Aberfeldy 21 Year Old - Limited Release

Aberfeldy distillery was built by the Dewar family in 1896 to supply Highland malt whisky for their White Label blend. The Dewars joined their business with Buchanan’s in 1915 and amalgamated with Diageo forerunners DCL in 1925. Aberfeldy was expanded to four stills in 1972 and today can produce almost 3.5m litres per annum. In 1998, in the wake of the merger that created Diageo, the Dewar’s business (which included the Aultmore, Craigellachie, Macduff and Royal Brackla distilleries as well as Aberfeldy) were sold to Bacardi to appease the Monopolies & Mergers Commission.

Aberfeldy’s importance to Dewar’s White Label meant that official bottlings were rare in the DCL/United Distillers era. The Flora & Fauna Aberfeldy 15-year-old that appeared in 1991 was the first and only regular United Distillers bottling from the distillery. Bacardi replaced this with Aberfeldy 12-year-old and, following a comprehensive relaunch in 2014, now release several older age statement Aberfeldy whiskies and regular limited editions. Independent Aberfeldy is easy to find and usually excellent quality.

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.