The Perfect Collection Part One

Tullibardine 10 Year Old 75cl / US Import

Tullibardine distillery in Perthshire was built in 1949 and was quickly acquired by blending firm, Brodie Hepburn. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, the distillery came under ownership of Whyte & Mackay in 1993, who shut it down following year. In the preceding decades, its large production capacity had filled its even larger warehouses. In addition to selling the stock to third-party blenders, Whyte & Mackay used it for their own products, including some well-regarded official single malt releases. Among these are some exceptional single casks, and several additions to the sought after Stillman's Dram series.

This is a 1990s bottling of the official 10 year old, discontinued after the distillery was sold in 2003.

Waitrose 12 Year Old Islay Single Malt

A mystery Islay single malt, aged 12 years and bottled for upmarket UK supermarket chain, Waitrose.

Talisker Gordon and MacPhail 70 Proof Miniature 1970s

For a long time, Talisker was the sole distillery on Scotland’s iconic Isle of Skye. Renowned for the quality of its output, the distillery has rarely changed hands, joining DCL (now Diageo) back in 1916. Despite this, releases were not the most common. An 8 year old was bottled officially and Gordon & MacPhail produced what are now classic and sought after vintage bottlings under official license from the distillery. When a 10 year old expression became a founding pillar of United Distillers’ Classic Malts range, the popularity of the distillery exploded, and it is now one of the most revered and exported in Scotland. As such, independent bottlings like this are scarce, and particularly sought after when they appear. 

Although their access to casks of Talisker has dried up in recent years, Gordon & MacPhail regularly bottled these \"eagle label\" releases through the 1970s and 1980s. These are regarded as being of exceptional quality, and are highly sought after. 

Waitrose 12 Year Old Islay Single Malt

A mystery Islay single malt, aged 12 years and bottled for upmarket UK supermarket chain, Waitrose.

Waitrose 12 Year Old Islay Single Malt

A mystery Islay single malt, aged 12 years and bottled for upmarket UK supermarket chain, Waitrose.

Tullibardine 5 Year Old 1970s / Sposetti & Paparone Import

Tullibardine distillery in Perthshire was built in 1949 and was quickly acquired by blending firm, Brodie Hepburn. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, the distillery came under ownership of Whyte & Mackay in 1993, who shut it down following year. In the preceding decades, its large production capacity had filled its even larger warehouses. In addition to selling the stock to third-party blenders, Whyte & Mackay used it for their own products, including some well-regarded official single malt releases. Among these are some exceptional single casks, and several additions to the sought after Stillman's Dram series.  

This is a bottling for the Italian market, in the form of a youthful 5 year old age-statement that was the market preference. The Italian love of younger single malt was the discovery of Armando Giovinetti, the agent for Glen Grant in the 1960s. He, correctly, hypothesised that the lighter flavours of a 5 year old malt would be better suited to the grappa-loving palate of his countrymen, and the contined success of the Glen Grant 5 year old there today is testament to his foresight.

Tomintoul 8 Year Old 1980s

Tomintoul distillery was built in Speyside in 1965 by two whisky brokering companies. It was later acquired by the parent firm of Whyte & Mackay, and folded into their portfolio in 1973. While its main function was the provision of its blends, as with all of its distilleries, Whyte & Mackay also had faith in its appeal as a single malt. It was introduced in the iconic \"perfume bottles\" at the end of the 1970s. The single malt brand was given more of a focus when the distillery was bought by Angus Dundee in 2000, who also introduced a peated variant called Old Ballantruan in 2005.  

This is an old 1980s bottling from the Whyte & Mackay era core range, bottled in a regular glass bottle as opposed the perfume style container that was also used at the time.

Tamdhu Single Malt

Tamdhu is a historic Speyside producer, and for many years was alone with Springbank and Glen Ord as being the only fully self-sufficient distilleries in Scotland. It was the first in Scotland to install Saladin boxes for malting and today it is the last distillery to still use them, which in its years being owned by Edrington, also supplied malt to Glenrothes and Highland Park. Traditionally, Tamdhu was mostly used in blends such as Cutty Sark and The Famous Grouse, but it has always been regarded as a great single malt, and new owners, Ian Macleod Distillers, are now focussing on this. 

This is an old version of the non-age statement core product, replaced by a sherry casked 10 year old when the distillery was bought over by Ian Macleod.

Tullibardine 10 Year Old 75cl / US Import

Tullibardine distillery in Perthshire was built in 1949 and was quickly acquired by blending firm, Brodie Hepburn. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, the distillery came under ownership of Whyte & Mackay in 1993, who shut it down following year. In the preceding decades, its large production capacity had filled its even larger warehouses. In addition to selling the stock to third-party blenders, Whyte & Mackay used it for their own products, including some well-regarded official single malt releases. Among these are some exceptional single casks, and several additions to the sought after Stillman's Dram series.

