The Glover 18 Years Old AD (Adelphi)

The Glover is a blended malt created by Scottish independent bottler Adelphi, named for Thomas Blake Glover, the Scottish merchant who left a lasting mark on Meiji-era Japan. This 18 Years Old expression, released in 2016, draws on three distilleries across two continents: Glen Garioch in Aberdeenshire, Longmorn in Speyside, and the long-closed Hanyu in Saitama Prefecture, which produced malt from the early 1980s until it closed in 2000.

Matured in Ex-Bourbon casks, the combination yields a malt-driven character of honeyed vanilla, ripe orchard fruit and a light cereal softness that the Ex-Bourbon wood amplifies without overwhelming. Bottled at 48.6% for the European market, it is not cask strength but carries enough weight to show the texture that a Hanyu component typically brings to a vatting.