Glendullan 1973-1997 - 23 Year Old - Rare Malts 58.6%

A large Speyside workhorse distillery in Diageo’s portfolio, Glendullan was founded in 1897 and expanded with the construction of a second distillery onsite in 1972. Both Glendullan distilleries were in operation until 1985, when the original Glendullan was closed.

Prior to Glendullan’s coronation as the US representative of The Singleton family in 2007, official bottlings were quite rare. Glendullan was bottled as a 12-year-old by DCL subsidiary Macdonald Greenless from the 1970s onwards, with both 43% and 47% versions in existence, but these were replaced by the 43% Flora & Fauna 12-year-old in 1991. 

At auction, the 1970s vintage Glendullans bottled for the Rare Malts series are well worth checking out, as are the Glendullan Centenary bottling from 1998 and the famous sherried Glendullan 18-year-old Manager’s Dram released in 1989. Some superb 1960s vintage Glendullans have been independently bottled by Cadenhead’s and Douglas Laing.

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.