Caperdonich 1996-2017 - 20 Year Old - Cadenheads - Cask Strength

Built in 1897 as an extension of Glen Grant, Caperdonich distillery was initially named Glen Grant 2, but operated only until 1902 before being mothballed for 63 years. The distillery reopened in 1965, was soon renamed Caperdonich and ran under owners Chivas Brothers until 2002. Caperdonich was sold to the neighbouring Forsyth’s coppersmiths in 2010 and later demolished, though the stills survive at the new Falkirk distillery and Owl distillery in Belgium.

Caperdonich’s whisky was generally very slow-maturing, and was sadly underrated during the distillery’s lifetime. The only official bottling from this period was a rare 1970s 5-year-old for Italy, but Chivas have subsequently released some excellent small batch vintage whiskies, including some of the peated whisky Caperdonich made towards the end of its life. Long-aged indie Caperdonichs from the 1960s and 1970s are usually superb.

In 1842 George Duncan established a wine merchant and distillery agency business in Aberdeen. Duncan was joined in the early 1850s by his brother-in-law William Cadenhead, who took over the business after Duncan’s death in 1858, changing the company’s name to Wm. Cadenhead. When Cadenhead died in 1904 the company passed to his nephew Robert Duthie, who developed the spirits side of the business.

Duthie died suddenly in 1931, and employee Ann Oliver was put in charge of Cadenhead’s. Sadly, Oliver’s tenure ended in financial difficulty and on her retirement in 1972 the business was forced to sell its entire inventory. Cadenhead’s was acquired soon afterwards by J & A Mitchell, proprietors of Springbank distillery, who relocated the business to Campbeltown. Cadenhead’s has flourished under Mitchell’s stewardship, releasing many legendary single malt bottlings in the 1980s and 1990s and now has outlets in Edinburgh and London as well as Campbeltown.