Blair Athol 1976 - 26 Year Old - First Cask - Single Cask 7603

Originally founded in 1798 as Aldour, Blair Athol was taken over by Arthur Bell & Sons in 1933 and has been a keystone malt for the Bell’s blend ever since. In 1985 Bell’s was bought by Guinness, with Blair Athol later becoming part of United Distillers and then Diageo in subsequent mergers. 

Blair Athol’s importance to Bell’s and other blends has resulted in limited official bottlings. Arthur Bell & Sons released Blair Athol as an 8-year-old and occasionally a 12-year-old from the late 1960s onwards; these were replaced in the late 1980s by a well-regarded sherried 12-year-old Flora & Fauna edition that has been the only ongoing bottling over the last few decades. Occasional one-off Blair Athols have been bottled for the Rare Malts, Manager’s Dram, Special Releases and the distillery’s Bicentenary. Independent Blair Athol is abundant.

The First Cask range was a prolific series of single malt whisky bottlings by the UK’s largest mail order wine company Direct Wines Ltd, owner of Laithwaite’s and The Sunday Times Wine Club. From the early 1990s until the mid-Noughties Direct Wines released dozens of outstanding single cask whiskies annually under the First Cask label, almost all of which were bottled at 46%.

These whiskies were not particularly highly sought-after on release, probably because they were only sold online through a wine club.  Back then, of course, it was not widely known that the casks had been sourced from Signatory Vintage, which would certainly have raised their profile among whisky fans. Nowadays, although still frequently excellent value at auction, the First Cask collection - which includes hundreds of long-aged whiskies from distilleries including Brora, Port Ellen, Ardbeg and Macallan - is finally getting the recognition it deserves.