Old School Glenrothes
6:30pm - 25th March 2026
Peacemaker Saloon, Braddon
Cost: $119
Tickets on sale NOW! →
Founded 90 years after Captain Philip landed in what is now Sydney Harbour in the town of Rothes in Scotland's Speyside region in 1878; The Glenrothes distillery is often known as "Macallan Light". It was founded by James Stuart, who also founded Macallan - which is only about 15 minutes away. James soon withdrew from Glenrothes to focus on Macallan, however ownership of both distilleries has now come full circle and both are currently owned by Edrington.
Like many Scottish distilleries, The Glenrothes has burnt down several times - storage of high proof spirits can be a dangerous undertaking; and has also been through numerous owners since its founding nearly 150 years ago. Despite the distillery being founded in 1878, the brand The Glenrothes only traces its history back to 1993 - when Berry Bros. and Rudd of London came to an agreement with Edrington, owners of the distillery, to create a single malt brand for the distillery's spirit.
Probably due to their long history as wine merchants, BBR didn't follow the usual Scotch single malt whisky path of releasing age statement whiskies, and instead created vintages. Taking advantage of the distillers’ advanced understanding of the maturation process, the very best of each year’s output was bottled as a vintage release, with less than 3% of the distillery’s whisky ending up as single malt - the rest of the spirit continued to be used in blends as it always had been. Eventually BBR also released "reserves" which were NAS releases focusing on the cask rather than the spirit - such as Sherry Cask Reserve and Peated Cask Reserve.
In 2017 BBR sold ownership of the brand The Glenrothes to the distillery - which is owned by Edrington. Under this new management, The Glenrothes ditched the vintage releases that they'd become famous for, and followed sister-distillery Macallan's mix of generic age statements and NAS releases; truly becoming "Macallan Light".
Join us this March as we investigate the three release styles that The Glenrothes was known for in the nineties & noughties - with 2 cask reserves, 2 vintage releases, and 2 single cask releases.
The Whiskies:
- Sherry Cask Reserve
- Peated Cask Reserve
- 1992 Vintage - First Release
- 1992 Vintage - Second Release
- 2003 Single Cask #5579 (Distillery Bottling)
- Truth & Consequence 2013 Single Cask (Independent Bottling)
The Fine Print:
This event is only for persons aged 18 years or older.
Photo and/or video recording of this event may occur.
Peacemaker BBQ Platters are provided at in-person events.
If you have dietary requirements, please get in contact with us as early as possible.
Tickets are now on sale for our VIRTUAL (via Zoom) events!
Jim McEwan's answer to critic who claimed Bruichladdich didn't make peated whisky beacuse they didn't have the skills to do it well. With "heavily peated" whisky starting at 30ppm, we'll just call Octomore's 80-308ppm "super heavily peated".
Octomore's young and cask strength spirit should be as current master distiller Adam Hannet has joked, Bruichladdich's most undrinkable whisky: "It’s too young, too strong and too peaty." Also known as "The impossible equation"; an equation that the Bruichladdich Distillery has mastered.
Join us for a series of whisky flights as we drink our way through the first decade or so of Octomore's journey - paired with a current release at each flight!
Sign up to our newsletter to be reminded when each session is coming up!
The Lineup:
All sessions $160 per ticket inlcuding whiskies & food (for in-person events in Canberra & Sydney).
Virtual sessions $160 per ticket inlcuding whiskies & delivery Australia-wide.
