Ben Wyvis 1968-2000 - 31 Year Old - Signatory Vintage - Single Cask 685

Ben Wyvis was a short-lived single malt whisky distillery constructed in 1965 within the Invergordon grain distillery complex which had begun production four years earlier. Ben Wyvis made single malt exclusively for blends but sadly soon found itself surplus to requirements and was closed in 1976 after just 11 years of production. The site was dismantled and demolished the following year, but the stills were retained and later ended up at Glengyle distillery.

As you might expect from its brief history, Ben Wyvis is one of Scotland’s rarest single malts - only a dozen or so known releases exist and the last casks were bottled some 20 years ago. Whyte & Mackay bought Invergordon in the 1990s and released a handful of official bottlings of Ben Wyvis from the 1972 and 1975 vintages around the turn of the millennium, while Signatory Vintage bottled three excellent casks of the 1968 vintage around the same time.

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.