Sutherland 2000-2021 - Berry Bros & Rudd - Single Cask 1423

One of the Highland’s most iconic whisky distilleries, the modern Clynelish distillery dates from 1967, and ran alongside the original distillery (now known as Brora) between 1969-1983. The new Clynelish has six stills and a capacity of just under 5m litres per annum, much of which goes to owner Diageo’s blended whiskies, particularly Johnnie Walker.

Any Clynelish whiskies pre-dating the 1970s are from the distillery now known as Brora, as are most if not all of the old Ainslie & Heilbron official 12-year-olds that continued into the early 1980s. In the mid-1990s modern Clynelish was confirmed as a great whisky distillery in its own right when several outstanding 1970s vintage Rare Malts and the Cask Strength Flora & Fauna 1980 appeared.

Independent bottlings of Clynelish are very common and some incredible whiskies, particularly from the mid-1990s vintages, have been released in recent years.

Founded in 1698, Berry Bros. & Rudd is the UK’s oldest wine and spirit merchant, with their iconic premises in St. James’ Street in London an institution in the drinks trade. Berry Brothers were among the first English merchants to bottle bespoke whiskies for sale in the 19th century and in 1923 they launched the Cutty Sark blended whisky which went on to great success in the United States in the post-Prohibition era.

Berry Bros continued to bottle single malt whiskies after WWII, with notable examples from Longmorn, Macallan, Glen Grant and Laphroaig (among others) occasionally cropping up at auction today. Since the late 1990s the company has expanded its spirits operations, briefly owned the rights to the Glenrothes single malt brand after selling Cutty Sark in 2010, and now have an adventurous range of expertly-selected single malts, blended malt whisky and rums.