North Port 1979-1999 - 20 Year Old - Rare Malts 61.2%

One of the less well-known casualties of the 1983 round of DCL distillery closures, North Port distillery (sometimes known as Brechin) has now been largely forgotten. Only half a dozen or so North Ports have appeared from independent bottlers in the last decade and, unless Diageo are planning a 40-year-old, it seems likely that the last cask has been bottled. The distillery itself was demolished in 1994 and replaced by a supermarket.

North Port ploughed away for decades as a blend-fodder workhorse but was never officially bottled in its working lifetime. The distillery’s profile was raised briefly by some outstanding mid-1990s Rare Malt bottlings and a 2005 Special Release; subsequently, with little stock available for independent bottlers, the North Port distillery returned to obscurity. A high quality old style Highland single malt whisky, well worth seeking out while bottles can still be found.

Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.

This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.