North Port Brechin 1981-2018 - 36 Year Old - Signatory Vintage 30th Anniversary - Single Cask 1708

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.

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.