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Independent Bottlers

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2411 products

Independent Bottlers

Vendor: North Star Spirits

Glen Moray 2007-2021 | 14 Year Old North Star Spirits

£71.00
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Vendor: North Star Spirits

Auchentoshan 2007-2021 | 13 Year Old North Star Spirits

£90.00
Regular price £90.00
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Vendor: Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers

Old Perth 1996 Vintage Collection | Sherry Matured Blended Malt Whisky

£180.00
Regular price £180.00
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Vendor: Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers

Linkwood 2011-2021 | 9 Year Old | Carn Mor Strictly Limited

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Vendor: Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers

Blair Athol 2008-2021 | 13 Year Old | Carn Mor Strictly Limited

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Vendor: Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers

Miltonduff 2011-2021 | 10 Year Old | Carn Mor Strictly Limited

£50.00
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Vendor: Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers

Craigellachie 2010-2021 | 11 Year Old | Carn Mor Strictly Limited

Vendor: Little Brown Dog Spirits

Petit Chien Brun 2006-2021 | 14 Year Old Single Cask Drouin Calvados

£70.00
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Vendor: Alistair Walker Whisky Company

Glen Moray 2011-2021 | 9 Year Old Infrequent Flyers

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Vendor: Alistair Walker Whisky Company

Ledaig (Tobermory) 2010-2021 | 11 Year Old Infrequent Flyers

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Vendor: Alistair Walker Whisky Company

Glenrothes 2009-2021 | 12 Year Old Infrequent Flyers

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Vendor: Alistair Walker Whisky Company

Dailuaine 2008-2021 | 13 Year Old Infrequent Flyers

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Vendor: Alistair Walker Whisky Company

Caol Ila 2008-2021 | 13 Year Old Infrequent Flyers

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Vendor: Alistair Walker Whisky Company

Undisclosed Orkney Distillery 2003-2021 | 18 Year Old Infrequent Flyers

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Vendor: Gordon & MacPhail

Mortlach 1978-2021 | 43 Year Old Gordon & MacPhail Private Collection Single Cask 992

£1,800.00
Regular price £1,800.00
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Vendor: Little Brown Dog Spirits

Li'l Brown Dawg 2017 Single Cask Indiana Rye Whiskey

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Vendor: Little Brown Dog Spirits

Little Brown Dog LBD Unlimited Edition Gin

£32.00
Regular price £32.00
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Vendor: Douglas Laing

Strathmill 2009-2021 | 12 Year Old | Old Particular | Single Cask DL15062

£66.00
Regular price £66.00
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Vendor: Douglas Laing

Glen Moray 2003-2021 | 18 Year Old | Old Particular | Single Cask DL15061

£91.00
Regular price £91.00
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Vendor: Douglas Laing

Blair Athol 2008-2021 | 12 Year Old | Old Particular | Single Cask DL15081

£55.00
Regular price £55.00
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Independent Bottlers

Independent whisky bottlers have played a vital part in the history of whisky and were crucial to the development of single malt whisky as a category.  The early independent bottlers such as Cadenhead’s and Gordon & MacPhail were pioneers of taste, promoting single malt whisky at a time when blends accounted for a much greater percentage of the overall whisky market than they do today.

The selection skill and foresight of the early independent whisky companies - particularly the Italian bottlers such as Samaroli, Intertrade, Moon Import and Sestante, who also set the trend for bottling natural cask strength whiskies - put them so far ahead of the curve that even today the greatest ever bottlings from most distilleries have been from independent companies rather than official distillery bottlings.

It could also be argued that without independent bottlers many of Scotland’s distilleries might no longer exist as the interest in single malt whiskies they generated and the demand they created has sustained and given impetus to the whisky industry as a whole.

In the dark days of the late 1970s and 1980s the Scotch whisky industry suffered terrible consequences from the enormous surplus of single malt whisky resulting from wildly over-optimistic growth forecasts of the 1970s and the subsequent drop in demand as whisky fell out of fashion. When production was cut back to allow the existing stocks to be sold, dozens of distilleries were forced to close - most never to reopen.

During this crisis, the independent bottlers played a vital role in the survival of the scotch whisky industry, with independent blenders and bottlers like Douglas Laing, the Scotch Malt Whisky Society and Berry Bros & Rudd buying surplus stock from struggling companies and signing agreements for future supply.  

The ready availability of casks of unwanted whisky also led to a new generation of independent bottlers such as Signatory and Adelphi, who then continued selecting and bottling the best of these casks as single malt whiskies, fostering interest in obscure distilleries and cultivating the market for older single malts.

It was the runaway success of these older cask strength single malt whiskies from little-known distilleries that led to official bottlers getting on board with the creation of Diageo’s Rare Malts Selection in the mid 1990s. This series in turn spawned the annual Special Releases and fuelled the rapid growth of the prestige whisky phenomenon which has shaped the whisky market as we know it today, as well as leading to the revival of classic lost distilleries including Port Ellen, Rosebank and Brora.

Even if you’ve never bought a bottle of independently-bottled whisky, if you’re a whisky fan you have a lot to thank them for. We can’t know what the whisky world would look like if independent bottlers didn’t exist, but we can be sure that it wouldn't be as interesting as it is today. 

Independent Bottlers