McClellands "Single""

by **Alan** » Tue Jun 05, 2001 10:24 pm

Greetings from Vancouver, BC, Canada.
We are currently enjoying a "single" malt under the name of McClellands. It is available in Highland, Lowland, Speyside and Islay versions (I'm enjoying the Islay, which I think is excellent).
I do NOT, however, believe this to be a single, but rather a vatted malt. I have not been able to find any literature or any reviews of this product.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

by **Iain** » Wed Jun 06, 2001 8:24 am

I believe the Islay is a single malt from Bowmore Distillery, and there is no age statement on the label. The Highland is presumably from Glen Garioch, the Lowland from Auchentoshan.

by **Alan** » Wed Jun 06, 2001 6:01 pm

Iain,
Thanks for your reply.
One more question. Why wouldn't they name the distillery on the label? Don't they have to?
Alan.

by **gbclark** » Sat Jun 30, 2001 11:27 pm

McClellands is produced by Morrison Bowmore the owners of Bowmore, Auchentoshan and Glen Garioch. It was originally produced as a private brand for a grocery chain in the UK I beleive. I would say they don't name the distillery on the label so as not to cheapen the brands they spend a great deal of money advertising and promoting. I know that US regulations state that a "single malt" must come from a single distillery so these are surely not vatted malts. As to the origin of the speyside in the group I have not found out which distillery they are sourcing this from. Also Stefan Gabanyi in his book Whisk(e)y states these whiskies are 5 years old.