Caledonian 1976-2011 - 34 Year Old - Dead Whisky Society - Single Cask 900015

The Caledonian grain whisky distillery was constructed in Edinburgh in 1855 by Menzies & Co. and joined the fledgling cartel Distillers Company Limited in 1884, by which time Caledonian was already producing around 9 million litres of spirit a year and was one of the largest distilleries in Scotland.

In the 20th century, Caledonian survived a Luftwaffe strike on its Haymarket warehouses in 1940 that resulted in a major fire, but closed soon after the notorious 1986 merger of DCL and Guinness that created United Distillers. Caledonian was shuttered in 1988, and the majority of the distillery’s buildings have since been converted into housing. Indie casks of Caledonian appeared regularly in the 2010s but are now uncommon.

Independent bottler Dead Whisky Society was founded by Scottish entrepreneur Laura Greig Conway in 2003. The company released only six whiskies in their short history, beginning in 2003 with a 1975 Dallas Dhu and ending with a Cambus 1983 and Caledonian 1976 that appeared in spring 2011. In between came a trio of Banff vintage casks released between 2006-2008. 

Nevertheless, Dead Whisky Society is known to most whisky fans thanks to the extraordinary quality of each of the six whiskies it released. The company’s concept was to bottle great whiskies from Scotland’s lost distilleries, and by that criterion they succeeded - the Banff 1971 and the two grain whiskies are recognised as some of the finest expressions from their respective distilleries ever bottled.