Cuvée presentation
A single cask of Caledonian distilled in 1987, aged in bourbon casks and bottled in 2016. Cadenhead was founded in Aberdeen in 1842 by George Duncan. William Cadenhead then joined the company and, when George Duncan died in 1858, took over and renamed the business after himself. William’s nephew Roberth Duthie developed the company in the early 20th century and it remained a family business until 1969. William Cadenhead Ltd was then sold to the Springbank distillery’s owner J. & A. Mitchell and Co. Hedley G. Wright, a direct descendent of Archibald and John Mitchell, became William Cadenhead Ltd’s CEO. In the past, Cadenhead had mainly sold its own brands, such as Putachieside, The Hielanman, Seven Stars and Green Label rums. Under Hedley G. Wright, the company began to take more of an interest in single malts. This led to the creation of the legendary collection of dumpy bottles in 1977. This series of single malts stood out for its very gentle filtration, lack of artificial colouring, and relatively high bottling strength for the time (80 proof/45.7% ABV). The labels included lots of information, including the month and year of distillation and bottling, and whether or not sherry casks were used. Also in 1977, the business moved to another address in Aberdeen, and finally to Campbeltown. In the 1980s, Cadenhead sold casks to legendary bottlers such as Samaroli and Corti Brothers through the subsidiary Duthie’s. Finally, two new whisky ranges were created in 1991 and 1992, the Original Collection bottled at 46% and the Authentic Collection bottled at cask strength. Other special series to mark Cadenhead’s major anniversaries (150 and 175 years), as well as new ranges launched since (Small Batch, World Whiskies, etc.), have all contributed to the company’s ongoing history up to the present day. A limited edition of 246 bottles.
The distillery Caledonian
Caledonian was a grain distillery built in Edinburgh in 1855 by Graham Menzies & Co. At the time, it was the largest distillery in operation and one of many grain distilleries to open during the period. This boom led to an overproduction crisis, in response to which six distilleries decided to divide up the market between them, with the largest share going to Caledonian. It operated just one large column still and, between 1867 and 1900, stills for producing an “Irish-style” grain whisky for blenders. In 1884, the distillery was one of the founding members of Distillers Company Limited (DCL), with Graham Menzies’ son William becoming its second director in 1897. Caledonian was transferred to Scottish Grain Distillers in 1966 but ultimately closed in 1988, a few years after DCL merged with Guinness to form United Distillers, consolidating their portfolios in the process. With the exception of a handful of rare official bottlings, Caledonian is most commonly found among independent bottlers.
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