Carsebridge 1965-1994 - 28 Year Old - Signatory Vintage Miniature

Carsebridge was founded around the turn of the 19th century and operated initially as a Lowland malt whisky distillery until being converted to grain distillation in the 1850s. Carsebridge joined the fledgling grain whisky cartel Distillers Company Limited on its inauguration in 1877 and by the time of Alfred Barnard’s visit in 1886 was already producing around 6 million litres of grain spirit per annum. 

Carsebridge was damaged by a fire in 1902 but was rebuilt after the Great War, and the distillery was expanded in the 1950s and 1960s. Sadly, Carsebridge distillery was mothballed in the whisky crisis of 1983, with most of the buildings demolished in the 1990s. The first official bottling of Carsebridge was a 48-year-old in 2018’s Special Releases; independent Carsebridge is drying up but is usually great value and well worth trying if you can find it.

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.