Whiskies from the 1980's

After 33 years of maturation in refill ex-bourbon hogshead cask, Adelphi have bottled this whisky at the peak of its maturation, with an expressive aroma and flavour of rich tropical fruit character, spices from the bazaar and exotic woods. Papaya, ripe mango and candied grapefruit notes give a feeling of livelyness uncommon of a whisky of this age. The shades of fruit and spices are carried on a richly mouth-coating texture, lingering flinty and mineralic. Adelphi's selection from the Mortlach distillery are legendary - this example is one of many reasons why.

Over the years, Adelphi's selection of single grain whiskies such as this one from North British have been exceptional. Matured in an refill ex-bourbon barrel for 36 years, this is a highly aromatic and perfumed example of the style - creaming soda, sponge fingers and coconut macaroons leap out of the glass. With nutty notes of biscotti and Frangelico, it turns towards a sweet and intense flavour of pineapple, vanilla ice cream and limoncello. Bright, delicate and vividly evocative.

This 21 year old Lagavulin was originally released in 2007, and since that time it has become something of a legend. Matured in first-fill sherry casks, this is amongst the darkest Lagavulins ever released, offering a whisky that strikes a careful balance between the sherry and classic lagavulin peat smoke. This is now a staggeringly difficult whisky to source, and ranks as one of the most legendary Lagavulin bottlings of the last few decades.

Laid down in 1989, this is a very rare example of an independent bottling from the iconic Springbank distillery. Produced from a single refill ex-Oloroso sherry butt, filled on 10/03/1989 cask 14/03/1 sat untouched for 35 years before being selected by Andrew Symington, owner and renowned 'nose' of Signatory Vintage.

This is among the rarest expressions we have had from Signatory, and one of only a tiny handful of independent whiskies produced at Springbank, with 345 bottles produced worldwide, just two of these made their way to New Zealand.

Inverleven was the name of a 'distillery within a distillery' at the grain producer Dumbarton, situated just north east of Glasgow. The malt whisky by this name was produced in pot stills, but with no official release, its use was primarily relegated to blends, resulting in scant few casks available since its closure in 1991. Matured for 32 years in a single refill bourbon barrels yielding just 91 bottles, it has produced a whisky of dark honey and seville orange peel flavours, with dried banana and toast almond flaouvrs. A unique note of crystallised violets lingers gently in the finish.