A Whisky Legacy: William Meikle

William Meikle, who sadly passed away earlier this year, was an accomplished distillery manager with a lifelong love for whisky. He boasted a spectacular career that spanned many decades with major roles as distillery manager at distilleries such as Coleburn, Caol Ila, Glendullan and Glen Ord. His whisky journey began through one of the earliest intakes of a new training program at Scottish Malt Distiller. He subsequently went on to work at Oban Distillery, followed by the now-lost St Magdalene in Linlithgow before becoming Distillery Manager at Coleburn. From overseeing the transformation of Coal Ila in the mid 1970’s, to opening an early visitor centre at Glen Ord, William's contributions to the industry were numerous. We explore them through bottles in our November 2024 auction... 

Caol Ila  

Caol Illa Distillery was founded in 1846 by Hector Henderson and has long been a powerhouse of the beloved whisky island, Islay. The distillery has a rich history of adaption, innovation and a propensity to survive challenging periods. Having changed hands many times, the 1930s saw the distillery acquired by the Scottish Malt Distillers Ltd (SMD), a subsidiary of Distillers Company Ltd (DCL) who would later evolve into today’s global drinks giant Diageo.  

During William’s tenure as distillery manager (1973-1979), the SMD decided to cease production and close the largely Victorian distillery to rebuild and modernise. From 1972 to 1974, the old distillery was demolished and replaced by the much larger buildings that we see today. Changes to the equipment were numerous, with the pot stills increasing from two to six as well as three wash stills, and three spirit stills being installed. William played an integral role in this modernisation, undoubtedly learning lots and lending his expertise along the way.  As a result of these changes, Caol Ila emerged as a major distillery well-equipped to look forward to the 21st century. It was well-placed to weather the challenging decades of the 1980s and 90s, when Caol Ila was selected to be one of Diageo’s few remaining distilleries producing peated whisky. 

William’s tenure at Caol Ila is also widely regarded as a period during which the Islay gem produced a number of especially highly renowned bottlings. A particularly sought-after example is the 1974 12 Year Old bottled by James MacArthur, with an impressive 96 points score on Serge Valentin’s Whisky Fun.  As well as this, we are thrilled to have The Caol Ila 1977 Cadenhead’s 16 Year Old Oddbins – Signed by William Meikle in our November auction. Oddbins have a fantastic record with 1960s and 70s Islay whisky, with their Bowmore bottlings highly sought-after.  

Caol Ila Distillery, Adobe Stock Image

Glen Ord 

In 1983 William moved to Glen Ord distillery, where he oversaw a spell of great change at the Highland distillery. While the Black Isle home of Glen Ord is perhaps not seen as a whisky hub today, it was once home to Ferintosh, Scotland’s 18th-century whisky distillery success story. Whisky makers in the region are conscious of that legacy, one that Glen Ord continues to live up to. During William’s years there, they released their first official single malt and developed a visitor centre, sharing their story further than ever before. 

Although it is doubtful that William would have expected it in the 1980s, whisky tourism is now a significant part of the industry and the wider Scottish tourism sector. From its humble, low-budget beginnings, his visitor centre has developed to showcase the distillery to thousands of visitors a year. Now christened The Singleton of Glen Ord Distillery, it was recently given the accolade of World’s Leading Whisky Distillery Tour 2024 at the World Travel Awards. 

In this month’s auction, we are delighted to present several bottles of Glen Ord, two of which featuring William’s signature: 

Glen Ord 1973 Rare Malts 23 Year Old 75cl / 59.8%: Distilled in 1973 and matured for 23 years, this Glen Ord was bottled as part of the Rare Malts Selection in September 1997. The Rare Malts Selection was a historic selection of single malt whiskies from operational and lost distilleries, released by Diageo between 1995 and 2005.  

Glen Ord 12 Year Old 1990s: A 1990s bottling of the long-serving 12 year old core-expression. It was repackaged into the square glass bottles as part of the Diageo Hidden Malts range in 2002, before being rebranded as part of The Singleton range in 2006.  

Legacy 

William retired from Glen Ord in 1995, leaving behind a remarkable career in Scotch Whisky. His legacy and passion for whisky excellence lives on in some of Caol Ila’s finest liquid ever produced and every visitor to The Singleton of Glen Ord. But like many with a passion for whisky, he wasn’t quite done yet. His expertise continued to influence the whisky world, as he lent insights and a helping hand to Finland’s Teerenpeli Distillery. One of the first in the now much-lauded Nordic whisky region, it shows how William continued to be a pioneer of whisky.  

At Whisky Auctioneer, we love to share stories of not only old and rare whisky but also the people and places behind them. We have been honoured to learn more about William’s life in whisky and share it further through this article and the bottles in our November 2024 auction.