Invergordon 1971-2007 - 35 Year Old - Bladnoch Forum - Single Cask 66663

The Invergordon distillery was founded in 1959 and commenced distillation in 1961. Parent company Invergordon Distillers had wider ambitions than just grain distillation and installed pot stills for their Ben Wyvis malt distillery on the Invergordon site in 1965. This was followed by the construction of Tamnavulin and the purchase of other malt distilleries including Bruichladdich, Tullibardine and Deanston. 

Ben Wyvis fell silent in 1977 (though the stills found a new lease of life later at Glengyle) and Invergordon Distillers itself changed hands soon afterwards, subsequently buying Glenallachie and Jura distilleries in the 1980s before a hostile takeover by Whyte & Mackay in 1993. Today, Whyte & Mackay is owned by Philippines company Emperador Inc and Invergordon makes around 35m litres of grain whisky annually for Whyte & Mackay’s blends.

The Bladnoch Forum was an online discussion group set up in 2001 by former distillery owner Raymond Armstrong for friends and fans of the Bladnoch distillery. Under the terms of his agreement with Diageo to recommence distillation Armstrong was allowed to produce only 100,000 litres of Bladnoch spirit per annum; with the Forum gaining traction among whisky fans, in 2005 Armstrong decided to start bottling and selling whiskies to his loyal members.

Over 100 single cask whiskies were released by Bladnoch Forum between 2005-2012, many of which were of outstanding quality. In the early 2000s Armstrong was quoted as saying that no whisky was worth more than £50, and the Bladnoch Forum bottlings were exceptional value for drinkers. The superb long-aged Invergordon grains and the fantastic 1980s vintages of Caol Ila and Port Ellen are still highly sought after at auction.