Glenlossie 1975-2017 - 42 Year Old - Cadenheads Gold Label - Single Cask

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.

In 1842 George Duncan established a wine merchant and distillery agency business in Aberdeen. Duncan was joined in the early 1850s by his brother-in-law William Cadenhead, who took over the business after Duncan’s death in 1858, changing the company’s name to Wm. Cadenhead. When Cadenhead died in 1904 the company passed to his nephew Robert Duthie, who developed the spirits side of the business.

Duthie died suddenly in 1931, and employee Ann Oliver was put in charge of Cadenhead’s. Sadly, Oliver’s tenure ended in financial difficulty and on her retirement in 1972 the business was forced to sell its entire inventory. Cadenhead’s was acquired soon afterwards by J & A Mitchell, proprietors of Springbank distillery, who relocated the business to Campbeltown. Cadenhead’s has flourished under Mitchell’s stewardship, releasing many legendary single malt bottlings in the 1980s and 1990s and now has outlets in Edinburgh and London as well as Campbeltown.