Whisky bottler commits to revealing ages

Independent bottler That Boutique-y Whisky Company (TBWC) has announced that with immediate effect it will be adding age-statements to its future releases. Amongst the first releases to be announced are Girvan 52YO, Macallan 25YO, Ardbeg 12YO, Blended Whisky #1 35YO and Invergordon 43YO.

In an era when many distilleries are moving towards no-age-statement (NAS) bottlings, TBWC (which has, to date, offered only a NAS range of bottlings) is taking the unprecedented step of going ‘the other way’ - adding age statements - in order to give consumers more information about its whiskies.

Speaking about the move to add age statements, TBWC’s Ben Ellefsen says: “This categorically doesn’t mean that we now believe that age is the most important thing about our whiskies. The most important thing is, and always has been, flavour - and we continue to make cask and parcel selections on that basis alone. When we launched TBWC, we wanted the liquid to be judged on its absolute quality - not its age. We’re three and a half years on now, and feel that we’ve established a reputation for exceptional liquid, and the feedback we’re consistently getting from our customers is that they’re really interested in how old the whiskies inside are. This and the recent launch of the campaign for transparency by John Glaser of Compass Box - which we wholeheartedly support - combined to make adding age statements to our bottlings somewhat of a no-brainer.

“It’s not just super-punchy age statements we’ll be listing either. We’ve got some extraordinary whiskies in the pipeline with tiny age statements; a 3YO from Slyrs in Germany, a 6YO from a famous Islay distillery which has been matured in fresh Bourbon casks, and a heavily-peated 4YO Blended Malt that’s been matured in ultra-active Madeira casks to name but a few - these are all awesomely good whiskies, and are certainly fully mature despite the low age statements.

We are also committed to revealing all the information we have on the breakdown of the ages of the various whiskies that make up each bottling as soon as the campaign for transparency is successful, and the EU legislation - which is at best a blunt instrument - is modified to allow us the freedom to do so."

23 April 2016 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor