Aberfeldy 1997-2016 - 19 Year Old - Cadenheads Black Label - Small Batch

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.

In 1842 George Duncan established a wine merchant and distillery agency business in Aberdeen. Duncan was joined in the early 1850s by his brother-in-law William Cadenhead, who took over the business after Duncan’s death in 1858, changing the company’s name to Wm. Cadenhead. When Cadenhead died in 1904 the company passed to his nephew Robert Duthie, who developed the spirits side of the business.

Duthie died suddenly in 1931, and employee Ann Oliver was put in charge of Cadenhead’s. Sadly, Oliver’s tenure ended in financial difficulty and on her retirement in 1972 the business was forced to sell its entire inventory. Cadenhead’s was acquired soon afterwards by J & A Mitchell, proprietors of Springbank distillery, who relocated the business to Campbeltown. Cadenhead’s has flourished under Mitchell’s stewardship, releasing many legendary single malt bottlings in the 1980s and 1990s and now has outlets in Edinburgh and London as well as Campbeltown.