A question about indie bottlings

Independent bottlers have every reason to select the best casks, as they often release single cask bottlings, so they would most certainly NOT be inferior. Although I've had quite a few 'bad' whiskies from Indies as well. There simply is no rule. It's a bit hit and miss, but you could say the same about the official bottlings. The big advantage of the Indies is the fact that they release interesting whiskies that you will not find in the range of the official bottlings. I'm very fond of independent bottlers, as they offer something different.

@markjedi1 ...without naming names (if you're not comfortable doing so) would it be a fair statement (or not) that the quality of IB's is more dependent on the IB selecting the cask, rather than the quality of the distillery where the cask is coming from? Do some independant bottlers have a more consistent track record than others?

@Pudge72 You have a point there. Indeed, some IB's like Gordon & Macphail or Berry Bros & Rudd have a good track record in my book. I have yet to have a 'bad' experience with these two. The German Malts of Scotland also has a great selection. So far, only two or three casks were underwhelming. I'm not too happy with several releases from Murray McDavid or The Ultimate, though. Cadenheads (especially Duthies) and Signatory are usually nice, but not always. Duncan Taylor I like, but Douglas Laing not always. Of course, it also depends on the distillery as well. Some have such a great spirit that you can hardly go wrong. I've recently discoverd both David Stirk's Creative Whisky Company and A.D. Rattray. Pretty nice releases there. One of the few labels that I've really had 'bad' expriences with is Chieftain's from Ian MacLeod's. Is that enough name dropping for you? :)

@markjedi1

I can echo your thoughts on the Berry Brothers offerings. I recently attended a whisky festival and Berry Brothers had by far the most interesting stand. I have had a few Douglas Laing bottles, some excellent some just OK.

@linusstick If you find an independendat bottling of a whisky you normally like and it is by one of the bottlers @markjedi1 mentioned you shouldn't go far wrong. I once had a Provenance bottling of Caol Ila 9 years old that if you tasted it blind you would have sworn it was nearly double the age, it was lovely.

I may have been lucky, but out of maybe a dozen indie bottlings, I have yet to get a "bad" one. In fact one of my current favourites is from Murray McDavid, who markjedi1 hasn't been to pleased with.

One thing I do like about the indies, is that often they will bottle at 50%, without chill filtering or coloring, even where the distillery bottles at a lower ab, and uses chill fitering.

I'm a huge fan of the independents. At it's best a single cask from any reputable indi can be of a quality that would cost many times as much once bottled by the distillery owner.

The main problem is knowledge, often good casks come and go in a flash due to nature of the small number of bottles they return. The challenge is being on the ground floor so to speak and this requires good people who you tend to agree and share tastes with. A lot builds on experience also, talking to different people and gathering your own views as relates to different companies and there individual inclinations regarding profile for a given distillery. Sample sites like Master of Malt's drinks by the dram and Whiskysamples.eu are worth checking out as they not only offer the chance to taste some amazing whisky without shelling out for a full bottle.

Not sure if they have been mentioned already but keep an eye out for Berry Bros and Rudd, Adelphi, The Whisky Agency (the perfect dram etc), and The Nectar. All are very reliable in my experience.

I think the range of independents is much wider, as they also bottle casks of which the distillery would say they don't fit their standard profile. I also think the quality scale is wider: independents have bottlings that are worse than OB's (they usually don't mind, as it's probably just one cask) but imho they also have better bottlings than the distillery (because they don't have to make sure they can deliver more of the same in the future).

In general, I really love independents. They offer you more variation, higher strengths, more single casks and usually at a much lower price than comparable distillery bottlings.

@linusstick

The Indies for me bring a different perspective to whiskies that I already know reasonably well, to the point that they now make up about 70% of what I buy. I've had a couple of absolutely stunning Indies including my top two of all time (Murry McDavid 11 y/o Lagavoulin and Douglas Laing 29 y/o Ardbeg SC CS) and a few complete and utter failures (Gordon McPhail 24 y/o Port Ellen @40% and others). The point being that you have to go into the process knowing that to some extent your purchase is a crap shoot, as an example, of those three mentioned both the Ardbeg and Port Ellen were rather expensive but the Lagavoulin was quite cheap. In each case though I made the purchase looking at a whisky that I already knew. I will occasionally break this rule when something really rare comes along, I bought a Signatory Glen Esk knowing full well that Michael Jackson rated it in the low 60’s, just because I’m unlikely to ever see it again.

Getting a general review of the indie bottlers is pretty tough, partly because it is difficult to separate the whisky from the bottler, partly because even within the Indie companies there are often a range of labels, each with its own niche.

I would dearly love to see some sort of comparison or review system set up to rate Indies but so far there isn’t anything available (could be a project for Connosr?).

Just as an example, a few I’m quite familiar with rated by consistent quality / Value

Duncan Taylor Rare and Auld excellent / reasonable Douglas Laing O&R excellent /very expensive Douglas Laing OMC excellent / reasonable Signitoy UCF very good / expensive Murry McDavid (basic) good / in-expensive Douglas Laing Prov. good / reasonable Adelphi good / very expensive Gordon MacPhail fair / expensive

Just currious, has anyone else had any experience with the indipendent bottler Blackadder (Black Adder sp?)? A friend purchased their Laphroaig, and I their Caol Ila, on a splurg a few months ago and I loved them both. I just haven't heard about them from too many other people and wanted some opinions. Also any opinions on Cheiftons would be nice too, the local liquor depot has some Ardbeg by them and I almost bought it (got Lagavulin 16 instead)

@ssmith84 I had the Blackadder Smoking Islay a year or so ago. From memory it was not as Peaty or as Smokey as I expected. It was a pleasant Islay dram, but certainly wasnt anything overly special. I don't regret having bought it, but for the cost I certainly wouldnt buy it again.

Sorry, to finish what I was saying, I found it more in the Caol Ila or Talisker catergory (yes I know Talisker isnt an Islay, but it has that level of smokiness) than the Ardbeg or Lagavulin range.