Aug. 23: Drammers Book Club -w- David Stirk, Author of The History of Independent Bottlers......

Fellow Drammers!

When we learned that David Stirk’s book The History of Independent Bottlers was not available in the United States, we immediately set out to change that and worked with the author to bring in 50 copies to the US for our members. To celebrate, we’re hosting this special online tasting (which includes a copy of the book, plus a tasting kit of 5 fun independent bottlings). The event will take place over Zoom on August 23rd, at 3pm EST / Noon Pacific. For those not familiar with David, he has also published a number of other important books on our favorite topic, including Whiskyopolis, Pioneering Spirits, The Distilleries of Campbeltown and The Malt Whisky Guide. He and his wife also founded and ran an independent bottling company called The Creative Whisky Co. from 2005 to 2018. Prior to that, David worked at Wm Cadenhead’s as their Sales & Marketing Manager, all of which is to say — he was in a great position to write the first book on the history of independent bottlers!

We had the pleasure of catching up with David at the Campbeltown Malts Festival earlier this year, and joined in on an incredible tour of the lost distilleries of Campbeltown. We learned then that David had selected two single casks with the independent bottler Claxton’s, so naturally we scooped them up to include in this tasting. The tasting kit will include 5 expressions, including:

• The Creative Whisky Co. - Orkney 9yo. Although the company was shut down in 2018, we had to track down and include at least one expression from David’s independent bottling company. This is obviously a Highland Park bottling, in their “The Exclusive Regions” line, cask #42, bottled at 50% abv.

• Claxton's - Ardmore 9yo. Single Malt Scotch “Bottled Exclusively for Stirk Brothers”, aged in a tawny port quarter cask. Distilled Dec. 11th, 2013, bottled September 22, 2023. 57.5% abv.

• Claxton's - Cameronbridge 16yo. Single Grain Scotch “Bottled Exclusively for Stirk Brothers”, aged in a first-fill brandy quarter cask, cask #372988. Distilled Oct. 5, 2006, bottled Sep. 22, 2023. 58.5% abv.

• Cadenhead's Enigma 25yo Blended Scotch. Given David’s tenure at Cadenheads, we needed to include a bottling from them, and we thought it would be fun to mix it up and included an independent bottling of blended Scotch. Distilled 1998, Released: September 2023, Cask Type(S): Refill Butts, 41.4% abv.

• Single Cask Nation - Pluscarden Abbey 16yo. Our friends at Single Cask Nation cannot disclose the name of where this Speyside distillery was distilled, but they can say it was distilled at a distillery in Pluscarden Abbey — which is obviously Miltonduff. Cask #171958. Finished for 3 years in a refill PX sherry hogshead. Distilled Oct. 2007, Bottled July 2024. 60.9% abv.

We hope you can join us! The event INCLUDES a copy of the book. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Cheers,
Drammers Club