Banff 1980-2000 - 20 Year Old - Signatory Vintage - Single Cask 634

Founded in 1824, Banff distillery relocated in 1863 to a new site which burned down in 1877. The distillery was rebuilt and operated until 1932, when the owners went bust. Banff was bought by Diageo forerunners DCL who kept the distillery closed until after WWII. Banff was hit by the Luftwaffe in 1941, destroying much maturing stock, and in 1959 the distillery was badly damaged again by an explosion in the stillhouse. Production resumed once more, but in 1983 DCL closed the distillery during the whisky lake crisis. The distillery buildings were destroyed by fire for the final time in 1991.

Banff’s very old school, astringent Highland whisky was prized by blenders but after the DCL takeover the only official bottling was a 1982 Rare Malts Edition Banff released in 2004, over twenty years after the distillery closed. However, in October 2021 an official bottling of Banff 15-year-old bottled between 1921-32 was found and auctioned by Whisky-Online, fetching £16,200. Independent Banff was easy to find in the 1990s and early Noughties, but has slowed to trickle and the last casks will soon be exhausted.

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.