Carsebridge
distillery was founded in 1799 after John
Bald had been granted a lease a year earlier to operate a
distillery "near the Carse bridge in the parish of Alloa".
Originally he designed and built the distillery to produce malt
whisky but in 1852 Carsebridge was converted into a grain whisky
distillery by John's son Robert who saw the need for more grain
whisky as blended whisky was becoming more popular. He installed
two coffey stills and Carsebridge was transformed into the
second largest producer of grain whisky in Scotland, behind only
Caledonian in Edinburgh.
Timeline:
Founded by John Bald in 1799, taken over by John's 2nd son (John
Bald II) in 1846 under the company name John Bald % Co.,
converted to a grain distillery in 1852, in 1877 it was one of
the founding distilleries of the DCL organisation, 1966 saw the
distillery being transferred to Single Grain Distillers (SGD).
Carsebridge was closed during the economic downturn of 1983
after being taken over by Guinness (Diageo) and the buildings
were demolished in the 90's. The site is still owned by Diageo.
The Grainman,
Carsebridge, 33y, 48.9%ABV
Distilled 12.1982,
bottled 03.2016
Bourbon Cask
No.74679, one of 258 bottles
Typical cost of this bottle;
Unknown
Glass:
Classic Malt
Colour:
Pale yellow
Nose: Lots
of fruitiness with a lightly smoky background. The suggestions
of butterscotch or toffee immediately remind me of the
travelling funfairs of my childhood and the stands selling sweet
things like brandy snap. There's also a freshness about this
dram which in turn suggests the cough drop sweets also of my
childhood.
Palate: Sweet
and fruity with plenty of apricot-ness. Sadly no childhood
memories of brandy snap and cough drops here.
With 3 drops of
water: All the same aromas and flavours but just weaker.
Finish: Long
and fruity.
Overall Impression: I love
the childhood memories of the nose but the palate lets this one
down a little. Nice and rather different.
