Glen Keith 22 Year Old - James MacArthur - Old Masters Miniature

Glen Keith is a large Speyside distillery that maintains an extremely low profile. The distillery was founded in 1957 by Seagram’s and was experimental from the start: triple distillation was practised until the 1980s, and Glen Keith also experimented with gas-fired direct heating, Saladin box maltings and distilling with peated water in the 1970s. Some of these experimental spirits were bottled later as Craigduff and Glenisla by Signatory Vintage.

The main business of Glen Keith, though, was always to supply high quality Speyside malt for Seagram’s blends, particularly 100 Pipers. Mothballed in 1999, Glen Keith remained silent until being revived in 2013 after extensive refurbishment by Pernod Ricard, who had taken over Seagram’s Chivas Brothers portfolio in 2001. At auction, independent bottlers are a safer bet than the generally mundane Seagram-era official bottlings, with some outstanding fruity, waxy vintages from the 1960s and 1970s highly sought after.

James MacArthur & Co Ltd was an independent bottler of single malt and grain whiskies founded in 1982 by the Winning family. The company kept an exceptionally low profile but its James MacArthur’s Old Masters and James MacArthur’s Fine Malts ranges, while unprolific, were always outstanding drams. James MacArthur’s whiskies were released at cask strength or 45-46% and were always from traditional bourbon or sherry casks. 

James MacArthur’s simple, utilitarian labels were light on detail, often with just a distillery name and age statement rather than any distillation or bottling dates. The company’s most legendary whiskies are a pair of 12-year-old Port Ellens and half a dozen Caol Ilas bottled in the 1980s, all of which are of extraordinary quality and have subsequently fetched enormous prices at auction. Sadly, with the Winnings long past retirement age, James MacArthur & Co was dissolved early in 2022.