Caol Ila 1974 Signatory Vintage 27 Year Old / Whisky Magazine Editors' Choice - Bottle No.1

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. The Flora & Fauna release was well-regarded in the meantime, but it was independent releases like this that gave the best opportunity to sample this much-loved single malt.

This whisky was distilled on 27th December 1974 and aged in single cask #12622 before being bottled on 28th August 2002. Although it's not stated, the bottler of this whisky was Signatory Vintage on behalf of Whisky Magazine.

Signatory Vintage were established in 1988 by Andrew Symington and are one of Scotland's most prolific independent bottlers. Their offices and bottling facility are located next to Edradour distillery, which they have also owned since 2002.

The bottle has been signed by Whisky Magazine Editor, Marcin Miller, and the much-missed whisky writer Michael Jackson.

Bottle number 1 of only 225 bottles.