Dalwhinnie 15 Year Old - Late 1980s

Dalwhinnie distillery was established in 1898 and became part of Diageo forerunner DCL in 1926. The distillery was catapulted to fame in 1987 as the Speyside representative in the Classic Malts range launched by DCL’s descendant United Distillers to highlight whisky’s regional diversity. Dalwhinnie is often incorrectly cited as Scotland’s highest distillery - that honour belongs to Braeval, whose altitude is 9ft higher. 

Unusually for the Classic Malts, the dumpy-bottled Dalwhinnie 15-year-old was already a pre-existing single malt from DCL subsidiary James Buchanan and was absorbed into the Classic Malts with its strength bumped to 43%. After a popular cask strength Centenary Edition 15-year-old from 1998, Dalwhinnie became a regular in Diageo’s Special Releases, with several appearances since 2002. These have fared better than the uninspiring Winter’s Gold and Game of Thrones NAS releases. Independent bottlings of Dalwhinnie whisky are virtually non-existent.

Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.

This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.