Blair Castle Scotch Whisky

This whisky is one of around 40 that formed part of a cache of bottles discovered at Blair Castle in Perthshire by its resident trustee, Bertie Troughton, at the end of 2022. After discussing the find with older generations of the family, it was ascertained that there was an awareness of these, however they had long been forgotten after having been secreted away for a then yet-to-be-determined future purpose. Some of the bottles were to be exhibited as part of the Blair Castle visitor experience, forming both an important part of both its heritage and connection to the Scotch whisky industry. The number of bottles found, however, meant that 24 were selected to be shared with the wider whisky world, and Whisky Auctioneer was delighted to partner with Blair Castle and the Atholl Estates in order to exclusively auction them as part of our November 2023 sale.

When discovered, the bottles were found with a plaque that identified these as a “small still” whisky with a distillation year of 1833, bottling year of 1841, and a subsequent rebottling year of 1932. Should these dates be accurate, this would mean the bottles contain the oldest known (by vintage) Scotch whisky left in existence. It is understood that the rebottling date of 1932 likely relates to a cellar inventory and consolidation that occurred following a change in ownership at the castle that same year. Despite best efforts, the exact dating of the vintage and original bottling year could not be confirmed via archival provenance from the Blair Castle records, however evidence was found to support them as providing the correct period for dating the whisky.

Firstly, records in the archives show activities for both the storage of whisky in cask and bottle in these years. A bin book dated 1834 (one year after the purported distillation year of this whisky) shows a cask in store that contained "40 gallons [of whisky] in wood," while another from 1841 evidences that the bottling of spirits was also practiced at the castle at this time. Further material also confirms that whisky was being produced on the Atholl Estates in the early 19th century, including records of letters exchanged between estate factors and tenants that reference whisky production, as well as archived distilling equipment from the era.

A series of scientific testing was arranged as part of authentication procedures. This included radiocarbon analysis at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC) which gave a range of potential 19th century vintages (including that of 1833). A sample was also submitted to the Scotch Whisky Research Institute (SWRI) where its ABV of 61.36% was confirmed, and an analysis of various volatile congeners provided evidence of ageing in an oak cask, a long period of time spent in bottle, and a good probability of the liquid being produced in accordance with malt whisky distilling practices of the time. Further and ongoing testing by the University of Edinburgh has complemented this conclusion, finding the profile of the spirit to have features better associated to malt than grain. A preliminary metal analysis also identified a concentration of copper indicative of production on a small sized still. Fuller details of the efforts to authenticate and date the whisky can be found here.