Flight 1
Canberra: 6:30pm Wednesday 6th August 2025
Private Tasting Room, Liquor Legends Hawker
Sydney: 6:30pm Tuesday 12th August 2025
Bar 26 Lilyfield
Virtual: 7:30pm Wednesday 29th October 2025
Virtual via Zoom with sample packs delivered
- Octomore 01.1
- Octomore 06.3
- Octomore 07.4
- Octomore 09.2
- A Current Octomore Release
Flight 2
Canberra: 6:30pm Wednesday 4th October 2025
Private Tasting Room, Liquor Legends Hawker
Sydney: 6:30pm Wednesday 8th October 2025
Bar 26 Lilyfield
Virtual: 7:30pm Wednesday 26th November 2025
Virtual via Zoom with sample packs delivered
- Octomore 02.1
- Octomore 06.2
- Octomore 08.1
- Octomore 09.3
- A Current Octomore Release
Flight 3
Canberra: 6:30pm Wednesday 3rd December 2025
Private Tasting Room, Liquor Legends Hawker
Sydney: 6:30pm Wednesday 10th December 2025
Bar 26 Lilyfield
Virtual: 7:30pm Wednesday 21st January 2026
Virtual via Zoom with sample packs delivered
- Octomore 03.1
- Octomore 07.2
- Octomore 08.4
- Renegade: Meleager
- A Current Octomore Release
Flight 4
Canberra: 6:30pm Wednesday 4th February 2026
Private Tasting Room, Liquor Legends Hawker
Sydney: 6:30pm Tuesday 10th February 2026
Bar 26 Lilyfield
Virtual: 7:30pm Wednesday 18th February 2026
Virtual via Zoom with sample packs delivered
- Octomore 04.1
- Octomore 08.3
- Octomore Ten (Edition 1)
- Renegade: Epione
- A Current Octomore Release
Flight 5
Canberra: 6:30pm Wednesday 15th April 2026
Private Tasting Room, Liquor Legends Hawker
Sydney: 6:30pm Wednesday 22nd April 2026
Bar 26 Lilyfield
Virtual: 7:30pm Wednesday 29th April 2026
Virtual via Zoom with sample packs delivered
- Octomore 05.1
- Octomore 07.3
- Octomore Ten (Edition 2)
- Octomore Discovery
- A Current Octomore Release
Flight 6
Canberra: Wednesday 3rd June 2026
Private Tasting Room, Liquor Legends Hawker
Sydney: Wednesday 10th June 2026
Bar 26 Lilyfield
Virtual: 7:30pm Wednesday 17th June 2026
Virtual via Zoom with sample packs delivered
- Octomore 06.1
- Octomore 08.2
- Octomore Ten (Edition 3)
- Octomore Event Horizon
- A Current Octomore Release
Flight 7
Canberra: 6:30pm Wednesday 5th August 2026
Private Tasting Room, Liquor Legends Hawker
Sydney: 6:30pm Wednesday 12th August 2026
Bar 26 Lilyfield
Virtual: 7:30pm Wednesday 19th August 2026
Virtual via Zoom with sample packs delivered
- Octomore 07.1
- Octomore 02.2
- Octomore Futures 2002
- Character of Islay Whisky Company Single Cask 9yo
- A Current Octomore Release
Flight 8
Canberra: 6:30pm Wednesday 7th October
Private Tasting Room, Liquor Legends Hawker
Sydney: 6:30pm Wednesday 14th October 2026
Bar 26 Lilyfield
Virtual: 7:30pm Wednesday 21st October 2026
Virtual via Zoom with sample packs delivered
- Octomore 09.1
- Octomore 04.2
- Octomore Futures: The Beast
- Octomore Black Arts
- A Current Octomore Release
The Food
A light dinner will be provided during these events.
The Fine Print:
If you have dietary requirements, please get in contact with us as early as possible.
Photo and/or video recording of this event may occur.
This event is only for persons aged 18 years or older.
Upcoming Flights
We've got a great selection of flights planned for the near future, with destinations including some favourite distilleries from Islay, and Speyside, in Scotland; a tour of Irish single casks, a meandering tour across Europe and Scandinavia, and some stunning sights from the United States of America.
We will also be taking off for some domestic destinations, where stories abound of the hard yakka that goes into setting up some of The New World's most loved distilleries - where we will try some of the boldest, meatiest, whiskies that have been slumbering away on this sunburnt country of ours!
Make sure your luggage is securely stowed, and your seatbelts are done up low and tight folks - some of these flights will be like none that have ever graced this beautiful capital of ours!