Strathmill 1977 - 27 Year Old - First Cask - Single Cask 4471

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.

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.