Little Brown Dog Glentauchers 11yo

The Maker

Little Brown Dog Spirits was founded in 2018 by Chris Reed and Andrew Smith at an Aberdeenshire farm. Named for the family dog which has since sadly died, the company quickly made a name for itself among the ever expanding roster of scotch independent bottlers. Like several others it feels like the production of their own whisky is an inevitability, with gin production well underway using hyper-locally sourced botanicals. But until that happens we'll have to make do with frequent releases of indi stocks throughout the year.

This is the third bottle from LBD I have reviewed, beginning with a 50cl edition from Ardmore in 2025 and then Batch 3 of their Wee Mongrel blend at the start of this year. As with all independent bottlers there isn't a whole lot to say about the company that's all that interesting. Most of the released I've tried have been very good. Hopefully their standard will be maintained, if not improved, as they continue to grow in the years ahead.

The Expression

Glentauchers is one of those workhorse distilleries that the average drinker won't be very familiar with. It was founded in 1897 and has spent its entire life (minus a mothballing from 1985-1992) making fodder for blends. This began under the management of famed blender James Buchanan where Glentauchers was finding its way into Dewars for much of the 20th century.

Ownership changed during the mothballing to Allied Distillers and is now a central part of Chivas Brothers blends under the ownership of Pernod Ricard. Throughout all that time there has never been a true official release, but Gordon & MacPhail have been doing their best with a 15yo release since the 1990s. Variations of this release are still on sale today, as are plenty of indi versions.

This specific bottle of Glentauchers was distilled on 27th May 2013 and bottled on 11th July 2024, making it eleven years old. It is not clear as to what cask it spent most of that time in, I presume an ex-bourbon one, but its main point of interest is the finish (just under a year) in a Pineau des Charentes barrique. If you are like me and have never heard of Pineau des Charentes you will be interested to know that it is a French fortified wine made from unfermented grapes and cognac that is then aged in barrels for over five years.

It was released at a very healthy 58.9%. Presentation is all natural as you would expect from LBD, and was widely available in the UK in the spring of 2025 for a little under £90 ($116). I got this bottle for a group tasting where we tried all the best scoring whiskies of the past five years. To my surprise Glentauchers was among them, despite being comparatively hard to get. Maybe it is a case of less is more?

The Neck Pour

The first thing on the nose is the ethanol. The strength is right there, a very 'hot' whisky. Then comes the stone fruit from the sweet wine. Tinned peaches is the obvious note, but that may just be down to the suggestion of the picture on the label. There is also some red berry jam behind the peaches that is a reminiscent of a port-style finish. Underneath this the classic ex-bourbon maturation is still present. Plenty of familiar scents like vanilla and oak char come through and become more prominent once the sweeter notes subside.

Yet it is this sweetness which hits first on the palate. Stone fruit and red currents then assert themselves as part of this rich sweet wine finish. Yet it is that strong ethanol of the cask strength which soon takes over all by the second sip. My first impressions of this are not brilliant. It is a very hot whisky which needs some time to cool down.

The Body

After a few months on the shelf and a good share given to the group tasting it is the heat that has not gone away. As such it needs a healthy dose of water to make it more enjoyable.

Doing so does, of course, bring down that ethanol notes, but it also allows the sweet wine finish to remains. As a result those peach and red currents are start to work even better. What is also now more liveable is the texture. Despite losing its strength there is now plenty of creaminess which results in the whole thing having a certain peach panna cotta about it.

Final Thoughts

As I come to the end of this bottle there has been a little more development. Those sweet peach panna cotta notes seem pretty locked in, but the heat has gone out of it a bit as the flavours become more rounded. That can only be a good thing in my view.

That said, it remains strong and sweet whisky and as a result it is one of those bottles I respect more than enjoy. What I keep coming back to is the retail price of around £90. That is just too much for something so aggressive and hard to live with. This sense was shared with my tasting group with this bottle coming last of six on the night.