April 2025 Auction

Octomore 8.3 Masterclass Islay Barley

Octomore is the super-heavily peated single malt produced by Bruichladdich distillery, the most routinely heavily peated in the world. The whisky is named after the farm of the same name, located on a hillside north of the town of Port Charlotte. Having been traditionally an un-peated single malt due to the needs of its former owners for their blends, Murray McDavid were quick to diversify the Bruichladdich portfolio, also introducing the more lightly peated Port Charlotte and Lochindaal.

Released in 2017, the 8.3 Masterclass Octomore was marketed by Bruichladdich as being the peatiest whisky produced in Scotland at whopping 309.1ppm.

Matured in ex-Bourbon American oak, and ex-Pauillac, Ventoux, Rhone and Burgundy European oak casks.

One of 16,000 bottles.

Octomore 7.2

Octomore is the super-heavily peated single malt produced by Bruichladdich distillery, the most routinely heavily peated in the world. The whisky is named after the farm of the same name, located on a hillside north of the town of Port Charlotte. Having been traditionally an un-peated single malt due to the needs of its former owners for their blends, Murray McDavid were quick to diversify the Bruichladdich portfolio, also introducing the more lightly peated Port Charlotte and Lochindaal.

This travel retial exclusive was aged for 5 years in true Octomore fashion and was distilled from barley peated to an incredible 208 ppm.

Matured in American oak bourbon casks before being enhanced in Syrah wine casks from France's Rhone Valley.

Peat's Beast 27 Year Old Cask Strength Single Malt

This is a mystery cask strength Islay malt produced by the folks over at Fox Fitzgerald Ltd.

This limited release whisky has been aged for 27 years before being bottled at cask strength. 

Peat's Beast 30 Year Old Cask Strength Single Malt

This is a mystery cask strength Islay malt produced by the folks over at Fox Fitzgerald Ltd.

This limited edition whisky has been aged for 30 years before being bottled at cask strength. 

Octomore 10.4 Dialogos Virgin Oak

Octomore is the super-heavily peated single malt produced by Bruichladdich distillery, the most routinely heavily peated in the world. The whisky is named after the farm of the same name, located on a hillside north of the town of Port Charlotte. Having been traditionally an un-peated single malt due to the needs of its former owners for their blends, Murray McDavid were quick to diversify the Bruichladdich portfolio, also introducing the more lightly peated Port Charlotte and Lochindaal.

This Edition, Dialogos 10.4 was peated to 88ppm and matured 3 years in virgin oak casks.

Oban 16 Year Old Manager's Dram Bicentenary 1994

Oban is a small distillery, situated in the heart of the high street in the town after which it is named. Although its output is deliberately low in order to retain its character, it had an early presence on the single malt scene, with the blending company John Hopkins & Co, under license from DCL, introduced a 12 year old expression back in 1979. The newly launched Oban single malt brand was introduced alongside a new 14 year old distillery bottling in 1988, when the distillery was selected by United Distillers to represent the Western Highlands in the Classic Malts range.

The Manager’s Dram series of whiskies were bottled exclusively for employees of what is now known as Diageo.  These whiskies were selected by the respective distillery managers within Diageo malt distilling and bottled at natural cask strength.

This  16 year old sherry cask whisky was selected in 1994, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Oban distillery.

Port Ellen 1982 Douglas Laing 25 Year Old / Potstill Austria

For decades Port Ellen was the lost jewel in the Islay crown, closed down by DCL (now Diageo) in 1983 due to an oversupply of peated whisky for blending and a perceived lack of interest in it as a single malt. However, it developed a legendary status over the years and in 2017 Diageo eventually announced plans to re-open it. The work was completed in 2024, and the first spirit was distilled in March that year. A very rare 12 year old bottled for attendees of the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1980 is believed to have been the only distillery bottling produced in its first years of operation. Diageo have bottled more since, but it is the independent companies that have given the whisky world the best chance to sample this sought-after single malt.

