Strathclyde 30 Year Old - That Boutique-y Whisky Company - Batch 1 - 2016 Release

Strathclyde is a grain whisky distillery built, as the name might suggest, on the banks of the river Clyde in the Gorbals area of Glasgow. Strathclyde started life in 1927 as a gin distillery, switching to grain whisky in the 1930s after owners Seager Evans bought the Long John blended whisky brand and the Glenugie distillery.

Strathclyde is one of several grain whisky distilleries which have also been home to a malt whisky facility at one time, hosting the short-lived Kinclaith distillery’s two pot stills onsite for new owners Schenley Industries between the late 1950s and 1975. In the course of a subsequent ownership merry-go-round, Strathclyde was sold in 1989 to Allied Lyons, whose successor Allied Domecq was acquired by Pernod Ricard in 2005. The distillery is now part of Pernod’s Chivas Brothers operation, making grain whisky principally for the Ballantine’s blend.

That Boutique-y Whisky Company is an independent bottling subsidiary of Atom Group, the company that owns Master of Malt and Maverick Drinks. That Boutique-y Whisky Co.’s first bottlings appeared in 2012 and are easily recognisable by their small bottles and garish cartoon labels depicting oblique references to each distillery’s history and characteristics. The company does not reveal the whisky’s vintage on their labels, and only began using age statements in 2016.

That Boutique-y Whisky Company are prolific bottlers, with over 800 releases in their first decade. The company are also distinguished by the innovation of their offering, particularly in regard to world whiskies, and are often the first UK bottlers to release whiskies from new world distilleries. That Boutique-y Whisky Co.'s parent company Atom Group was purchased by Budweiser brewers AB-InBev in 2018.