Caperdonich 18-Year-Old (Official Bottling) Review

My son went on a work trip to Europe recently. He mentioned to me that he’d be returning home to Israel via Frankfurt International Airport, so seizing the opportunity, I went onto the online Airport Duty-Free spirits store and browsed the contents, looking for something of interest. I was actually quite impressed by the variety of stock there and was thinking of asking my son to bring back a Litre bottle of Caol Ila 12 or something similar.

Then I came across something which piqued my curiosity. There I spied a peated Single Malt Whisky from a closed and subsequently demolished distillery. Wow!

Owned by Pernod Ricard, it was part of their bottling series called “Secret Speyside Collection”. I was intrigued.

Three expressions were available. The 25-Year-Old, bottled at 58.1% abv and priced at €505 and a 21-Year-Old, bottled at 48% abv and priced at €295. These were both well out of my price budget. However, there was also an 18-Year-Old, also bottled at 48% abv but priced at €135 (£120), which was at the very limit of my whisky budget. Checking on the London online stores I noticed that this whisky was being sold in the UK for around £140, so the airport Travel Retail price looked quite attractive.

I had been aware of this closed distillery, having read about it in “Scotch Missed: The Lost Distilleries of Scotland” by Brian Townsend as well as in the “Closed Distilleries” chapter of “Malt Whisky Yearbook”.  However, I hadn’t really taken much notice of any of its bottlings still available on the market, assuming their prices would be ridiculously exorbitant and totally beyond my whisky budget.

So, I started Googling for trusted online reviews of this 18-Year-Old, just to get a sense of what to expect.  I smacked my head when I saw Ralfy YouTube review 951 which was all about this very expression. The review had completely passed me by when uploaded some nine months earlier. Well, Ralfy had given it a very positive review so I WhatsApped my son and asked him to please bring me back a bottle of Caperdonich (I keep trying to add an "r" making it Caper-Dronich" for some reason), 18-Year-Old from Frankfurt Duty Free.

A Good Tip For Malt fans Flying back to Israel from Frankfurt Airport Terminal 1

I almost didn’t get this bottle as when my son got to the Whisky section of Terminal 1 Duty Free shop, in complete contrast to the vast array of Whiskies they offered online, the store had virtually nothing on display, except for the run-of-the-mill ubiquitous brands.

My son had me on WhatsApp video whilst he asked the saleswoman where he could get a Caperdonich 18. Initially she told us that the Caperdonich (I almost put an “r” in there again), had all sold out and was no longer available. She immediately tried to redirect us to some other whiskies which she did have in-stock. My son however politely but firmly informed her that we were only interested in this specific Single Malt, so the fraulein finally relented and gave him directions to their main Travel Retail Spirits department which was some 20 minutes’ walk away in an adjacent terminal following the signs to halls: D & E. It’s a good thing my son had arrived with plenty of time to spare.

Arriving at this store he was greeted by an entire shelf of Caperdonichs, three rows thick. So, some advice for those traveling through Terminal 1, leave at least another hour or so to get to the other terminal building if you are looking for that special bottle.

Where Was Caperdonich Distillery?

Caperdonich distillery was situated in the heart of the Speyside region by the river Spey.

It was founded in 1897 by the then owners of Glen Grant distillery - J. & J. Grant, on the other side of the road, next to the Forsythe Pot Steels Manufacturing factory, which was also under the same ownership at the time.

A Fascinating and Frustrating History

Caperdonich produced a style of whisky which was tragically ahead of its time. Had it not been mothballed in 2002 and then demolished in 2011, it might well have been a superstar distillery today.

The late 19^th century saw a boom in the Scotch Whisky Industry and particularly in the Speyside region of the Highlands. Europe and America were looking for a light, fruity, floral and elegant spirit in the French Aperitif style, and Speyside Whisky fitted the bill perfectly. Moreover, Glen Grant Whisky was the lightest, most aperitif like of all Speysiders and was in huge demand.

