THEDAILYWHISKY

One hundred bottlings in eight years, and Little Brown Dog chose to mark the occasion not with the oldest or rarest cask in the warehouse, but with the whisky the founders like to share with family. The Little Brown Dog 100th release is a 13-year-old Glen Ord at 54.1% ABV, and it arrives as the headline of the Aberdeenshire bottler’s final drop of 2026.

The Little Brown Dog 100th release is a Glen Ord 2013, 13 years old, made from two hogsheads vatted together and then given a year in an oloroso puncheon. It is bottled at cask strength (54.1% ABV), non-chill-filtered and natural colour, with 546 bottles. It leads a November 2026 batch that also includes Burnadjacent 1989 Batch 2 (a 36-year-old teaspooned Balvenie at 47.5%, 219 bottles), a 14-year-old Bruichladdich 2012 from a single Amarone barrique (56.1%, 172 bottles, UK only) and a 500-bottle cask strength edition of LBD’s Aberdeenshire Single Malt (55.4%, £65). All four are sold through the Little Brown Dog Spirits webshop.

The four bottles at a glance

	Glen Ord 2013	Burnadjacent 1989 Batch 2	Bruichladdich 2012	Aberdeenshire Single Malt CS
Style	Highland single malt	Blended malt (teaspooned Balvenie)	Islay single malt	Highland single malt
Age	13 years	36 years	14 years	12 years
ABV	54.1%	47.5%	56.1%	55.4%
Cask	2 hogsheads, 1 year vatted in oloroso puncheon	Refill hogshead	Single Amarone barrique, full term	First-fill bourbon and refill PX/oloroso puncheons
Bottles	546	219	172	500, hand-numbered
Price	£75	£160	£89	£65
Who it is for	The sherry-and-fruit drinker who wants a story in the glass	The old-malt collector	Bruichladdich fans who like wine casks	Anyone who already likes LBD’s core 12

Why the Little Brown Dog 100th release is a Glen Ord

Little Brown Dog Spirits was founded in 2018 by Andrew Smith and Chris Reid, and works out of Fetternear in Aberdeenshire, in the north-east of Scotland. Most of its output is small-batch and single cask bottlings from other people’s distilleries, with LBD’s own label art and a strong house preference for natural colour and no chill filtration. Release number 100 was always going to be a statement.

The statement turned out to be personal. In the release notes, Andrew explains that he lost his father almost 11 years ago, and that his father-in-law has since become the person he shares a dram with. Their bottle of choice is old-style Glen Ord, the kind that came in tall round bottles or square decanters. That is why Glen Ord was held back for this release.

Glen Ord sits at Muir of Ord, on the edge of the Black Isle north-west of Inverness, which makes it a Highland distillery. It is owned by Diageo and is best known today through The Singleton of Glen Ord, so independent bottlings carry the distillery name less often than you might expect for a site of its size.

How the Glen Ord 2013 was made

The spirit was filled on 7 May 2013 into two hogsheads. LBD then vatted those two casks together in an oloroso puncheon for a further year before bottling on 8 October 2026. A puncheon is a large cask, typically around 500 litres, so the oloroso influence has a lot of liquid to work through. The colour LBD describes is deep amber, which suggests the sherry has had a clear say.

The result is 546 bottles at 54.1% ABV, non-chill-filtered and natural colour.

Glen Ord 2013, 100th LBD release: Little Brown Dog’s tasting notes

Colour: Deep amber

Nose: Lemon meringue pie, fizzy peach sweets, Ribena

Palate: Sancerre, drumstick lollies, baked strawberry

Finish: Salted pecans, crème brûlée, white pepper

ABV: 54.1% | Cask type: 2 hogsheads, vatted in an oloroso puncheon | Bottles: 546

The notes point to a bright, fruit-led whisky rather than a heavy sherry bomb. The citrus and white wine on the nose and palate sound like Glen Ord’s own distillate, while the crème brûlée and pecans on the finish are where you would expect the oloroso year to show.

Burnadjacent 1989 Batch 2: the 36-year-old that sold out first time round

Burnadjacent is LBD’s name for a teaspooned Balvenie. Teaspooning means a tiny amount of malt from another distillery is added to the cask, so the whisky can legally no longer be sold under the original distillery’s name. It is labelled as a blended malt, even though almost all of the liquid comes from one place. LBD’s own release notes say plainly that this is 36-year-old Balvenie.

Batch 1 appeared in LBD’s July 2026 drop, and it went fast. LBD says it had orders for more than double the bottles the cask could produce. When the team secured the sister cask, they released it straight away at the same price, so people who missed out in the summer have a second chance.

The spirit was filled on 15 November 1989 into a refill hogshead and bottled on 28 October 2026, a few weeks short of its 37th birthday. A refill cask gives the spirit room to develop over a long maturation without the wood dominating, and LBD’s notes lean into the tropical fruit that well-aged Speyside malt can develop after 30 years.

Burnadjacent 1989 Batch 2: Little Brown Dog’s tasting notes

Colour: Blushing grapefruit

Nose: Kiwi, pear jelly, antique furniture

Palate: Peach iced tea, white chocolate, Muscadet

Finish: Pecan pie, sultanas, really good olive oil ABV: 47.5% | Cask type: Refill hogshead | Bottles: 219

Bruichladdich 2012 Amarone cask: 172 bottles and a jeep on the label

Bruichladdich is the Islay distillery on the shores of Loch Indaal, best known for its largely unpeated, barley-focused single malts and its wide range of wine casks. This LBD bottling spent its full 14 years in a single Amarone barrique. Amarone is a rich, dry Italian red wine made from partially dried grapes, and the casks tend to give whisky a jammy red fruit character on top of Bruichladdich’s naturally oily, buttery spirit.

