Jura 1986-2016 - 30 Year Old - Cadenheads Gold Label - Single Cask

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.

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.