When one thinks of teapots and drinks associated with them, tea is obviously the first thing which comes to mind. For some Scottish workers, however, the teapot instead was a place to store up some whisky during the day in a rather interesting ritual. That’s part of the background story anyhow around the Glengoyne Teapot Dram non-age statement Scotch release, now in its forth iteration.
Known as Teapot Dram IV this release, available only through Glengoyne directly, was crafted in honor of a tradition in which, according to the distillery, one took part in
Three fingers of whisky, three times a day. That was the daily regime for the Glengoyne workers for over 150 years – gathering in the canteen for a dram at nine o’clock, midday, and three o’clock.
Wonderful, certainly, for the seasoned workers – but a bit much for the younger ones. To save face, they’d take the first dram, then discretely pour the next two into a copper teapot on the windowsill. However, it certainly didn’t go to waste. Their older colleagues – veterans of the dram one and all – would intersperse official drams with unofficial “cups of tea”.
A total of 3,178 bottles, each pricing £90 (around $140 USD), are available in this batch. It was created by marrying together seven first fill sherry casks before being bottled at 58.7% ABV. Official tasting notes for this dark mahogany colored whisky are below.
- Nose: Porridge, pineapple, sweet oak, cherry liqueur, dark chocolate.
- Mouth: Sweet, soft, treacle, soft oak, pepper.
- Finish: Long with developing black pepper as it goes.