Caledonian 1965 Moon Import / The Last Fetish

Moon Import was founded by Pepi Mongiardino in 1980 and he bottled his first whisky in 1982. Always beautifully labelled, Pepi is acclaimed for designing the packaging for Moon Import bottles himself, often using images found in old books. These iconic designs, coupled with the quality of the liquid saw Moon Import steadily grow in popularity. The company is still going strong, and their early releases are some of the brightest gems in any whisky collection.

This is a single cask Caledonian, distilled in 1965 and bottled in 2011 from hogshead #4. This is part of the well-regarded The Last Fetish series, all of which feature artwork by long-time collaborator Nadia Pini. One of 208 bottles.

Caledonian is a lost grain distillery, built in Edinburgh by Graham Menzies & Co. It operated a single column still, once described by James Grant as the "greatest in Scotland," and later two pot stills which produced an Irish-style grain whisky. It became the seventh member of DCL in 1884. When DCL merged with Guinness in 1986 to form United Distillers, the company's enormous portfolio of distilleries required streamlining, and Caledonian was one of those that did not survive the cull, shut down for good in 1988. It has only twice been officially bottled as a single grain, once in its lifetime as a commemorative bottling for the 1986 Commonwealth games in its home city, and later under The Cally brand by Diageo. Thankfully, releases like this have appeared over the decades under independent labels.