This whisky was distilled in April 1982 and aged in a single cask for 25 years. It was bottled at cask strength in June 2007.

Douglas Laing & Co was established in 1948 by Fred Douglas Laing, affectionately known as “FDL.” The company started out as a blending business, but over time their focus shifted towards independently bottlings single malts. Fred died in 1982, leaving the business to his two sons, Stewart and Fred Jr, who eventually carved it up in 2013, with Stewart leaving to establish Hunter Laing. Fred Jr and his daughter Cara now run Douglas Laing, which continues to bottle single malt and has also revived its blending business. Additionally, the company has recently moved into distilling as well, announcing plans to construct the new Clutha distillery in Glasgow, and taking over Strathearn in Perthshire in 2019.

This is part of the premium Old & Rare series. Launched in 2001, it was bottled by Douglas Laing until 2013 when the brand became part of the Hunter Laing portfolio instead.

One of 512 bottles.

Pittyvaich 1976 Blackadder 24 Year Old / World of Whiskies

Pittyvaich could be considered the front-runner for shortest-lived Speyside distillery. It was built in 1975 by Arthur Bell & Sons, next-door to their Dufftown distillery, in order to increase provision for its popular blends. Arthur Bell & Sons were bought by Guinness in 1985, who's merger with DCL to form United Distillers (now Diageo) the following year, saw the huge firm oversupplied by its enormous portfolio. Pittyvaich was an early candidate for closure, and was silenced in 1993 before later being demolished. The brief Flora & Fauna release was the only distillery bottling of Pittyvaich in its lifetime, and aside from the occasional official limited edition, the majority of releases have been increasingly sought after independents like this.

This Pittyvaich was distilled in June 1976 and matured in single cask #8422 for 24 years. It was bottled by Blackadder in July 2000 exclusively for World of Whiskies.

Blackadder International were founded in 1995 by whisky writers, Robin Tucek and John Lamond, authors of the 1987 publication, The Malt Whisky File: The Essential Guide for the Malt Whisky Connoisseur. The company has gained great affection from whisky enthusiasts for its Raw Cask series, which is deliberately drawn un-filtered from the cask so as to retain all cask sediment along with any natural oils and fats. The company is credited with a key role in the popularisation of cask strength whiskies since its inception.

One of 108 bottles.

Old Fettercairn 10 Year Old 1990s 1 Litre

Fettercairn distillery was built in 1825 and aside froma brief period in mothballs in the 1930s, has been in operation ever since. It was re-opened from that closure in 1939 by Associated Scottish Distilleries, the Scotch arm of the post-Prohibition drinks giant in the US, National Distillers. When ASD ceased trading in 1954 the distillery passed through various hands before being bought by Whyte & Mackay in 1973. Despite being an important contributor to their blends, they also pushed Fettercairn as a single malt brand, known as \"Old Fettercairn\" until 2002 when the prefix was dropped.

This is a 1990s bottling of the core range 10 year old, which was discontinued in the 2002 rebrand in favour of a 12 year old expression.

Port Ellen 1970 Intertrade 16 Year Old Magnum 1.5 Litre / Nadi Fiori Collection - Signed

Intertrade was established in Italy in the early 1980s by Nadi Fiori, the owner of the Taverna degli Artisti bar in Rimini. The company was a collaboration with beer distributors, the Turatello Brothers, and the Intertrade name appears on Fiori's bottlings up to around 1989. Fiori selected his whiskies from the Gordon & MacPhail catalogue, but as a collector himself, and a contemporary of his fellow connoisseur countrymen, Silvano Samaroli and Ernesto Mainardi, he knew the importance striking label designs and requested many of his bottlings at cask strength. Whether under the Intertrade, Turatello or High Spirits banner, Fiori's bottlings are some of the most sought after on the market.

