Rosebank 1990-2008 - 18 Year Old - Murray McDavid - Mission Gold

The writing was on the wall for Rosebank in 1988 when owners United Distillers preferred the less accomplished but much more tourist-friendly Glenkinchie for their new Classic Malts series. Rosebank closed in 1993, after UD balked at a £2m upgrade to the distillery’s effluent treatment facility, and soon became a cult lost distillery - the Lowland equivalent of Brora or Port Ellen. Miraculously, Diageo are now restoring both Brora and Port Ellen, while Rosebank is being rebuilt under new owners Ian MacLeod Distillers and is expected to reopen in late 2022.

Today, new bottlings of old Rosebank are dwindling, and prices have increased dramatically over the last decade. Essential official bottlings of Rosebank include the glorious 1979 and 1981 Rare Malt Editions, and the splendid Special Releases from 2007, 2011 and 2014. Indie Rosebanks from the early 1990s vintages are generally excellent and usually more affordable at auction.

Independent whisky bottler Murray McDavid was founded by La Réserve wine merchants Simon Coughlin and Mark Reynier with Gordon Wright from Springbank in 1994. Murray McDavid quickly established themselves in the new wave of indie bottlers, with a string of great whiskies bottled without colouring or chill filtration at a minimum strength of 46%.

After a failed bid for Ardbeg in 1997, Murray McDavid bought Bruichladdich distillery in 2000 and swiftly transformed the rundown distillery’s fortunes, employing Jim McEwan as manager and embracing the wine finishing trend with gusto. In 2012 Murray McDavid & Bruichladdich were bought by Rémy Cointreau, who sold Murray McDavid to Aceo Ltd, another whisky broker and bottling company, the following year.