Auchentoshan 1981 - 15 Year Old - First Cask - Single Cask 1158

Founded on the western outskirts of Glasgow in 1823, Auchentoshan became part of Morrison Bowmore in 1984 shortly before the company was taken over by Japanese distilling giant Suntory. Auchentoshan was for a while one of only two surviving Lowland distilleries after Rosebank and Bladnoch closed in 1993. Auchentoshan has three stills and practices triple distillation in the classic Lowland style, making a light, easy-drinking whisky so popular that all of its production is bottled as single malt.

Former owners Eadie Cairns bottled both vintage and age statement Auchentoshans in the 1970s and 1980s prior to the distillery’s acquisition by Morrison Bowmore, who added a 21-year-old and the enormously popular Three Wood to the range and released dozens of superb long-aged vintage casks going back to the 1950s. Independent Auchentoshan is easy to find.

The First Cask range was a prolific series of single malt whisky bottlings by the UK’s largest mail order wine company Direct Wines Ltd, owner of Laithwaite’s and The Sunday Times Wine Club. From the early 1990s until the mid-Noughties Direct Wines released dozens of outstanding single cask whiskies annually under the First Cask label, almost all of which were bottled at 46%.

These whiskies were not particularly highly sought-after on release, probably because they were only sold online through a wine club.  Back then, of course, it was not widely known that the casks had been sourced from Signatory Vintage, which would certainly have raised their profile among whisky fans. Nowadays, although still frequently excellent value at auction, the First Cask collection - which includes hundreds of long-aged whiskies from distilleries including Brora, Port Ellen, Ardbeg and Macallan - is finally getting the recognition it deserves.