This is a 1990s bottling of the official 10 year old, discontinued after the distillery was sold in 2003.

Tobermory 10 Year Old 75cl / US Import

The Isle of Mull's Tobermory distillery was first opened way back in 1798, and was known as Ledaig, which was the case for much of its history. It was dormant for the majority of the 20th century, shut down by DCL in 1930, and when it re-opened in 1972, it did so as again as Ledaig distillery. Its revival was only brief however, closing down in 1975. When the distillery was re-opened in 1979, it was now known as Tobermory. Its production in former years had generally been peated whisky, but the newly revived company began producing non-peated as well, for the provision of a blended malt which they marketed under the Tobermory name. Burn Stewart discontinued the blend when they took over in 1993, opting to continue the production of both styles as two distinct single malt brands. The un-peated single malt took over the Tobermory brand, while the traditional peated style fittingly retained the historic Ledaig name.

This is the Burn Stewart era Tobermory single malt, aged for 10 years and introduced in the late 1990s.

Tomintoul 14 Year Old 75cl 1990s / US Import

Tomintoul distillery was built in Speyside in 1965 by two whisky brokering companies. It was later acquired by the parent firm of Whyte & Mackay, and folded in to their portfolio in 1973. While its main function was the provision of its blends, as with all of its distilleries, Whyte & Mackay also had faith in its appeal as a single malt. It was introduced in the iconic \"perfume bottles\" at the end of the 1970s. The single malt brand was given more of a focus when the distillery was bought by Angus Dundee in 2000, who also introduced a peated variant called Old Ballantruan in 2005.  

This 14 year old was part of the core range during the Whyte & Mackay era, but was discontinued in favour of a 10 year old by Angus Dundee.

Tamdhu Single Malt 75cl / US Import

Tamdhu is a historic Speyside producer, and for many years was alone with Springbank and Glen Ord as being the only fully self-sufficient distilleries in Scotland. It was the first in Scotland to install Saladin boxes for malting and today it is the last distillery to still use them, which in its years being owned by Edrington, also supplied malt to Glenrothes and Highland Park. Traditionally, Tamdhu was mostly used in blends such as Cutty Sark and The Famous Grouse, but it has always been regarded as a great single malt, and new owners, Ian Macleod Distillers, are now focussing on this. 

This is an old version of the non-age statement core product, replaced by a sherry casked 10 year old when the distillery was bought over by Ian Macleod.

Whitfield's Highland Malt 75cl / US Import

Whitfield's is a single malt brand produced by the Charles H. Julian company using whisky from undisclosed sources.

Charles H. Julian is one of the most important figures in the history of Scotch whisky, having composed the Cutty Sark blend for Berry Brothers & Rudd, the J&B blend, and later the Chivas Regal 12 year old for Seagram. He eventually struck out on his own, starting the Charles H. Julian company. It is best known for its Excalibur blend, and was eventually incorporated by his successors in 1995, seeing it later sold to the Lockwood family in Essex. 

Talisker 10 Year Old 75cl / US Import

For a long time, Talisker was the sole distillery on Scotland’s iconic Isle of Skye. Renowned for the quality of its output, the distillery has rarely changed hands, joining DCL (now Diageo) back in 1916. Despite this, releases were not the most common. An 8 year old was bottled officially and Gordon & MacPhail produced what are now classic and sought after vintage bottlings under official license from the distillery. When a 10 year old expression became a founding pillar of United Distillers’ Classic Malts range in 1988, the popularity of the distillery exploded, and it is now one of the most revered and exported in Scotland.

This is a bottling of said core range 10 year old.

Tormore 5 Year Old 1980s / Stock Import

Tormore is one of Speyside's most aesthetically pleasing distilleries, designed in 1959 by Sir Albert Richardson (then president of the Royal Academy). It was built by the Schenley company in order to provide malt for their Long John blends. Despite this, its single malt has been bottled by all of its owners over the years, including as part of the short-lived Caledonian Malts range from Allied Distillers, alongside Laphroaig and Glendronach. Despite this, distillery bottlings are still something of a rarity.

 An old 1980s bottling of Tormore, bottled while the distillery was owned by Whitbread and still bearing the coat of arms of the Long John blend to which provision of malt was still its primary focus.

This is a bottling for the Italian market, in the form of a youthful 5 year old age-statement that was the market preference. The Italian love of younger single malt was the discovery of Armando Giovinetti, the agent for Glen Grant in the 1960s. He, correctly, hypothesised that the lighter flavours of a 5 year old malt would be better suited to the grappa-loving palate of his countrymen, and the contined success of the Glen Grant 5 year old there today is testament to his foresight.