Glentauchers 17 Year Old - That Boutique-y Whisky Company - Batch 2 - 2016 Release

A substantial but low-profile Speyside distillery producing fresh, clean, floral Speyside for its owners’ blends, Glentauchers started life with two stills in 1898 but was expanded to its current six stills in the mid-1960s. After a long period under DCL ownership Glentauchers was purchased in 1989 by Allied Distillers (now owned by Pernod Ricard) and has been a keystone malt for Ballantine’s ever since. In 2020 it was revealed that Glentauchers would be switching to biofuel with the goal of attaining carbon neutrality.

Official bottlings of Glentauchers were practically non-existent until a few years ago but are now released under the Ballantine’s Series label. Gordon & MacPhail have been the de facto official bottlers for Glentauchers for decades, with licensed bottlings appearing in the Distillery Labels range and cask strength vintage editions in the Connoisseurs Choice and Private Collection series.

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.