Glen Elgin 14 Year Old 2009 Sauternes Cask Finish, Little Brown Dog

A spirit as delicate and intricate as Glen Elgin deserves gentle cask treatment, carefully matching the spirit with wood as it would otherwise be easy to overwhelm the distillate and lose everything that's so special about it.  Andrew and Chris from Little Brown Dog (LBD) hand-selected an exceptional Sauternes cask, which they had imported directly from France themselves, to finish this delicate spirit, ensuring a rich texture without overpowering the underlying malt. 

Sauternes AOC is a French sweet wine from the region of the same name in the Graves section in Bordeaux. Sauternes wine is made from Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle grapes that have been affected by Botrytis cinerea, also known as noble rot. This causes the grapes to become partially raisin-ed, resulting in concentrated and distinctively flavoured wines with a sweet, aromatic and gently oaky character.

Only 400 genuine Sauternes casks are released each year from the region, although many more casks are sold as "Sauternes". These are, in fact, dried out knackered old red wine casks, which are lasered, then pressure washed with a sweet dessert wine and marketed as Sauternes. Casks like that would not be anywhere nearly as good as the real deal; therefore, the only way they could ensure they got the correct casks was to acquire it directly from the source themselves.

The effort and expense have been well worth it, though, as the finish elevates the liquid without being too heavy handed, resulting in a whisky with incredible texture and a buttery minerality.