Bruichladdich 10 Year Old Cask Strength 1980s / Moon Import

Moon Import was founded by Pepi Mongiardino in 1980. Heeding the advice of the late, great, Silvano Samaroli, he opted to be "free from the big companies," and became the official distributor for Islay's Bruichladdich, and later Tamnavulin and Tullibardine, preferring however to procure casks from private owners. Mongiardino bottled his first whisky in 1982, titled the Half Moon series. 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, and with the help of Intertrade founder, Nadi Fiori, they exported their first bottles to Japan in 2001. Moon Import now occupies an important place in the pantheon of historic whisky greats, and we are delighted to bring this unrivalled collection to market in this exclusive auction.

This was officially bottled, exclusively for Mongiardino. He became the Bruichladdich distributor in the early 1980s, and imported their whisky for 5 years before selling the contract to Rinaldi.

Like its island neighbour Bunnahabhain distillery, Bruichladdich has traditionally been an un-peated single malt, mostly owing to its requirements by the blenders who owned it. The last of these was Whyte & Mackay, who eventually shut it down in 1995, deeming it surplus to requirements. They sold the distillery to Murray McDavid in 2001, who launched the peated Port Charlotte and heavily-peated Octomore single malts in 2006 and 2008. A recommissioned Lomond still also now produces the popular Botanist gin there.