Braes Of Glenlivet 1979-1995 - 15 Year Old - Signatory Vintage - Single Cask 16040

Braeval, also known as Braes of Glenlivet, is a modern Speyside distillery founded in 1973 by Chivas Brothers. Pernod acquired Braeval as part Chivas Brothers during the breakup of parent company Seagram Distillers in 2001 and mothballed the distillery the following year, but recommenced production in 2008. Braeval distillery has two wash stills and four spirit stills which give it a capacity of over 4 million litres per year, almost the entirety of which goes into Chivas Brothers blends. 

Braeval’s first ever official bottling - a single cask 16-year-old available only at Chivas distilleries - was released in 2017, over 50 years into the distillery’s lifetime. Chivas bottled two more single casks as Braeval before reverting in 2019 to the Braes of Glenlivet name for a new core range of long-aged Braeval malts in the Secret Speyside Collection. Both the Braeval and Braes of Glenlivet names have been used by independent bottlers for many years.

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.