Glenrothes 1996-2018 - 22 Year Old - Cadenheads Whisky Market Cologne - Single Cask

The whisky entrepreneur George Christie, who built the now-defunct North of Scotland grain distillery in 1957, commissioned the construction of a new single malt whisky distillery in Speyside in 1962. Beset by delays, the distillery was completed in 1987, the year after Christie had sold the company, and the new Speyside distillery finally began producing spirit in 1990.

Early bottlings of Speyside’s whisky, such as Drumguish, were not met with great success in the UK, but the distillery subsequently found its niche producing the Spey Malt and several proprietary blends for Asian markets. After being bought in 2000 by a consortium including George Christie’s son Ricky, Speyside changed hands again in 2012 when it was taken over by Harvey’s of Edinburgh.

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.