Coleburn Distillery Profile
by Thomas Lipka, Germany

If you would have asked me what I knew about Coleburn before I wrote this profile I probably would have said something like: "Errrr….Speyside…..errr….closed…errr…" ...end of story. Besides from this convincing statement nobody else seems to have written too many friendly words about the distillery that worked for over 80 years either. Jim Murray even described Coleburn in some of his books as a substandard and inferior whisky.

The reason why I picked Coleburn for my first distillery profile anyway was very simple. I had bought (and tasted) a bottle of its malt whisky just a few weeks before – and I had liked it a lot. Obviously Jim Murray hasn't tried enough bottlings to give a final judgement about Coleburn. There is potential, or was I should rather say.

Anyway, on with 'history class'. Coleburn distillery is located four miles south of Elgin, in a valley between the A491 and a railway line, which was closed in 1966, however. The distillery was built in 1897, or from 1897 to 1899 rather, by James Robertson & Son, blenders from Dundee ("Yellow Label"). For some obscure reasons there were two problems that delayed the construction's completion. One problem which faced the architect Charles Chree Doig was the provision for a lavatory to the excise office – it took a mere 18 months to resolve that problem! The excise officer's house took even longer to be completed. And now you pretty much know the two most exciting facts in Coleburn's uneventful history…

In 1916, Coleburn was purchased by Clynelish Distillery Co Ltd, however in 1925 it was taken over by a partnership of Distillers Company Limited, John Walker & Sons and John Risk. From 1930 on it was managed by Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd and Distillers Company Limited, thus becoming part of the DCL 'family'. Last licence holder obviously was a conglomerate of J & G Stewart, Scottish Malt Distillers and Distillers Company Limited. As you probably know, DCL later were subsumed into United Distillers, which in turn became part of Diageo.

J & G Stewart were best known for their famous "Andrew Usher" blends. And that's probably were most of Coleburn's malt went, but it was also used for the Johnnie Walker "Red Label". Not until Diageo offered a Coleburn Rare Malt in 2000 (21yo, 1979/2000, 59,4%) has there ever been an original bottling. Even independent bottlings are still rare and hard to come by. There have been a few by Gordon & MacPhail as part of the Connoisseur's Choice series, as well as some by Cadenhead, Douglas Laing, Signatory and by McKillop's Choice, but that seems to be about it.

The distillery saw some refurbishing in the 1950's and 1960's. They switched from open coal firing to internal steam heating and changed from a Worm Tub to a heat exchanger (condensers). Also during that period, the mash house was rebuilt. Not that any of that helped in the long run. Already in 1968 the maltings were closed and while Coleburn survived the first big wave of distillery closings in 1983, it couldn't escape its fate any longer two years later.

While the buildings supposedly are still in good condition, Coleburn is unlikely to ever produce whisky again since in 1992 J & G Stewart Ltd (of United Distillers) returned the license. In Udo Misako's book " The Scottish Whisky Distilleries: For the Whisky Enthusiast" Coleburn's status is described as dismantled. According to the same source, brothers Dale and Mark Winchester have submitted plans to develop a concert hall, a hotel with restaurant and shops to Moray Council in October 2004. I have no idea if these plans are still being pursued.

Some more general and technical data:
 
Origin of name: "Charcoal Burn" (charcoal was made near the river in this area)
Water source: a well on the site, and Glen Burn for cooling
Wash stills: two (no further data available)
Spirit stills: two (no further data available)
Type of cask for maturation: most prevailingly ex-bourbon casks
There was no information to be found about the type of barley or yeast used, nor any data about capacities, annual output or related stuff.

So, what's left to say?  The only way to add some 'colour' to this short and sad profile is my description of this very fine malt: Coleburn 24yo 20.05.1980/09.2004 (62,9%, MacKillop's Choice, sherry cask # 1261) The colour is light amber, somewhat belying the long time in a sherry cask. Excellent nose, the very first (and short) whiff very sweetish, reminiscent of rum, followed by ripe bananas and heather honey. Then some subtle sherry notes and light touches of oaky tannins. Much later in the glass it develops some spiciness and even gets a bit smoky. The mouth is powerful and shows a nice burn. Winey notes appear before it develops some cognac-like character, however it shows no soapiness whatsoever. In the end it gets a little rubbery, but not in a negative way. The finish is long and warming with some white pepper. Just lovely and worth a well-deserved 86 points in my book. For a comparison look up Serge's tasting notes under http://www.whiskyfun.com/archivejanuary06-1.html#080106 , who at 90 points liked it even better than I did.

Thomas Lipka

1) Sorry - no trivia yet... 
 

Coleburn 30yo 1970/2000 (57%, Signatory Vintage, 13/1/70, 7/9/02, C#100, 302 Bottles)
Nose: Fairly neutral with a hint of smoke. This is far too subtle for my tastes - it's almost like a blend.
Taste: Very light and sweet on the palate, despite the high proof. Not a lot of personality, it seems.
Score: 75 points - scores don't come more 'average' than this.

Coleburn 17yo 1965 (40%, G&M Connoisseur's Choice Old Brown Label)
Nose: Malty, rich and sweet. Quite a bit more expressive than most CC's. Something nutty? A nice one.
Taste: Smooth and slick. Subtle fruitiness on the palate. Gooseberry? Great body, despite being 'just' 40%.
Score: 82 points - now here's a Connoisseur's Choice bottling I could - and would - recommend to anybody.

Coleburn 19yo 1981/2001 (46%, Signatory Unchillfiltered, Sherry butt, D. 22/10/81, B. 17/5/01)
Nose: Wow! Very expressive. A fruity surface with something evil lurking in the deep. Drops off with time.
Taste: Not quite as endearing as the nose at first, but it develops. Fermenting fruits. Antique twist in the finish.
Score: 84 points - I actually had it at 85/86 at first, but it can't quite sustain itself at that level.

...

These were not all the (official and independent) expressions of Coleburn whisky I've tried over the years.
My Track Record used to contain a complete overview of all the single malts I've tried, but when I passed the 2000 malts mark (and the complete whisky list wouldn't fit on two separate HTML pages anymore) I gave up. My Liquid Log still contains my tasting notes on most single malts I've sampled and scored, though. You can find a specific expression through the search box at the top of each distillery profile. The mAlmanac now contains (purely personal) selections of some of the best single malts and the worst whiskies I've tried so far - as well as the ones with the highest 'Bang-For-Your-Buck' value. But those tasting notes and scores only reflect my own, purely personal opinions. On Serge's distillery profile on Whiskyfun you can find another perspective on the whisky made at this distillery. Check out the Malt Maniacs Monitor on Malt Maniacs for my scores on all expressions I've tried so far - and those of almost all the other certified malt maniacs as well. The Malt Maniacs Matrix contains a few thousand single malts that were sampled and scored by at least four different malt maniacs, so you can compare our individual opinions.
 

Coleburn is another Speyside distillery that
didn't survive the 1980's. Located between
the Glen Elgin and Speyburn distilleries,
Coleburn was founded in 1896 by John
Robertson & Sons. They decided to sell it to
the Clynelish Distillery Co Ltd. in 1916, who in
turn transferred it to DCL (one of their co-
owners) in 1925.
 
There were some more changes in ownership
until Coleburn was finally closed by DCL in 1985.
One year later DCL became part of United
Distillers. The license was cancelled in 1992,
which means Coleburn will probably remain
silent forever.
 
Over the years I've only sampled a handful of
different expressions of Coleburn, so I have little comments. Check out the distillery profile that
german malt maniac Thomas Lipka wrote for
more details...