Bunnahabhain 1974-2012 - 37 Year Old - A.D. Rattray - Cask Collection - Single Cask 5673

Bunnahabhain was founded in 1881, the same year as the other traditionally unpeated Islay whisky, Bruichladdich. Bunnahabhain was owned by Highland Distillers for over a century; when Edrington took full control in 1999 the distillery was mothballed, and in 2003 Bunnahabhain was sold to Burn Stewart Distillers. Distell International bought Burn Stewart in 2013 after previous owners CL Financial went bust.

Highland Distillers bottled Bunnahabhain’s unpeated Islay malt whisky as a 12-year-old from the 1970s onwards. Burn Stewart added older expressions to the core range and now release many single casks and limited editions, some of which use peated Bunnahabhain, which has been produced since the late 1990s. In 2010 the bottling strength of Bunnahabhain’s whiskies was increased to 46.3% and colouring and chill filtration were discontinued; sales increased by 160% over the next ten years. Independent bottlings of both unpeated and peated Bunnahabhain are easy to find and generally high quality.

A Dewar Rattray was originally founded as a spirits merchant and whisky blender by Andrew Dewar Rattray in 1868, and was acquired after his death by William Walker, whose daughter would go on to marry Stanley P. Morrison of Morrison Bowmore.  Their son Tim Morrison revived the A D Rattray company around the turn of the millennium, a few years after the Morrisons had sold Bowmore to Suntory.

A D Rattray are known for their Stronachie single malt, a sourced Benrinnes named after a famous defunct Highland distillery. Rattray has been independently bottling single malt Scotch whisky regularly since 2004, usually as individual casks bottled at full cask strength. The company also has a Cask Islay brand for anonymous Islay single malts bottled at 46%. In 2017 Tim Morrison founded the Clydeside distillery in Glasgow, which released its inaugural single malt in 2021.