Balblair 1991-2010 - 19 Year Old - A.D. Rattray - Cask Collection - Single Cask 1016

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.

A Dewar Rattray was originally founded as a spirits merchant and whisky blender by Andrew Dewar Rattray in 1868, and was acquired after his death by William Walker, whose daughter would go on to marry Stanley P. Morrison of Morrison Bowmore.  Their son Tim Morrison revived the A D Rattray company around the turn of the millennium, a few years after the Morrisons had sold Bowmore to Suntory.

A D Rattray are known for their Stronachie single malt, a sourced Benrinnes named after a famous defunct Highland distillery. Rattray has been independently bottling single malt Scotch whisky regularly since 2004, usually as individual casks bottled at full cask strength. The company also has a Cask Islay brand for anonymous Islay single malts bottled at 46%. In 2017 Tim Morrison founded the Clydeside distillery in Glasgow, which released its inaugural single malt in 2021.