Glen Keith 1995

Paladin’s Highest Pedigree – The Knights’ ReservE

In order for a scotch to qualify for the title of “KNIGHTS’ RESERVE”, the Paladin team puts it through the most stringent criteria! Historically, based on our inventories, only one of about 50 casks receives this royal treatment, which is testament to the exclusiveness of the bottles.

First and foremost, a cask has to be the rarest of the rare! Cue, a 1995 (16th March 1995) laid down Glen Keith from this stellar distillery. Second, it has to taste absolutely divine and have the most unique of finishes! In this case, a robust taste test was done using various industry experienced experts who were awestruck by the subtle and unique taste this legendary Scotch had to offer after the cognac cask finishing was complete.

Paladin’s “Dram Team”, after much intense debate and expert discussions, reduced the cask strength from 55% to 50% to ensure, with a bit of dilution, that the cognac finish truly stood out and higher ABV did not dilute the flavours imparted by the Cognac cask.

The Cognac itself is a subtle and distilled white wine, thus not known for its colour imparting qualities to Scotch either. This also means the liquid is as close to its aging colour as it supposed to be with a slight amber tinge to it, glistening perfectly as it aged and met its bottle.

Background

With sales of Chivas Regal rising throughout the 1950s, Sam Bronfman felt that he needed another distillery to supply juice for his blends – not just Chivas but Passport and 100 Pipers. He picked the site of a former meal mill in Keith, Scotland directly behind his existing Strathisla plant. As well as providing fillings for blends, Glen Keith became Seagram’s experimental plant and still houses the Chivas Brothers lab today.

It ran triple-distilled malt from the word go and alternated it with double distilled until the 1980s. Additionally, it ran trials with a wheat mash, was the first distillery to use gas-fired direct heating (all its stills are now steam-driven) and in its time also produced heavy peated variants (Glenisla)- one made with peat smoke being passed through water which was then concentrated and the other in the normal manner. There were also trials with different yeast types. The fact that the stills were different shapes and sizes helped in these innovative trials. Unfortunately, It was mothballed in 1999, only reopening (under new owner Pernod Ricard) in 2013 after a complete refit which saw a new mash tun and wash backs being installed.

A Cognac Cask Finish

Chivas Regal aimed to bring a more “contemporary” feel to Scotch whisky with a new 15-year-old blend finished in Grande Champagne Cognac casks – Chivas XV. Only a portion of this blend was truly finished in grand champagne casks. Bottled at 40% abv, Chivas XV was available exclusively in travel retail for the time it was running.

https://www.chivas.com/en-GB/our-collection/chivas-xv

Since Glen Keith is a prime component in Chivas’ much-loved and globally cherished blends, Paladin’s team thought it would be a great idea to segregate its most fruity and floral component and give it a unique Cognac Cask finishing of its own. So, we selected a March 1995 laid Glen Keith (cask 4415), which was still under the old ownership, when it was distilled.

Exclusivity

Only 250 bottles of this unique elixir will be ever produced, thus adding to the charm and exclusivity of the rarest of the rare! Once they are bought and consumed, that is it! No other bottle like this will EVER exist on the planet!

Tasting Notes

Colour –  Gold

Nose – Warm apple crumble fills your nostrils. Fresh, crisp Granny Smith apples. Coconut shavings. The nose finishes with an unusually specific note of pickled onion Monster Munch.

Palate – A very simple sipper, breakfast whisky. Light and delicate with touches of tart apple and fresh fruit juice.

Finish – A medium-long finish. Super delicate, taking time to show its true colours.

Conclusion – A superb example of Single Malt Speyside Scotch Whisky. This dram is one you want to spend time with.