Isle Of Jura 1966-1996 - 30 Year Old - Signatory Vintage - Cask 1868-69 - Miniature

The Jura distillery was originally built on the island of the same name in 1810, but closed between 1901 and 1963, when distillation recommenced after a rebuild by new owners Charles Mackinlay & Co. Invergordon bought Mackinlay & Co. in 1985 and were then themselves acquired by Whyte & Mackay in 1993. After some spectacular twists and turns, Whyte & Mackay is today owned by Emperador, a subsidiary of the Philippines-based Alliance Global. 

Jura’s single malt whisky has been officially released in the familiar oval bottle since the early 1970s. Official bottlings were historically always bottled as Isle of Jura but today are sometimes labelled simply as Jura. Often dismissed as a little too mainstream, Jura surprised many whisky fans with some acclaimed cask strength peated whiskies in the early years of this century. At auction independent bottlings of 1960s vintage Juras by Cadenhead’s, Samaroli and Signatory are highly sought after.

Signatory Vintage Whisky Company was founded by Andrew Symington in 1988 after a spell as assistant manager at the Prestonfield House Hotel, where he had the opportunity to buy a cask of Glenlivet 1968. A robust and canny businessman, Symington had soon acquired some outstanding parcels of casks from great distilleries, and quickly established a reputation among single malt fans for good value, high quality single casks, the majority of which were released at full strength.

Throughout the 1990s and beyond, Signatory released outstanding whisky from Ardbeg, Glenfarclas, Springbank and many more, with frequently remarkable examples of lost or obscure distilleries. Soon established as one of the leading new wave independent bottlers, Symington was also an early exponent of bottling whiskies without colouring or chill filtration, a policy that has also served Signatory well at their Edradour distillery, which was purchased in 2002.