Looking to quickly increase its malt whisky production which went into its Scotch Blends, the new distillery was designed and built to be the “Glen Grant II”. However, despite their best attempts at replicating the equipment, using the same water source and the new-make spirit being produced by the very same Glen Grant distillery staff, what resulted was not exactly what they expected or required.

Instead of a light, white fruity, floral spirit, what came off the stills was heavy bodied, meaty, savoury, gun-powder fusel and oily.

Despite various attempts to diagnose the “problem” and make corrections, they finally gave up and mothballed the distillery in 1902, just four years after it opened. That seemed to be the end of Glen Grant II. However, Hashem had other plans.

In the 19^th century and all the way up to the 1960s, Blended Scotch Whisky was practically the only type of Scotch sold to the general public. (Single Malt, i.e., malt whisky from a single malt whisky distillery, was only available if you lived in Scotland where they sold a limited range through specialist shops such as Cadenhead’s in Edinburgh or Gordon & McPhail’s in Elgin, or through exclusive department stores in London, or if you were lucky enough to live near a distillery).

Blended Scotch Whisky, such as Johnny Walker Red Label or Chivas Regal 12, is made by combining or “blending” together, neutral grain whisky with a number of malt whiskies, in order to give the grain whisky flavour. (For more details, see my PDF book “Sherry Cask Usage in the Scottish Whisky Industry”, available on PDF download from this site).

It has been a long-standing practice to use full-bodied, peated, “meaty” style malts as one of the key components in many Scotch Blends.  This has the effect of instantly boosting flavour and character into the Blended Whisky, the majority of which is made up of neutral bland grain whisky. Fast-Forward to the 1970s and this heavily peated Islay malt style was in high demand but in very short supply, due to a drought that occurred on Islay in the early 1960s, which saw its whisky output reduced by 50%.

In 1965, Glen Grant (and by extension, our little mothballed distillery “Glen Grant II”), was now under the new ownership of Glenlivet Distilleries Ltd. As the story goes, on a visit to the Glen Grant plant, an executive got chatting with one of the old timers who happened to mention that across the road they had a little mothballed distillery that had been shut down due to it producing full-bodied, meaty spirit, despite their best attempts at trying to reproduce the light Glen Grant style. What would happen if they re-opened Glen Grant II and fed the mash tuns and stills peated barley? Perhaps they could produce some Islay style malt whisky in the heart of Speyside? The two men went across the road to inspect the old plant.  Within a few months, the ugly duckling was back in production, renamed Caperdonich distillery and press-ganged into producing heavily peated malt whisky for the Blending industry. After some sample spirit runs, the Master Blender of Glenlivet Distilleries Ltd was very impressed with the results and so they went into full production.

Pernod Ricard, the multinational Spirits company, took ownership of Glenlivet Distilleries Ltd which included Glen Grant distillery and all its assets in 2001. Little Caperdonich had been producing this full-bodied peated Malt Whisky for the Blending Industry very successfully, for almost 40 years but the new owners deemed it now surplus to requirements. It was mothballed once again in 2002. In 2006 Glen Grant Distillery was sold off to Italian Spirits and Wine company, Campari, and the site of the mothballed Caperdonich sold to Forsythe’s.

https://www.smws.com.au/curious-caperdonich-a-look-at-this-demolished-piece-of-history/

https://moredramslessdrama.com/2022/02/04/caperdonich-18-years-old-peated/

In 2011, demand for new copper pot stills as well as restoration of old stills had never been higher, with new distilleries popping up all over Scotland, as well as demand from new distilleries all over the world. Forsyth’s Stills Manufacturers consequently decided to demolish Caperdonich distillery so that they could expand their manufacturing plant. Caperdonich was no more.

Brora Distillery, 2017

Many of my more knowledgeable readers would have already drawn a connection with the famous Brora distillery, owned by Diageo, which shares a remarkedly similar story. Fortunately for Brora, they had a happy ending.

