When a Scotch company adds a new permanent bottling, that’s news. When that same distillery is Glenglassaugh, which has some of the most interesting history in all of Scotch whisky, that’s something to really pay attention to.
Their latest is a 15-year-old single malt, joining the flagship 12 Year Old as the second age-statement bottle in the coastal Highland distillery’s core range.
It’s matured in Pedro Ximénez sherry and Spanish wine casks and bottled at 46% ABV, distilled and aged at the distillery’s home on Sandend Bay in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
The distillery that keeps disappearing
The reason Glenglassaugh is a great distillery to follow is not only about what it produces, but also, what it did while it wasn’t producing. Founded in 1875 near Sandend Bay, it’s been closed for a startling share of the time since.
Across its long history, it’s spent roughly 70 years under wraps: weathering market crashes, a 2006 break-in by copper scrappers, and — my personal favorite entry in the ledger — a 2014 merch heist.
The stills restarted in 2008, and when the warehouses reopened, a stash of rare casks resting since the 1970s turned up inside.
Brown-Forman, the Louisville owner of Jack Daniel’s, picked up the distillery as part of the BenRiach group in 2016 and brought in Barrie, often called the first lady of Scotch, to shape the coastal core range.
The disappearing act isn’t just for the history books. In January 2025, Brown-Forman paused production again and shifted Glenglassaugh to a shared model with sister distillery BenRiach. All of this is a perfect example of the tempestuous nature of the booze market; the history of Glenglassaugh is also the history of Scotch whisky.
None of that effects the liquid in this particular bottle — the 15-year-old was distilled around 2010, well before the lights dimmed, and has been quietly aging ever since.
Master Blender Rachel Barrie built it, and she points to the coastal warehouses — casks aging within sight of the North Sea — as the source of the house character.
Barrie oversees Glenglassaugh alongside GlenDronach and BenRiach, one of a small number of women in the master blender’s chair. The range she built has hardware to show for it: the 12 Year Old, Sandend, and Portsoy each took Double Gold at the 2026 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
Where to Buy It
The Glenglassaugh 15 Years Old ($110) reaches North America in late July, following the July 20 global launch, with Europe and Asia-Pacific through late summer. It’s a permanent core-range bottle, not a limited drop, so there’s no rush, but pricing and availability will depend on where you live.