A 16 year old Port Ellen, this was distilled in December 1970 and bottled by Intertrade in August 1987. This is one of many vintage Port Ellen bottled by Nadi Fiori with this label style.

For decades Port Ellen was the lost jewel in the Islay crown, closed down by DCL (now Diageo) in 1983 due to an oversupply of peated whisky for blending and a perceived lack of interest in it as a single malt. However, it developed a legendary status over the years and in 2017 Diageo eventually announced plans to re-open it. The work was completed in 2024, and the first spirit was distilled in March that year. A very rare 12 year old bottled for attendees of the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1980 is believed to have been the only distillery bottling produced in its first years of operation. Diageo have bottled more since, but it is the independent companies that have given the whisky world the best chance to sample this sought-after single malt.

One of only 240 bottles.

This bottle is signed by Nadi Fiori.

Note that this lot will include a two bottle shipping fee.

Oban Bay Reserve Game of Thrones / The Night's Watch

Oban is a small distillery, situated in the heart of the high street in the town after which it is named. Although its output is deliberately low in order to retain its character, it was one of the earliest players on the single malt scene, introducing a regular 12 year old release back in 1979. That release was eventually replaced with a new 14 year old expression in 1988 when the distillery was selected by United Distillers to represent the Western Highlands in the Classic Malts range.

This 2018 Diageo collaboration with HBO saw their Classic Malts range reimagined as being somehow related to the landed houses of the Game of Thrones television series.

Oban 14 Year Old

Oban is a small distillery, situated in the heart of the high street in the town after which it is named. Although its output is low deliberately low in order to retain its character, it had an early presence on the single malt scene. The license for the distillery was granted to blenders, John Hopkins & Co by owners, DCL, and they introduced a 12 year old release back in 1979. The license was returned to the distillery itself with the inception of the Classic Malts range in 1988, with this 14 year old becoming the the core range product from a newly relaunched Oban single malt brand the following year.

Poit Dhubh 21 Year Old

Praban na Linne was founded in 1976 by Sir Iain Noble, a fierce proponent of the Gaelic language. He was the co-founder of the Edinburgh merchant bank, and believed Gaelic was the key to unlock economic regeneration in the Highlands and Islands. This was one of his projects, and the company is based on the Isle of Skye. They produce three whiskies, this Poit Dubh blended malt, and Te Bheag and Mac Na Mara blended Scotch whiskies. Noble was also the driving force behind the Gaelic speaking distillery on the Isle of Skye, Torabhaig, but did not live to see it completed.

This is a well-matured blended malt produced by the Gaelic Whisky Company under their Poit Dhubh brand.

Peat's Beast Batch Strength Single Malt / PX Finish

This is a mystery single malt Scotch whisky. bottled by the folks over at Fox Fitzgerald Ltd.

This particular expression has been finished in Pedro Ximenez sherry wood. 

Peat's Beast Batch Strength

This is a mystery batch (cask) strength Islay malt produced by the folks over at Fox Fitzgerald Ltd.

Old Pulteney 18 Year Old

The Pulteney distillery in Wick was built in 1826, and for a long time was the northernmost distillery on the Scottish mainland. Acquired by John Dewar & Sons in 1924, the distillery was quickly forced to close down in 1930, as Prohibition in its hometown was enacted to attempt to curb drunkenness among its maritime society. When it re-opened in 1955, the majority of its output was reserved for blending, although Gordon & MacPhail were licensed to bottle a single malt by Allied Breweries (later Allied Domecq). Its single malt was known as \"Old Pulteney\" on their labels, and this tradition remained when Inver House, who acquired the distillery in 1995, released Pulteney's first distillery bottlings. 

This 18 year old was released in mid-2018 along with a fleet of new expressions.

Portknockie Speyside Single Malt

This is a single malt from an undisclosed distillery in Speyside, matured in bourbon barrels and hogsheads. It was bottled by Portknockie, who take their name from the village on the Moray Firth. 

