Ballindalloch 2016-2023 - 7 Year Old - Single Cask 47 - Inaugural Release - Distillery Exclusive

Ballindalloch distillery was built in 2012 by the Macpherson-Grant family in disused farm buildings adjacent to the golf course on the grounds of their Ballindalloch Castle estate. Ballindalloch is in Speyside, a few miles southwest on the A95 from Craigellachie distillery, which the family had a share in for several decades until the mid-1960s.

Ballindalloch is a traditional style small-scale farm distillery, with one pair of stills, wooden wormtubs and a capacity of just 100,000 litres per year. The spirit began flowing at Ballindalloch in 2014, with the first bottlings of the distillery’s single malt whisky appearing in 2023 to general acclaim. Please note that the whisky from the new Ballindalloch distillery should not be confused with the many undisclosed bottlings of Glenfarclas which have frequently used the name Ballindalloch in the past.

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.