Aberfeldy 1986-2001 - 14 Year Old - Signatory Vintage - Single Cask 3291

Aberfeldy distillery was built by the Dewar family in 1896 to supply Highland malt whisky for their White Label blend. The Dewars joined their business with Buchanan’s in 1915 and amalgamated with Diageo forerunners DCL in 1925. Aberfeldy was expanded to four stills in 1972 and today can produce almost 3.5m litres per annum. In 1998, in the wake of the merger that created Diageo, the Dewar’s business (which included the Aultmore, Craigellachie, Macduff and Royal Brackla distilleries as well as Aberfeldy) were sold to Bacardi to appease the Monopolies & Mergers Commission.

Aberfeldy’s importance to Dewar’s White Label meant that official bottlings were rare in the DCL/United Distillers era. The Flora & Fauna Aberfeldy 15-year-old that appeared in 1991 was the first and only regular United Distillers bottling from the distillery. Bacardi replaced this with Aberfeldy 12-year-old and, following a comprehensive relaunch in 2014, now release several older age statement Aberfeldy whiskies and regular limited editions. Independent Aberfeldy is easy to find and usually excellent quality.

Signatory Vintage Whisky Company was founded by Andrew Symington in 1988 after a spell as assistant manager at the Prestonfield House Hotel, where he had the opportunity to buy a cask of Glenlivet 1968. A robust and canny businessman, Symington had soon acquired some outstanding parcels of casks from great distilleries, and quickly established a reputation among single malt fans for good value, high quality single casks, the majority of which were released at full strength.

Throughout the 1990s and beyond, Signatory released outstanding whisky from Ardbeg, Glenfarclas, Springbank and many more, with frequently remarkable examples of lost or obscure distilleries. Soon established as one of the leading new wave independent bottlers, Symington was also an early exponent of bottling whiskies without colouring or chill filtration, a policy that has also served Signatory well at their Edradour distillery, which was purchased in 2002.