North Port Brechin 1976 - 24 Year Old - First Cask - Single Cask 3904

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.

The First Cask range was a prolific series of single malt whisky bottlings by the UK’s largest mail order wine company Direct Wines Ltd, owner of Laithwaite’s and The Sunday Times Wine Club. From the early 1990s until the mid-Noughties Direct Wines released dozens of outstanding single cask whiskies annually under the First Cask label, almost all of which were bottled at 46%.

These whiskies were not particularly highly sought-after on release, probably because they were only sold online through a wine club.  Back then, of course, it was not widely known that the casks had been sourced from Signatory Vintage, which would certainly have raised their profile among whisky fans. Nowadays, although still frequently excellent value at auction, the First Cask collection - which includes hundreds of long-aged whiskies from distilleries including Brora, Port Ellen, Ardbeg and Macallan - is finally getting the recognition it deserves.