The Perfect Collection Part One

Dufftown 1997 Douglas McGibbon 11 Year Old 75cl / US Import

Douglas McGibbon & Co were established in 1947 becoming a subsidiary of independent bottler, Douglas Laing, in 1950. They are perhaps best known for their McGibbon's blend and its golf-themed decanters, but for many years produced this Provenance brand for single malts as well. When Douglas Laing was carved up between brothers Stewart and Fred in 2013, the McGibbon's and Provenance brands were retained by Fred as part of Douglas Laing firm, with other notable labels such as the Old Malt Cask going the other way, to Stewart's newly founded Hunter Laing. Nowadays the Provenance brand is part of the main Douglas Laing portfolio, with Douglas McGibbon the named bottler on Clan Denny releases.

This is a 1997 vintage from Dufftown distillery, bottled in 2001.

Dufftown was built in 1896, becoming part of the Arthur Bell & Sons portfolio in 1933. As with Blair Athol, Dufftown was regularly bottled as a single malt, despite its importance to the Bell's blends. When the company was bought by Guinness in 1985, these bottlings stopped, but a Dufftown distillery bottling returned in 1991 as part of United Distillers’ Flora & Fauna series, later becoming part of The Singleton stable. Prior to the construction of Roseisle, Dufftown was Diageo's largest distillery. 

Aberlour 5 Year Old 1980s / Ramazzoti Import

Aberlour is a picturesque Speyside distillery, owned nowadays by Pernod Ricard. The reverence for the sherry-casked A'Bunadh, launched in 1997, greatly boosted the popularity of the distillery, and its output from all eras is increasingly sought after. 

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.

Auchentoshan 12 Year Old 1980s

Famed for its exclusive use of triple distillation, Auchentoshan is based on the outskirts of Glasgow and was owned for the duration of the 1960s by Tennents brewery. They sold it to Eadie Cairns at the end of the decade, who upgraded the site and began officially bottling it as a single malt. The distillery passed through the hands of Morrison Bowmore before becoming part of the Beam Suntory table today. Unusually, none of the Auchentoshan output is reserved for blends, meaning there has been a wealth of distillery bottled single casks and independent releases throughout the years. 

This is a Morrison Bowmore era bottling of the 12 year old.

Auchentoshan Select 75cl / US Import

Famed for its exclusive use of triple distillation, Auchentoshan is based on the outskirts of Glasgow and was owned for the duration of the 1960s by Tennents brewery. They sold it to Eadie Cairns at the end of the decade, who upgraded the site and began officially bottling it as a single malt. The distillery passed through the hands of Morrison Bowmore before becoming part of the Beam Suntory table today. Unusually, none of the Auchentoshan output is reserved for blends, meaning there has been a wealth of distillery bottled single casks and independent releases throughout the years. 

Prior to the launch of the Three Wood, this was the introductory single malt from Authentoshan. The Select was moved to their duty free range in 2008 before it was eventually discontinued.

Aberlour 10 Year Old 75cl / US Import

Aberlour is a picturesque Speyside distillery, owned nowadays by Pernod Ricard. The reverence for the sherry-casked A'Bunadh, launched in 1997, greatly boosted the popularity of the distillery, and its output from all eras is increasingly sought after. 

The Aberlour 10 year old has been a staple of the distillery's core range since the 1980s.

Dalvey 10 Year Old Highland Single Malt

A 10 year old single malt from an undisclosed distillery, bottled for the Grants of Dalvey. Previous iterations of this have been produced by Glenfarclas, although this bottle bears the emblem of the Queen's Award for Export Achievement 1992, which was presented to Inver House Distillers...

Dallas Dhu 1974 Signatory Vintage 17 Year Old Miniature 

Signatory Vintage were established in 1988 by Andrew Symington and are one of Scotland's most prolific independent bottlers. Their offices and bottling facility are located next to Edradour distillery, which they have also owned since 2002.

This is a 1974 vintage Dallas Dhu, bottled in 1992.

In its time a key component of the Roderick Dhu blended Scotch, Dallas Dhu is a rarely seen single malt. As with much of the DCL (now Diageo) portfolio, the distillery was deemed surplus to requirements during the market downturn of the 1980s, and closed in 1983. It is now run as a distillery museum by Historic Environment Scotland. Very few official bottlings exist, and it is incredibly sought after when rare independent bottlings appear. 

Aberlour 10 Year Old 75cl / US Import

Aberlour is a picturesque Speyside distillery, owned nowadays by Pernod Ricard. The reverence for the sherry-casked A'Bunadh, launched in 1997, greatly boosted the popularity of the distillery, and its output from all eras is increasingly sought after. 

The Aberlour 10 year old has been a staple of the distillery's core range since the 1980s.

Director's Special Black Deluxe Whisky 75cl / US Import

A blended whisky produced by Shaw Wallace in India. This is batch 398, bottled in December 2002.

Director's Special was the company's biggest whisky brand, alongside Royal Challenge. The firm are perhaps best known as the distributor for the Sega Mega Drive video game system in the 1990s however.

Dunglass 5 Year Old Miniature

Littlemill was one of Scotland's oldest distilleries in its time, with distilling rumoured to have taken place there as far back as the late 18th century. It has a turbulent history of ownership changes and mothballings, as well as briefly experimenting with producing a lightly and heavily peated single malt as well, called Dunglass and Dumbuck, respectively. Barton Brands, the owners at the time, called a halt to these in 1971 however. The distillery closed again for a time in the 1980s, with its still falling silent for the final time in 1994. The distillery buildings were then lost in a fire in 1996, bringing an end to the its tumultuous story. ​​​​​​​

This is a 5 year old bottling of the briefly produced Dunglass.

Director's Special Whisky 75cl / US Import

A blended whisky produced by Shaw Wallace in India at the Maharashtra Distilleries. This is batch #0235, bottled in July 2001.

Director's Special was the company's biggest whisky brand, alongside Royal Challenge. The firm are perhaps best known as the distributor for the Sega Mega Drive video game system in the 1990s however.