Glen Deveron 12 Year Old - 1980s

Built in 1962, Macduff is a relatively large, though quiet, Highland distillery that spends its days making high quality single malt spirit for owner Bacardi’s blended whisky portfolio. Perhaps due to the Macduff name’s similarity to Miltonduff, official bottlings of Macduff’s whisky appeared as Glen Deveron until 2015, when a new range was launched as The Deveron.

Stylistically, Macduff is closer to its near neighbours on Speyside than the classic Highland style, with a clean, technically pure, malty, sweet, fruity style. At auction, 1960s vintages by Douglas Laing and Duncan Taylor are the most highly sought after, with the best value probably the 1970s vintages by First Cask and 1990s vintages bottled by Signatory and Ian MacLeod.

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.