Perez Barquero 50 Year Old Brandy Corman-Collins

A bottle of brandy from Andalusia, Spain. 

One of 1008 bottles. 

Poit Dhubh 21 Year Old

Praban na Linne was founded in 1976 by Sir Iain Noble, a fierce proponent of the Gaelic language. He was the co-founder of the Edinburgh merchant bank, and believed Gaelic was the key to unlock economic regeneration in the Highlands and Islands. This was one of his projects, and the company is based on the Isle of Skye. They produce three whiskies, this Poit Dubh blended malt, and Te Bheag and Mac Na Mara blended Scotch whiskies. Noble was also the driving force behind the Gaelic speaking distillery on the Isle of Skye, Torabhaig, but did not live to see it completed.

This is a well-matured blended malt produced by the Gaelic Whisky Company under their Poit Dhubh brand.

Octomore 6.2

Octomore is the super-heavily peated single malt produced by Bruichladdich distillery, the most routinely heavily peated in the world. The whisky is named after the farm of the same name, located on a hillside north of the town of Port Charlotte. Having been traditionally an un-peated single malt due to the needs of its former owners for their blends, Murray McDavid were quick to diversify the Bruichladdich portfolio, also introducing the more lightly peated Port Charlotte and Lochindaal.

Aged for 5 years in true Octomore fashion, the latest travel retail exclusive was finished in Limousin Oak which previously held 'one of the world's great Eaux de Vie.'  

One of 18,000 bottles produced.

Port Ellen 1978 Rare Malts 22 Year Old / 60.50%

The Rare Malts Selection was a historic selection of single malt whiskies from operational and lost distilleries that were released by Diageo between 1995 and 2005. As with the Flora & Fauna series, they were often from lesser-seen single malt distilleries.

This Port Ellen was distilled in 1978 and bottled in October 2000. The distillery has become a collector's favourite since its closure in 1983.

For decades Port Ellen was the lost jewel in the Islay crown, closed down by DCL (now Diageo) in 1983 due to an oversupply of peated whisky for blending and a perceived lack of interest in it as a single malt. However, it developed a legendary status over the years and in 2017 Diageo eventually announced plans to re-open it. The work was completed in 2024, and the first spirit was distilled in March that year. A very rare 12 year old bottled for attendees of the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1980 is believed to have been the only distillery bottling produced in its first years of operation. Diageo then bottled the first publicly available distillery bottlings as part of the Rare Malts Selection, followed by the annual special releases.

Octomore 6.2

Octomore is the super-heavily peated single malt produced by Bruichladdich distillery, the most routinely heavily peated in the world. The whisky is named after the farm of the same name, located on a hillside north of the town of Port Charlotte. Having been traditionally an un-peated single malt due to the needs of its former owners for their blends, Murray McDavid were quick to diversify the Bruichladdich portfolio, also introducing the more lightly peated Port Charlotte and Lochindaal.

Aged for 5 years in true Octomore fashion, the latest travel retail exclusive was finished in Limousin Oak which previously held 'one of the world's great Eaux de Vie.'  

One of 18,000 bottles produced.

Port Ellen 1970 Intertrade 16 Year Old Cask Strength / Nadi Fiori Collection - Signed

Intertrade was established in Italy in the early 1980s by Nadi Fiori, the owner of the Taverna degli Artisti bar in Rimini. The company was a collaboration with beer distributors, the Turatello Brothers, and the Intertrade name appears on Fiori's bottlings up to around 1989. Fiori selected his whiskies from the Gordon & MacPhail catalogue, but as a collector himself, and a contemporary of his fellow connoisseur countrymen, Silvano Samaroli and Ernesto Mainardi, he knew the importance striking label designs and requested many of his bottlings at cask strength. Whether under the Intertrade, Turatello or High Spirits banner, Fiori's bottlings are some of the most sought after on the market.

