Although its little-known as a single malt,Glenburgie’s history stretches back to 1829when it was built on the flatlands near Forres byWilliam Paul. After the (fairly common) multiplechanges in ownership it became part of theestate of blenders James & George Stodart,owner of the Old Smuggler blend, although theynever actually made whisky on the site.

Stodart was bought out by Hiram Walker in1936, at the same time the Canadian firmbought Miltonduff. Ever since then Glenburgiehas been closely associated with the Ballantine’sblend.

Like Miltonduff, it was home to a pair of‘Lomond’ stills from 1958 to 1981, whichproduced a malt known as Glencraig. In 2004,the old distillery was demolished and a new,larger, open plan one was constructed. A thirdpair of stills was added at this point. It has beenpart of Chivas Brothers since 2005.

Ballantine’s status as the second largest sellerin the world accounts for the fact thatGlenburgie’s sightings as a single malt are asinfrequent as those of the Loch Ness monster.Allied only bottled it once and Chivas Bros. hasonly ever included it in its limited edition CaskStrength series (which are only availablethrough the firms’ distillery visitors’ centres).

It very occasionally pops up as an independentbottling, as do some of the last remainingstocks of Glencraig. It is not commonly seenother than as a bottling from Gordon &MacPhail.

However, in July 2017 Glenburgie was releasedas a 15-year-old single malt (alongsideexpressions from Glentauchers and Miltonduff)under the Ballantine’s brand

• Capacity – 4.2 Million Litres Per Annum
• Malt Specification – Unpeated
• Mash Tun Material – Stainless Steel Lauter
• Condenser Type – Shell and tube
• Rarity – Extremely hard and rare to acquire
• Heat Source – Gas, steam via external heat exchanger& thermocompression system
• Washbacks -12 Stainless Steel washbacks
• Water Source – Local Springs

A bottle of Glenburgie 1962 Samaroli Handwritten Label was sold in Aug 2019 for £4,000 at auction.

For the liquid they produce about 4.2 million litres per year with a 54-100 hour fermentation time. Aromas of tinned fruit and cocktail cherries burst forward on the nose, followed by oak, pineapple, barley sugar and candied lemon.

The palate offers notes of boiled sweets, sour apples and underripe pears, with hints of waxy furniture polish underneath.

A bottle of 22 year old Glenburgie retails at £155, whilst a bottle of 32 year old connoisseurs choice retails for £660.

Based on the above, if you were to hold your cask for an extra 10 years the return will be considerably more.