Craigellachie 2008-2018 - 10 Year Old - The First Editions - Single Cask 14839

Craigellachie distillery was founded in 1890 by Sandy Brown and Peter Mackie and was absorbed into Diageo forerunner DCL in 1927. Craigellachie was expanded to four stills in 1964 but still uses worm tubs to condense its spirit. In 1998 Craigellachie was one of five distilleries sold to Bacardi along with the Dewar’s blend in order to gain the Monopolies & Mergers Commission’s blessing for the merger that created Diageo.

Craigellachie’s whisky was so important for the White Horse & Old Smuggler blends that DCL never bottled it as a single malt. DCL successors United Distillers released a 14-year-old Flora & Fauna bottling and a Rare Malts Edition in the 1990s shortly before the distillery was sold. After bottling a slightly lacklustre 14-year-old around the turn of the millennium, Bacardi/Dewar’s relaunched Craigellachie properly in 2014 to great acclaim. Independent Craigellachie used to be rather rare but is now abundant and generally excellent quality.

Hunter Laing was created in 2013 after founder Stewart Laing divided the assets of the Douglas Laing company with his brother Fred Laing Jr.  The new Hunter Laing company received the classic Old Malt Cask and Old & Rare Platinum Selection single malt ranges in the split from Douglas Laing, and Stewart’s sons Andrew and Scott Laing merged their Edition Spirits brand into the new company.

As well as the Old Malt Cask, Old & Rare and First Edition series, Hunter Laing now bottle several new ranges of single malt and grain whisky, including Distiller’s Art, Hepburn’s Choice and the Scarabus brand mystery Islay whisky. In 2017 Hunter Laing began construction of the Ardnahoe distillery on Islay, which produced its first spirit the following year.