A 16 year old Port Ellen, this was distilled in January 1970 and bottled by Gordon & MacPhail in September 1986. This is one of many vintage Port Ellen bottled by Nadi Fiori with this label style.

For decades Port Ellen was the lost jewel in the Islay crown, closed down by DCL (now Diageo) in 1983 due to an oversupply of peated whisky for blending and a perceived lack of interest in it as a single malt. However, it developed a legendary status over the years and in 2017 Diageo eventually announced plans to re-open it. The work was completed in 2024, and the first spirit was distilled in March that year. A very rare 12 year old bottled for attendees of the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1980 is believed to have been the only distillery bottling produced in its first years of operation. Diageo have bottled more since, but it is the independent companies that have given the whisky world the best chance to sample this sought-after single malt.

One of 258 bottles.

This lot is signed by Nadi Fiori.

Port Ellen 1978 Turatello 16 Year Old Cask Strength / Nadi Fiori Collection - Signed

For decades Port Ellen was the lost jewel in the Islay crown, closed down by DCL (now Diageo) in 1983 due to an oversupply of peated whisky for blending and a perceived lack of interest in it as a single malt. However, it developed a legendary status over the years and in 2017 Diageo eventually announced plans to re-open it. The work was completed in 2024, and the first spirit was distilled in March that year. A very rare 12 year old bottled for attendees of the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1980 is believed to have been the only distillery bottling produced in its first years of operation. Diageo have bottled more since, but it is the independent companies that have given the whisky world the best chance to sample this sought-after single malt.

A 16 year old Port Ellen, this was distilled in April 1978 and bottled by Gordon & MacPhail in September 1994. This is one of many vintage Port Ellen bottled by Nadi Fiori with this label style.

This is a Nadi Fiori bottling. Fiori was the owner of the Taverna degli Artisti bar in Italy, and a contemporary of his fellow connoisseur countrymen, Silvano Samaroli and Ernesto Mainardi. Fiori established an import company in the 1980s, along with beer distributors the Turatello brothers, and the firm was named Intertrade. Their bottles are legendary and some of the most sought after on the market. The Intertrade name disappears around 1989, however Fiori continued to import bottles under the Turatello Imports name, like this one. He would then later go on to found his own company, called High Spirits.

This particular bottle has been signed by Nadi Fiori.

Port Ellen 1970 Intertrade 17 Year Old Cask Strength / Nadi Fiori Collection - Signed

For decades Port Ellen was the lost jewel in the Islay crown, closed down by DCL (now Diageo) in 1983 due to an oversupply of peated whisky for blending and a perceived lack of interest in it as a single malt. However, it developed a legendary status over the years and in 2017 Diageo eventually announced plans to re-open it. The work was completed in 2024, and the first spirit was distilled in March that year. A very rare 12 year old bottled for attendees of the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1980 is believed to have been the only distillery bottling produced in its first years of operation. Diageo have bottled more since, but it is the independent companies that have given the whisky world the best chance to sample this sought-after single malt.

This Port Ellen was distilled in January 1970 and matured for 17 years. It was bottled by Gordon & MacPhail in June 1987. This is one of many vintage Port Ellen bottled by Nadi Fiori with this label style.

Intertrade was established in Italy in the early 1980s by Nadi Fiori, the owner of the Taverna degli Artisti bar in Rimini. The company was a collaboration with beer distributors, the Turatello Brothers, and the Intertrade name appears on Fiori's bottlings up to around 1989. Fiori selected his whiskies from the Gordon & MacPhail catalogue, but as a collector himself, and a contemporary of his fellow connoisseur countrymen, Silvano Samaroli and Ernesto Mainardi, he knew the importance striking label designs and requested many of his bottlings at cask strength. Whether under the Intertrade, Turatello or High Spirits banner, Fiori's bottlings are some of the most sought after on the market.

One of 243 bottles.

This bottle has been signed by Nadi Fiori.