The label tells its own story. Chris once built a jeep for the team who recommissioned Bruichladdich in the early 2000s, and they drove it from LBD’s base all the way to Islay. The small jeep stencil on the bottle is taken from a photo of that vehicle.

Filled on 21 June 2012 and bottled on 6 October 2026, this is a single cask at 56.1% ABV with only 172 bottles. It is the smallest release in the batch, and it is a UK exclusive, so international readers will need a UK delivery address to buy it direct.

Bruichladdich 2012 Amarone cask: Little Brown Dog’s tasting notes

Colour: Rowan jelly

Nose: Birch syrup, ripe cantaloupe, melted butter

Palate: Basque cheesecake, tinned prunes, Chantilly cream

Finish: Soft and fatty, Jammie Dodgers

ABV: 56.1% | Cask type: Single Amarone barrique, full maturation | Bottles: 172 | Availability: UK only

Aberdeenshire Single Malt cask strength: LBD’s own whisky at full power

The Aberdeenshire Single Malt is Little Brown Dog’s first core whisky, a 12-year-old from a local Aberdeenshire distillery, bottled at 46% and sold for £50. Retailers generally list it as Glen Garioch, though the label only says Aberdeenshire. This new Limited Edition takes the same spirit to cask strength, 55.4% ABV, with 500 hand-numbered bottles under LBD’s black notebook label.

LBD says the strength gives away a detail: most of the casks in the vatting are well past 12 years old. The label lists first-fill bourbon and refill sherry casks, and the release notes add that the refill PX and oloroso puncheons gave more this time, so this batch leans slightly more sherried than intended.

There is also a practical reason to pay attention. LBD says this is the spirit going into batch 2 of the core Aberdeenshire Single Malt, so the cask strength edition works as a preview of where the core bottle is heading. There are no current plans for a permanent cask strength version, although LBD hints it could become an annual release.

Aberdeenshire Single Malt Cask Strength (Limited) Edition: Little Brown Dog’s tasting notes

Colour: Dessert wine

Nose: Peach, dried pears, honeysuckle

Palate: Carrot cake with proper frosting, toffee apple, barley sugar

Finish: Marmalade, pain d’épices, good dark chocolate

ABV: 55.4% | Cask type: First-fill bourbon, refill PX and oloroso puncheons | Bottles: 500, hand-numbered

Price and availability of the Little Brown Dog 100th release batch

All four bottles are on sale now through the Little Brown Dog Spirits webshop, priced in pounds sterling. The Aberdeenshire Single Malt Cask Strength is £65 for 70cl. Prices for the Glen Ord 2013, Burnadjacent 1989 Batch 2 and Bruichladdich 2012 are listed on each product page.

The Bruichladdich 2012 Amarone cask is a UK exclusive. For the other three, LBD bottles often reach specialist retailers outside the UK after release, including Royal Mile Whiskies (which ships to many countries), Abbey Whisky, Milroy’s of Soho and Flaviar.

Speed matters here. The first Burnadjacent 1989 sold out within weeks, and LBD itself warns that some bottles in this drop are extremely limited.

Our take: which Little Brown Dog bottle to go for

We have not tasted these four yet, so this is an editorial view, not a score.

The Glen Ord is the bottle with the meaning behind it. A 100th release is a once-only milestone for any bottler, and LBD built it around the kind of whisky it actually drinks with family rather than chasing age or rarity. If you collect LBD, this is the one to own.

Burnadjacent Batch 2 is the safest call for anyone who missed Batch 1. Thirty-six-year-old Balvenie, in any form, rarely comes up at an independent bottler’s prices, and the sister-cask profile is described as extremely similar.

The Aberdeenshire cask strength is the best value in the batch at £65, and the most useful if you already own the core 12. It shows where the core whisky is going next.

The Bruichladdich is the hardest to get: 172 bottles and UK delivery only. For Laddie fans who like a full red wine maturation, it is worth moving quickly.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Little Brown Dog 100th release? The Little Brown Dog 100th release is a Glen Ord 2013, 13 years old, bottled in October 2026. Two hogsheads were vatted together for a year in an oloroso puncheon, then bottled at 54.1% ABV without chill filtration or added colour. There are 546 bottles, and the release honours the founders’ habit of sharing old-style Glen Ord with family.

Where can I buy Little Brown Dog whisky outside the UK? The Little Brown Dog Spirits webshop is the first place to buy. The Bruichladdich 2012 is a UK exclusive. Earlier LBD bottles have appeared at international specialists such as Royal Mile Whiskies, Abbey Whisky, Milroy’s and Flaviar, and on Norway’s Vinmonopolet. Bottle counts are small, so stock outside the UK is never guaranteed.

What is Burnadjacent whisky? Burnadjacent is Little Brown Dog’s name for teaspooned Balvenie. A small amount of another malt is added to the cask, so it must be sold as a blended malt rather than under the distillery name. Burnadjacent 1989 Batch 2 is 36 years old, matured in a refill hogshead, bottled at 47.5% ABV, with 219 bottles.

Is the Aberdeenshire Single Malt cask strength a Glen Garioch? Little Brown Dog only names it Aberdeenshire Single Malt, but retailers widely list the core 12-year-old as Glen Garioch. The cask strength edition uses the same spirit, bottled at 55.4% ABV, with 500 hand-numbered bottles at £65. LBD says it is also the spirit going into batch 2 of the core 46% release.

Which bottle in the November 2026 Little Brown Dog batch is the rarest? The Bruichladdich 2012 Amarone cask is the rarest, with only 172 bottles from a single barrique, and it is sold in the UK only. It is 14 years old and bottled at 56.1% ABV. The Burnadjacent 1989 Batch 2 follows with 219 bottles, then the Aberdeenshire cask strength with 500 and the Glen Ord with 546.