Strathmill 15 Year Old - Managers Dram 2003

The Strathmill distillery is one of Diageo's most obscure workhorses. Built in 1891, today it makes a modern-style Speyside spirit, with four stills producing around 2.5m litres per year, the overwhelming majority of which is destined for blenders - Strathmill is one of the key malts in the J&B blended whisky recipe.

Strathmill’s Centenary Decanter, a limited edition of just 100 bottles released in 1991, is believed to be the first bottling of the distillery’s single malt in living memory; the first independent bottlings appeared from Cadenhead’s and the SMWS in 1992.

Strathmill has enjoyed very few official distillery bottlings, with only the Flora and Fauna 12-year-old, a Managers' Choice bottling and one Special Release edition released this century. However, independent Strathmills show the spirit is technically very pure, fruity, clean and grassy - one of the exemplars of the lighter style of Speyside.

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.