Perfect Measure 20 Whiskies That Changed The World Tasting Set 20 x 3cl

This tasting set was produced by The Whisky Exchange to showcase twenty whiskies from around the world that changed the industry. The whiskies fall under four categories; Whisky Revolution, Magic of the Cask, Peat Makes the World Go Round and The New World. The set also includes two stemmed nosing glasses, and a comprehensive guide featuring a history and tasting notes for each whisky, with a foreword from co-founder Sukhinder Singh.

• Compass Box Hedonism Blended Grain, 43% 3cl
• Monkey Shoulder Blended Malt, 40% 3cl
• Clynelish 14 Year Old, 46% 3cl
• Glenfiddich 15 Year Old Our Solera Reserve, 40% 3cl
• Johnnie Walker Blue Label, 40% 3cl
• Balvenie 12 Year Old DoubleWood, 40% 3cl
• Macallan 18 Year Old Sherry Oak 2020 Release, 43% 3cl
• Glendronach 15 Year Old Revival, 46% 3cl
• Dalmore King Alexander III, 40% 3cl
• Glenfarclas Cask Strength 105, 60% 3cl
• Talisker 18 Year Old, 45.8% 3cl
• Springbank 10 Year Old, 46% 3cl
• Laphroaig Quarter Cask, 48% 3cl
• Lagavulin 16 Year Old, 43% 3cl
• Octomore 2009 Dialogos 10 Year Old, 54.3% 3cl
• Yamazaki 12 Year Old, 43% 3cl
• Nikka Coffey Malt, 45% 3cl
• Amrut Fusion, 50% 3cl
• Blanton's Single Barrel Gold Edition, 51.5% 3cl
• Michter's Single Barrel Straight Rye, 42.4% 3cl

Please note due to the size of this set, it will carry a two-bottle shipping fee.

Orphan Barrel Rhetoric 20 Year Old / Gavin Brogan

The Orphan Barrel brand was devised by Diageo in 2013. The company's previous iteration, United Distillers had been very active in the American whiskey market in the 1980s, however when they became Diageo in 1997, the focus of the company shifted elsewhere. The result was the offloading in 1999 of what are now several prize assets, including the Bernheim distillery to Heaven Hill along with the Old Fitzgerald brand, and the Weller brand to the Sazerac Company. Further to this, believing bourbon to be passed its best beyond the age of 12 years, it offloaded huge quantities of stock from the legendary Stitzel-Weller distillery, much of which was bottled by what are now hugely sought after independent labels like Very Olde St Nick, Jefferson's Reserve and Pappy Van Winkle. Having given up what is now a veritable who's who of collectible bourbon, it is hardly surprising that the company were keen to reinvest in the booming American whiskey industry of the 2000s. The Orphan Barrel series was intended to tap into that same collectors market, making use of the stock retained from their former (and occasionally current) distillery portfolio across the US and Canada, which in the late 1980s and early 1990s had consolidated the empires of two of the biggest post-Prohibition distillers in Schenley and Seagram.

This is part of the Rhetoric series, which Diageo bottled between 2014 and 2019. Beginning with a 20 year old, each release was intended to show the subtle differences produced by a further year of maturation on the same stock of whiskey. 

This is the first iteration, bottled in 2014. The whisky was distilled at Bernheim, but like all Orphan Barrel releases, was bottled at Cascade Hollow distillery in Tennessee.

Comes in a special presention box created for Gavin Brogan.

Pittyvaich 1980 SMWS 90.2

Pittyvaich could be considered the front-runner for shortest-lived Speyside distillery. It was built in 1975 by Arthur Bell & Sons, next-door to their Dufftown distillery, in order to increase provision for its popular blends. Arthur Bell & Sons were bought by Guinness in 1985, who's merger with DCL to form United Distillers (now Diageo) the following year, saw the huge firm oversupplied by its enormous portfolio. Pittyvaich was an early candidate for closure, and was silenced in 1993 before later being demolished. The brief Flora & Fauna release was the only distillery bottling of Pittyvaich in its lifetime, and aside from the occasional official limited edition, the majority of releases have been increasingly sought after independents like this.

