly judged products.
Please share your own feeling in the comments below as always - I will respond. But I know you already agree with me. Why?
In the Dramface Top 40, how many Chivas/Pernod Ricard make it on the list?
None.
From 1,500 participants placing 150,000 votes, not a single showing from any of their distilleries. That’s incriminating. Diageo has seven entries. Beam Suntory has three and even Edrington gets a mention. This list gets refreshed tomorrow morning on Dramface but, spoiler, Pernod Ricard doesn't feature…again.
I am grateful that Glenallachie and Tormore have escaped their grasp. Glenallachie is talked about positively by most these days and - cask-driven criticisms aside - people are loving it. One day soon, Elixir Distillers’ Tormore will step forward with a nurtured release and I sense that, whatever they present, it will be their absolute best effort from a product development team that actually understands and, crucially, cares.
However, when they eventually do release; as new owners, will they call it their ‘inaugural’?
Review
Strathearn, Inaugural Release 2024, Bottled from 32 casks; ex-bourbon, virgin oak and ex-sherry, Maris Otter barley, 50% ABV
£85 and still some availability
Sorry to vent and even sorrier for such a forced segue into the review. This is actually a happy story and a very positive release… for the most part. What we have here is a pretty new distillery that went through a very early transfer of ownership.
Strathearn was one of the first small, innovative producers founded eleven years ago in the Southern Highlands, very close to the pretty city of Perth. After helping to mould ways in which smaller ‘craft’ producers might contribute to whisky’s relevance and growth, the original owners eventually sold it to Douglas Laing & Co. in 2019.
Despite the Laings having a long-term plan to build a distillery in their home of Glasgow ultimately stall, this side-move meant they were finally not only established independent bottlers, but distillers too. The purchase made sense, even if I feel like they might have enjoyed something a little larger at the time.
Things have been relatively quiet since. Then, after expecting a release in 2023, early April brought us the bottle you see here; Douglas Laing’s Strathearn. This particular label suggests it’s the Inaugural Bottling of only 32 specially selected oak casks. We should tackle this now, but not dwell too much on the fact that this is not, strictly speaking, an Inaugural.
There are well over a hundred bottlings of Strathearn detailed on Whiskybase, and while many of these are private casks, there are also official releases listed. However, let’s refocus. Apart from some young spirit, this is the whisky that represents the liquid under the new owner’s stewardship, and they’ve waited five years to release it, with a significant proportion of their own distillate included. If it isn’t an inaugural, it is a completely new dawn.
This fresh start certainly makes it feel like an inaugural. It is an earnest, well thought-out product that, despite the distillery’s tiny size, is laden with personality and presence. It really feels like a new whisky. Now, let’s address the only other quibble; the price.
This was launched at £85. While it’s a no-age-stated release, we’re told it’s five years plus. The presentation is all natural, and stated as such, and it’s bottled at a generous (and thankfully so - I’ll get to that later) 50% ABV. But still, £85 is steep.
Sure, if this had been launched during the days of Lockdown, this would have evaporated - at any price. But those days have gone, we’re now into the days of whisky fatigue on everyone’s horizon and it’s time to be canny with the product development tools and offerings. It’s too expensive.
In its defence, however, we need to factor in scale. On those “32 carefully selected casks”; we’re told that’s all we’ll get this year. That’s it for 2024. The quoted capacity for the distillery is 140k LPA, placing it in the top ten smallest distilleries in Scotland. But actually, they’re making less than half that, which places them in the top five, similar in scale to part-timer Daftmill. This is rare liquid.
I suspect also that, while great expense has been visited with their “glass acorn” bottle (adorned with another three acorns: the cork, the label and the glass shoulder itself), it will win fans. It’s a pretty thing. It’s as endearing as it is ergonomic, and it’s dumpy roundness will fit nicely into whichever Ikea shelving system you’ve opted for.
But you’re here for the liquid. Me too.
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
It’s good, they can call it what they like
Nose
Runny honey, soft eucalyptus and apple juice pop first. There’s a modern, heavier note too; warm buttered toast and Danish pastries, farmyard. Soft wood spices; cedarwood.
Palate
Very soft, buttery arrival. A delicious, coating viscosity delivers cooked apples and pastry, madeira cake and ripe banana. It’s creamy, is this the Maris Otter malt? It’s poised; a nice balance of fruit and firm acidity. It quickly builds to a peppery spice which works well with the oiliness to leave a surprisingly long, wood-spiced finish.
Adding water lifts the brightness a touch, but honestly - it works best straight out of the bottle at 50%, I’m grateful for this added oomph for what is overall a lovely, crafted and balanced glass of malt whisky. It benefits from this bottling strength.
The Dregs
If we decide this is an inaugural, then this is one of the best there has been.
It isn’t going to grab you like a west coast Arndamurchan, but it is expressive and confident. If this is the acorn seed of what Douglas Laing want to build from this Southern Highlander, I’m looking forward to seeing what grows. If it is indeed an annual release, I feel confident I’ll be early in line to pick up next year’s release too - which cannot be said for many of the new distillery releases that are appearing today.
However, a word of warning.
The day this review goes live, there’s another release that is anticipated and it is a true inaugural. It has the kudos of ‘Islay’ stamped across the shoulder and it is also 5 years old, however, it’s age-stated as such. It’s also presented naturally and at 50% ABV. Placing these two malts as a head-to-head would have been tempting, but tasteless, as the other release is from the other half of the Laing family whisky legacy - Ardnahoe. The reason I choose to mention it here is that Hunter Laing have chosen to release their inaugural at £70. Much closer to today’s market tone.
Future releases of Strathearn absolutely must move closer to this price point. They may be the same scale as Daftmill but they have a reputation to build and they’re going to have to do so with much younger liquid.
That said, in the flavour and texture stakes this can stand up against and easily dominate the swathes of cheap malts that are released as official whiskies from our incumbent producers today - even those at twice the age. We really don’t want this cheapened.
Let’s see what the future holds, but this is a great start from a real refresh. What comes across more than anything about this wee bottle of malt is that it’s been put together by someone who cares.
I’m very grateful for it.
Score: 7/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. WMc
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