Caol Ila 12 Year Old Bulloch Lade 1970s

Caol Ila distillery was built in 1846 by Hector Henderson, who was bought out from the venture a little over 10 year later by Bulloch Lade. The blending firm merged with DCL (now Diageo) in 1927, who still run the distillery today. In 1972 the original site was demolished and replaced by a new one. When distilling resumed in 1974, Caol Ila was the largest producer of single malt on the Isle of Islay. Despite this, due to its importance in popular blends such as Johnnie Walker, its single malt brand disappeared under United Distillers, and it was not until 2002 that it would return, when the 12 year old was revived by Diageo. 

As was often the case with the distilleries in the DCL portfolio, Caol Ila was licensed back to the blending firm from which they had acquired it. This 12 year old was introduced by Bulloch Lade, and bottled into the 1980s. When DCL were succeeded by United Distillers, one of the new company's first orders of business was to regain control of the distribution of these single malts, taking the licenses back from the blending houses. Caol Ila single malt was not bottled again until 1991 when it became part of the Flora & Fauna range, and it would not be until 2002 that it was bottled with its own unique brand again.