Glenlossie 12 Year Old - Managers Dram 2004

One of Scotland’s more obscure distilleries, Glenlossie is part of Diageo’s stable of workhorse Speysiders. Founded in 1876, Glenlossie joined Diageo forerunner DCL’s portfolio in 1919 and now has six stills and a theoretical production capacity of just under 4 million litres per year. The Mannochmore distillery was built adjacent to Glenlossie in 1971.

Glenlossie’s crucial importance to the Haig and Dimple blended Scotch whisky brands has meant that the distillery has never been deemed worth marketing as a single malt in its own right, with the only regular distillery bottling being the Flora & Fauna 10-year-old first released in 1991. Independent bottlings of Glenlossie are relatively common, with recent highlights including 1975 vintage bottlings from The Whisky Agency, Cadenhead’s and Gordon & MacPhail and 1997 casks by Signatory Vintage, Jack Weiber and The Maltman among others.

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.