Caperdonich 1996-2019 - 22 Year Old - Carn Mor - Celebration Of The Cask - Single Cask 53630

Built in 1897 as an extension of Glen Grant, Caperdonich distillery was initially named Glen Grant 2, but operated only until 1902 before being mothballed for 63 years. The distillery reopened in 1965, was soon renamed Caperdonich and ran under owners Chivas Brothers until 2002. Caperdonich was sold to the neighbouring Forsyth’s coppersmiths in 2010 and later demolished, though the stills survive at the new Falkirk distillery and Owl distillery in Belgium.

Caperdonich’s whisky was generally very slow-maturing, and was sadly underrated during the distillery’s lifetime. The only official bottling from this period was a rare 1970s 5-year-old for Italy, but Chivas have subsequently released some excellent small batch vintage whiskies, including some of the peated whisky Caperdonich made towards the end of its life. Long-aged indie Caperdonichs from the 1960s and 1970s are usually superb.

Càrn Mòr is a series of independent bottlings from Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers (MSWD), the family company run by Brian Morrison, the former chairman of Morrison Bowmore, and his son Jamie Morrison. The company also owns the Old Perth blended whisky brand and commenced distillation at their new Lowland distillery Aberargie in 2017.

The first Càrn Mòr whiskies were bottled in 2007/8 and the Morrisons keep up a prolific bottling schedule, with several hundred Càrn Mòr releases to date. As of 2023, Càrn Mòr have two main ranges, the Càrn Mòr Strictly Limited series of youngish small batch whiskies bottled at 47.5%, and the Càrn Mòr Celebration of the Cask series, the majority of which are much older single cask whiskies bottled at cask strength.