Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I think this could end up being a series. Hence the optimistic “Ep.1” title.
Time and time again we hear ourselves saying “leave it to the indies”, “I tried a much better indie bottling” or “indies just do it better”. Can this really be true?
How can official bottlings be so lacking with access to all that they have while indies are so capable despite how little they get?
We see it everywhere, and it’s no longer just the cherry-picked single casks. We’re seeing indies releasing curated brands and larger scale small batch releases alongside their tried and tested single casks. More often than not, for some reason they seem to be better at it too.
If we do manage future episodes of this series, I’m not sure how I’ll go through each bottles or how I’ll categorise them, but this week I’ve invested in four new ‘Bens’: a Benromach (owned by an indie), Benrinnes (only really catered for through indies), Ben Nevis (made legendary by indies) and Benriach (somehow purer from indies). So, using each of these new bottles we’ll consider what it is that indies do so well and why that can’t easily be recreated by official bottlings.
Have a think if you like, because it strikes me when an official bottler is actually doing great things, they’re either using an indie-style model, or they’re owned by an independent bottler.
This - and a way to crack five new bottles (I’ve crowbarred in a brand new inaugural Scotch malt too!) to wave goodbye to January!
I hope to see you there!
0:00 - Opening & brief intro to topic
7:25 - Welcoming the Lounge & Guardians update
23:28 - Too many brands?
34:17 - The Cairn Inaugural - First Peek
57:45 - Ben 1 - Benromach Contrasts: High Enzyme
1:20:24 - Geeks at the helm?
1:25:48 - Ben 2 - Benrinnes - Adelphi 14yo
1:40:24 - Trust in indies & buying blind
1:48:38 - Ben 3 - Benriach - SV 100º #69
2:02:50 - Safe vs Quality
2:10:15 - Ben 4 - Ben Nevis - SV 100º #63
2:31:54 - The Inver House Nose Dive?
2:40:17 - Quiz at the End
Jeff Whisky's 5 Years! Saturday 31st : youtube.com/live/a3kOYJVffNY?si=pHi47Oka_WrcuYeG
I think this could end up being a series. Hence the optimistic “Ep.1” title.
Time and time again we hear ourselves saying “leave it to the indies”, “I tried a much better indie bottling” or “indies just do it better”. Can this really be true?
How can official bottlings be so lacking with access to all that they have while indies are so capable despite how little they get?
We see it everywhere, and it’s no longer just the cherry-picked single casks. We’re seeing indies releasing curated brands and larger scale small batch releases alongside their tried and tested single casks. More often than not, for some reason they seem to be better at it too.
If we do manage future episodes of this series, I’m not sure how I’ll go through each bottles or how I’ll categorise them, but this week I’ve invested in four new ‘Bens’: a Benromach (owned by an indie), Benrinnes (only really catered for through indies), Ben Nevis (made legendary by indies) and Benriach (somehow purer from indies). So, using each of these new bottles we’ll consider what it is that indies do so well and why that can’t easily be recreated by official bottlings.
Have a think if you like, because it strikes me when an official bottler is actually doing great things, they’re either using an indie-style model, or they’re owned by an independent bottler.
This - and a way to crack five new bottles (I’ve crowbarred in a brand new inaugural Scotch malt too!) to wave goodbye to January!
I hope to see you there!
0:00 - Opening & brief intro to topic
7:25 - Welcoming the Lounge & Guardians update
23:28 - Too many brands?
34:17 - The Cairn Inaugural - First Peek
57:45 - Ben 1 - Benromach Contrasts: High Enzyme
1:20:24 - Geeks at the helm?
1:25:48 - Ben 2 - Benrinnes - Adelphi 14yo
1:40:24 - Trust in indies & buying blind
1:48:38 - Ben 3 - Benriach - SV 100º #69
2:02:50 - Safe vs Quality
2:10:15 - Ben 4 - Ben Nevis - SV 100º #63
2:31:54 - The Inver House Nose Dive?
2:40:17 - Quiz at the End
Jeff Whisky's 5 Years! Saturday 31st : youtube.com/live/a3kOYJVffNY?si=pHi47Oka_WrcuYeG
