Benriach 1966-2001 - 35 Year Old - Signatory Vintage - Single Cask 1021

Benriach distillery was founded in 1897 but was closed in 1900 and remained in mothballs for over six decades. The distillery reopened in 1965 under owners Glenlivet, who were acquired by Canadian distillers Seagram in 1978. Seagram was dismantled in 2001, and Benriach was sold by new owners Pernod Ricard in 2004 to a consortium led by Billy Walker, who established the distillery as a top class single malt whisky brand before eventually selling it to Brown Forman in 2016.

Seagram’s neglectful tenure as stewards of Benriach yielded only a mundane 10-year-old official bottling; by contrast, the Walker era saw a flood of extraordinary single cask editions, with the 1976 vintage confirmed as one of the distillery’s greatest. Walker also popularised Benriach’s more heavily peated spirit, which had been produced since 1972. Top class 1960s and 1970s vintage Benriach whisky has been independently bottled by Gordon & MacPhail, Duncan Taylor and Signatory Vintage among others.

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.