This Pittyvaich was distilled in November 1980 and matured in a single cask. It was bottled by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society in July 1991. This was only the second cask of Pittyvaich that the SMWS had ever bottled.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) was founded in 1983 by a group of friends lead by tax accountant Phillip ‘Pip’ Hills as a private members club. The concept behind the society was to source casks from all over Scotland which would then be bottled and made available exclusively to its members. Perhaps the most famous feature of these bottles are the unique codes. Each distillery is represented by a different number and the following digits indicate that particular release. That same year, the SMWS set up its first location in Leith’s Vault buildings in Edinburgh where it still stands today.

Platte Valley 3 Year Old 100% Straight Corn Whiskey Decanter 70cl

A vintage looking decanter containing a straight whiskey with a mashbill of 100% corn. This was distilled in Illinois and bottled by the McCormick Distilling Co in Weston, Missouri.

Old Kentucky Tavern 7 Year Old Straight Bourbon Miniature 1970s

A Kentucky straight bourbon miniature from the Glenmore Distilleries Company, one of the few distillers to survive Prohibition in early 20th century America. Glenmore was under ownership of the Thompson family distilling dynasty for most of the 20th century.

This was distilled and bottled at the Glenmore distillery, which ceased production in 1993, although remains an active bottling plant under ownership of the Sazerac company.

Octomore 6.2

Octomore is the super-heavily peated single malt produced by Bruichladdich distillery, the most routinely heavily peated in the world. The whisky is named after the farm of the same name, located on a hillside north of the town of Port Charlotte. Having been traditionally an un-peated single malt due to the needs of its former owners for their blends, Murray McDavid were quick to diversify the Bruichladdich portfolio, also introducing the more lightly peated Port Charlotte and Lochindaal.

Aged for 5 years in true Octomore fashion, the latest travel retail exclusive was finished in Limousin Oak which previously held 'one of the world's great Eaux de Vie.'  

One of 18,000 bottles produced.

Old Man Winter Kentucky Bourbon

The Old Man Winter brand is owned by InterBev, a subsidiary of Allied Lomar in California, who's other products include Rare Perfection and Very Olde St Nick. Its president, Marci Palatella has been sourcing barrels and bottling them for several decades. She was Julian Van Winkle III's agent in the Japanese market in the 1980 and 1990s, and devised the Very Olde St Nick brand to capitalise on the Japanese demand for well-aged bourbon, which fortuitously was not popular in the US. Her first bottles were produced for her by Van Winkle at his Old Commonwealth bottling facility in the late 1980s.

At this time however, Van Winkle did not have a wealth of aged stock in his warehouses, and Palatella instead turned to Evan Kulsveen's Kentucky Bourbon Distillers (KBD), who bottled her throughout the 1990s and early 2000s at the then-silent Willett distillery in Bardstown. KBD sourced most of their barrels from neighbours, Heaven Hill, although Kulsveen had joked in the past that their warehouses contained bourbon from every distillery in Kentucky except his own. Van Winkle was not finished with the Very Olde St Nick story however, and put Palatella in touch with representatives at United Distillers who sold InterBev a number of ageing casks that they no longer had any interest in. Much of this was placed into a steel tanks and warehoused in California to prevent any further maturation. 

When KBD fired up the still at Willett again in 2012, they began sourcing less casks from elsewhere, reserving the best stock for their own Willett Family Reserve label. Essentially cut off, the production of brands like this moved to California until, in 2018, Palatella opened the Preservation Distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky. A small craft-distillery operating a pot still, its produces only a few barrels each day. The bottling of brands like Very Olde St Nick now takes places there, and will eventually contain the distillery's own whiskey.