Teaninich 1983-2009 - 25 Year Old - Signatory Vintage - Cask Strength Collection - Single Cask 8073

Teaninich is one of Diageo’s more interesting workhorse distilleries. The distillery was almost unknown before a handful of epic early 1970s vintages were bottled for the Rare Malts series, after which Teaninich slid back into obscurity.  As far as official bottlings go, since 2000 only the worthy Flora & Fauna 10-year-old, one Managers’ Choice and one Special Release bottling have appeared, the latter a highly-rated but horribly overpriced 17-year-old from the 1999 vintage.

Teaninich’s ultra-pure, austere, grassy spirit is well-suited to long ageing but casks of old Teaninich are still very rare on the market today: despite a recent increase in the number of indie bottlings from the distillery, most are under 15 years old. Indie Teaninichs bottled in the early years of this century were often 20-30 years old or even older and are worth seeking out at auction for fans of the uncompromising old school Highland style.

Signatory Vintage Whisky Company was founded by Andrew Symington in 1988 after a spell as assistant manager at the Prestonfield House Hotel, where he had the opportunity to buy a cask of Glenlivet 1968. A robust and canny businessman, Symington had soon acquired some outstanding parcels of casks from great distilleries, and quickly established a reputation among single malt fans for good value, high quality single casks, the majority of which were released at full strength.

Throughout the 1990s and beyond, Signatory released outstanding whisky from Ardbeg, Glenfarclas, Springbank and many more, with frequently remarkable examples of lost or obscure distilleries. Soon established as one of the leading new wave independent bottlers, Symington was also an early exponent of bottling whiskies without colouring or chill filtration, a policy that has also served Signatory well at their Edradour distillery, which was purchased in 2002.