Glenburgie 1999-2018 - 19 Year Old - Hunter Laing - Single Cask 15647 - Les Confrères De La Clairièr

Glenburgie is a large Speyside distillery whose production of over 4m litres per year is almost entirely destined for the Ballantine’s blend. The distillery’s association with Ballantine’s goes back as far as the 1930s when Glenburgie was brought out of mothballs by new owner Hiram Walker. As well as its traditional pot-distilled whisky, Glenburgie made a separate spirit called Glencraig on a pair of Lomond stills from 1958-1981. Chivas Brothers (Pernod Ricard) bought Glenburgie in 2005 following a major reconstruction during which the distillery was completely demolished and rebuilt. 

Official bottlings of Glenburgie have always been extremely rare due to its importance to Ballantine’s, although a handful of new official bottlings under the Ballantine’s brand have appeared since 2017. Gordon & MacPhail have been releasing licensed bottlings of Glenburgie since the 1980s and other independent bottlings (including some excellent Glencraigs) have become more frequent in recent years.

Hunter Laing was created in 2013 after founder Stewart Laing divided the assets of the Douglas Laing company with his brother Fred Laing Jr.  The new Hunter Laing company received the classic Old Malt Cask and Old & Rare Platinum Selection single malt ranges in the split from Douglas Laing, and Stewart’s sons Andrew and Scott Laing merged their Edition Spirits brand into the new company.

As well as the Old Malt Cask, Old & Rare and First Edition series, Hunter Laing now bottle several new ranges of single malt and grain whisky, including Distiller’s Art, Hepburn’s Choice and the Scarabus brand mystery Islay whisky. In 2017 Hunter Laing began construction of the Ardnahoe distillery on Islay, which produced its first spirit the following year.