The Coopers’ Cask Release is the result of a collaboration between ourselves at The Glasgow Distillery and US based Kelvin Cooperage, launched in celebration of the ancient skill of coopering; the art of creating casks made from wooden staves bound by metal hoops.
The brainchild of two highly skilled coopers, Hugh McMurray from The Glasgow Distillery and Kevin McLaughlin from Kelvin Cooperage, The Coopers’ Cask Release takes the unpeated spirit from an exceptional ex-port cask filled by ourselves in 2015, and lays it to rest in a unique hand-built cask which consists of half heavily charred virgin oak staves from Kelvin Cooperage and half ex-Glasgow 1770 Single Malt cask staves.
Each set of staves interlocks with the other to form one unique vessel - a perfect Hogshead - which is said to highlight the power of Kelvin Cooperage’s virgin American Oak, balanced against the wonderfully smooth and fruity spirit being produced here at The Glasgow Distillery.
The result is a wonderfully balanced single malt with soft notes of honey, summer fruits and toffee, a harmonious marriage of complex sweetness with a long, rich and slightly spicy finish.
The alliance forged between ourselves and Kelvin Cooperage not only seeks to celebrate the relationship between cooperage and distillery, but also embodies our mutual love of Glasgow; the industrious city where both the Kelvin Cooperage and Glasgow Distillery stories began.
The Glaswegian roots of Kelvin Cooperage can be traced back to the year 1963 when, on the banks of the River Kelvin, a local man, Ed McLaughlin, opened his own cooperage and started to repair and rejuvenate casks for whisky distilleries across Scotland and Ireland.
In the early 1990’s, Ed saw that the bourbon trade in the US was booming and, supported by his two sons Kevin and Paul, moved the business to Louisville, Kentucky where they began to service some of the biggest and best distilleries and wine producers in the country.
Despite being located at the other side of the Atlantic, the two brothers never forgot their roots and made frequent returns back to their home city, Glasgow.
Fast forward to 2012, The Glasgow Distillery sets out on a mission to bring single malt distilling back to the city, soon becoming Glasgow’s first independent single malt distillery for over one hundred years. We then embark on a journey to find casks of the highest quality within which they could mature our spirit. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the name of a Kentucky-based cooperage was suggested, a familiar name: Kelvin Cooperage.
