The original 1965 Glen Garioch distillery bottling in release NO.P1 was released as part of a series of 21-Year-Old variants bottled at three different strengths; 43, 50 and 57 percent proof respectively. The whisky in NO.P1 is an example of the 43 percent variant, and was distilled before Glen Garioch’s 1968 closure using the distillery’s old water source and smoked malted barley. This vintage expression is a discernibly more heavily peated whisky than the unpeated expressions released since 1997, ensuring this dram will take the drinker back to Glen Garioch’s past incarnation.

This 1965 single malt from the Glen Garioch distillery was distilled in a year which saw the state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill, the creation of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the US spacecraft Mariner four fly past Mars and sending back images of the Red Planet, and the Rolling Stones release the landmark single ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’.

WORK WITH CHEAPER BY THE DRAM

Release NO.P1 is available exclusively as a press sample. If you are a member of the press or an influencer in the whisky industry and you are interested in working with us please get in contact to discuss opportunities, email [email protected].

ABOUT THE GLEN GARIOCH DISTILLERY

The Glen Garioch distillery was officially established in 1797 making it one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland. An announcement in The Aberdeen Journal in 1785 refers to a licenced distillery at the same site, which means whisky production may have started at the site years before. Situated in the Highland village of Oldmeldrum, the original Glen Garioch distillery also incorporated a brewery and tannery and was ideally located for whisky making as the ‘Valley of Garioch’ is renowned for producing high quality barley.

In 1884, the Glen Garioch distillery was purchased by the Leith-based blending firm J.G. Thomson & Company, who reached an agreement for the distillery’s output to be used as the core malt in fellow blender William Sanderson’s Vat 69 blend. Sanderson took control of the Glen Garioch distillery in 1908, although further changes in ownership would see the distillery acquired by Distillers Company Limited in 1937. In 1968, DCL closed the Glen Garioch distillery claiming there was insufficient water for distillation as the distillery had always struggled for a sustainable water source. Despite this, the Glen Garioch distillery was purchased by Stanley P. Morrison in 1970 who resumed production and increased output thanks to the fortuitous finding of a spring in 1972. The spring was discovered at a neighbouring farm and was nicknamed ‘The Silent Spring of Coutens’ as it could not be seen or heard.

A heavily peated malt was produced at the Glen Garioch distillery until 1995 when the distillery temporarily closed and ceased malting with its own smoked barley. The distillery reopened in 1997, and the Glen Garioch distillery has since produced unpeated malt.