Aberlour 1990-2009 - 19 Year Old - Signatory Vintage - Cask Strength Collection - Single Cask 101773

A much-loved Speyside distillery, Aberlour was founded in 1879 and was expanded to four stills in 1973, the year before the distillery’s parent company S. Campbell & Son was acquired by French drinks giants Pernod Ricard. Aberlour joined Chivas Brothers’ portfolio when Pernod bought Chivas in 2001, and in 2022 a major expansion plan was announced, with a new stillhouse that will double Aberlour’s capacity to just under 8m litres per year. 

Campbell & Son bottled official Aberlour single malts in the same chunky square bottle as their White Heather blend and these early bottlings from the 1960s and 1970s are still popular today, particularly those bottled at 50%. The acclaimed cask strength sherried Aberlour a’bunadh first appeared in the late 1990s and has been a mainstay of the range ever since. Independent Aberlour is occasionally bottled for the UK by Cadenhead’s, Douglas Laing and others.

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.