End Date : Jun 25 2025 08:00 PM
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Royal Lochnagar is the smallest and one of the prettiest distilleries in Diageo's stable. Lochnagar acquired its Royal Warrant from Prince Albert in 1848 after he and Queen Victoria accepted an invitation from the distillery’s canny owner John Begg to visit the distillery, which is a stone’s throw from Balmoral.
Royal Lochnagar’s distillery capacity is just 500,000 litres and the make is an important part of both Johnnie Walker Blue Label and the Windsor blended whisky, a prominent brand in Asia. Official bottlings of Royal Lochnagar as a single malt are therefore limited to the standard 12-year-old, occasional Special Release editions and the popular Selected Reserve bottling, which first appeared in the late 1980s - at which time it was the most expensive single malt whisky in Diageo forerunner Scottish Malt Distillers’ portfolio. Indie bottlings of Lochnagar are scarce but well worth seeking out.

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.
BID | DATE | TIME | |
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£72.50 | 25th June 2025 | 10:27 AM | |