Clynelish distillery was founded in the Northern Highlands in the town of Brora in 1819 and produced lightly peated whisky for the Blending Industry. In 1967 a new modern distillery was built just up the hill on the same site and the old distillery was mothballed. However, just two years later, the original distillery was reopened in 1969, renamed to “Brora Distillery” and just like Caperdonich, was set the task of producing heavily peated whisky to make up for the lack of whisky coming from Islay. Brora continued to produce this Islay style whisky until it was considered no longer required, and was mothballed once again in 1983, never expected to re-open ever again.

The Brora building and stillhouse were used as storage, with the old equipment left in place. Diageo started releasing Brora as a Single Malt in 1995 and special editions have since been released on a yearly basis. These bottles became incredibly popular and eventually reached cult status by the mid 2000s. Prices today begin at around £1,000 for independent bottlings, with official Diageo bottlings starting at around £3,000.

Click on Picture to magnify

So, in 2019, due to Brora’s almost legendary image, Diageo astutely saw an opportunity here and decided to re-open Brora, dafka sending the old stills to Forsyth’s for refurbishing, to once again produce spirit in the old plant.

I suppose one could say that Caperdonich is the Brora of Speyside, except that Brora was never demolished and is indeed, now resurrected and has been recruited once again to produce a heavily peated version of Clynelish, a whisky which was really only supposed to have existed temporarily for a few years until the distilleries on Islay got back on their feet.

Caperdonich 18-Year-Old

Bottled at 48% abv

Non Chill-Filtered

Coloured: Assumed to have some E150a Caramel colouring added to it

Maturation: As stated on the label, matured exclusively in Refill Ex-Bourbon Barrels.

Kashrus Status: No Certification, but as far as I can tell, there are no Kashrus Issues.

This is bottle 13007, batch No. CP/006 (whatever that means).

Packaging

Considering the high prices of the “Secret Speyside Collection” to which this belongs, packaging and artwork is rather modest but certainly not cheap looking. Had this been a Diageo product, I’m sure that they would have given it a lavish and fancy box and artwork to denote its specialness.

The box it comes in is elegant and practical, without that annoying inside tongue or flap which makes it difficult to remove the bottle. The artwork of the labelling is informative and traditional. I liked it.

This is a Dead Parrot!

The artwork text takes full advantage of the fact that is a Single Malt from a closed distillery by stating at the top that it was founded in 1898 and closed in 2002. It also states on the left-hand side “Once gone, there will never be another”. On the front of the box, sounding like the Monty Python “Parrot” sketch, it states “Caperdonich distillery, on the banks of the River Spey, IS NO MORE”.

I’m surprised it doesn’t continue (I paraphrase):

“It has ceased to be! It has expired and gone to meet its maker!'. It’s a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! It’s pushing up the daisies! Its metabolic processes are now history! It’s off the twig! It has kicked the bucket, it’s shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible!!

THIS IS AN EX-DISTILLERY!!!

The actual text continues “…A building opened in 1898 and taken down, brick by brick, in 2011. This single malt is all that remains of the whisky from the “SECRET WELL”.

The Drinking Experience

My son asked me if I’d be putting this away in my investment stash, but I surprised him by answering that when his family comes to us for Friday night Seuda (the first of three special holy Sabbath meals), I’ll be opening it in their honour.

So, Friday afternoon I opened the bottle and replaced the cork, ready for the seuda after Kiddush (sanctification of the Sabbath). I poured a glass for everyone and, being that it is bottled at 48% abv, carefully and slowly added a half a teaspoon of water to each one and left them to sit for about 30 minutes.

