Located in the Northern Highlands a few miles from Glenmorangie, Balblair’s whisky is old-school coastal Highland style. The original Balblair distillery was founded in 1790 but production was moved in 1872 to a new distillery which was subsequently rebuilt in 1894 and then mothballed from 1911-1949. Balblair was acquired by Hiram Walker in 1970, became part of Allied Distillers in 1988 and was finally sold to Inver House Distillers in 1996. Inver House have been owned by Thai Beverages plc since 2006.
Sporadic official bottlings of Balblair occurred prior to the Inver House takeover, and Gordon & MacPhail also bottled Balblair semi-officially under licence for many years. Inver House issued a memorable 33-year-old Balblair in 2000 before launching a popular vintage range in 2007. The core range reverted to age statement releases in 2019. Most of the classic indie Balblairs are from Gordon & MacPhail, with notable releases also from bottlers including the SMWS, Adelphi and Douglas Laing.
Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.
This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.
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