Appearance

The dark golden-brown colour is a suspiciously similar to Blended Scotch Whisky Chivas Regal produced by the same company. Such a rich tint either indicates very active casks that have spent 18 long years imparting their lovely oaky colour to the whisky, or (more likely), like Chivas Regal, it has had E150a caramel colouring artificially added to it. I suspect that, due to the fact that the label, although stating in bold that the whisky is Non Chill-Filtered, suspiciously neglects to mention that this is natural colour. Therefore, one must conclude that they have indeed (very unwisely in my opinion), added some artificial colour to this.

In the case of this company, despite current trends in limited edition releases to leave them at natural colour, it seems that old habits die hard at Pernod Ricard.

I have learnt from experience (and from Ralfy videos) that one must have great respect for older whiskies, adding only small amounts of water at a time so as not to put the spirit under unnecessary distress.

On The Nose

You always want a whisky that comes with a story as rich as this to live up the hype. Alas, it rarely does. In this case however, I am delighted to say that the Caperdonich 18 not only meets but exceeds expectations.

I was rewarded by my careful treatment of this 18-Year-Old with luscious orange and yellow fruits (particularly sultanas, apricots, stewed apples), soft mainland peat odours and aromas of honey and apple crumble. After 30 minutes standing time, there was not a hint of nose pinch or harsh alcohol burn. It was clear from the very first sniff, that we were dealing here with a thoroughbred of a Single Malt.

I just love rich orange and yellow fruit forward, heavy, big bodied Single Malts. My current No,1 favourite Single Malt is the Signatory Cask Strength Benrinnes 23-Year-Old. The Caperdonich 18 reminded me so much of the Benrinnes, another Speysider.

Like the Benrinnes, The Caperdonich has a rich full-bodied character that demands you spend some time with the nosing, before you go onto the tasting. My family guests had no such patience however, and began sipping with remarks such as “Wow”, “Umm”, “Lovely…”.

Tasting

Ok, as much as I was enjoying exploring the complex aromas of this whisky, I decided it was time to find out what it tastes like.

The tasting experience is very much in line with the nosing.

Bold but soft mainland peat like burnt tree logs soaked in fruit-juice. Luscious flavours of glazed orange, tangerines, sultanas, apricots and yellow apples. Dried fruit and vanilla cake not dissimilar to Dundee cake (and what we call in Israel “English Cake”).

The finish is long with honey and Apple Strudel, with sweet burnt soft oaky spices. I dare you not to pour yourself another dram of this immediately after draining the last drops of the first glass.

 

Conclusions

Caol Ila 18-Year-Old (Discontinued in 2023)

This Caperdonich 18 is, as I’ve said, very much in the style of my favourite Single Malts, that is, big, bold, full-bodied Single Malts. As well as the Benrinnes 23, it also reminds me somewhat of another all-time favourite of mine, the dearly departed Caol Ila 18 from Diageo. No doubt the reason for this classic of a dram having disappeared from the shelves this year, is that Diageo has simply run out of 18-Year-Old mature stock for the time being. I do hope they bring it back soon. They might possibly release a 15 or 16-Year-Old as a temporary stop-gap. We shall have to wait and see.

I decided to bring out my last open bottle of Caol Ila 18 for what proved to be a simply wonderful side-by-side comparison experience.

Indeed, the Caperdonich and Caol Ila 18 do share many similarities. Rich orange and yellow fruits, honey, apple crumble..., but the Caol Ila 18 gives you a completely different peat experience. The Caperdonich’s barley was malted by drying it with mainland peat, producing aromas and tastes of forest fires and tree wood smoke. In contrast, Caol Ila 18's Islay peat is much more pungent, coastal and briny.

The Caperdonich 18 has been added to my top five favourite drams of all time. I do hope I will have the opportunity to buy another botte of this before these bottles ARE NO MORE, have ceased to be, have expired and gone to meet their Maker.....fallen off the twig, kicked the bucket, shuffled off their mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible!!? In short, an Ex-Release, only to be found at whisky auctions at eye watering prices and destined to join someone’s personal whisky museum collection no doubt.