The Inverleven distillery was part of the Dumbarton complex near Glasgow, in the Lowlands of Scotland, built by Hiram Walker in 1938 to produce grain whisky (Dumbarton) and malt whisky (Inverleven) for its flasghip blend Ballantine’‘s, of George Ballantine & Sons, which it bought in 1936. The distillery was equipped with two copper pot stills and a Lomond still installed in 1956—which was classed as a separate distillery named Lomond. Lomond ceased production in 1985 and Inverleven followed suit in 1991, before the entire Dumbarton complex was closed in 2002 and then demolished. Primarily used for blends, Inverleven is a rare whisky found only in a few independent bottlings and in the Deoch an Doras range from Chivas Brothers. The Lomond still was moved to Islay to the Bruichladdich distillery in 2005, where it is now used to the produced the gin The Botanist. The other stills live on in Mark Reynier’‘s new Waterford distillery in Ireland.

An Inverleven distilled in 1969 and bottled in 1995 at cask strength by Cadenhead after 26 years of maturation. A cask strength version of the Original Collection, Cadenhead’’s Authentic Collection was launched in 1991 and features bottlings of many closed distilleries from Ireland and Scotland. The company was founded in 1842 by George Duncan, who was quickly joined by William Cadenhead who renamed the business after Duncan’’s death in 1858. When Cadenhead in turn passed away in 1904, his nephew Robert Duthie took over and turned the business into the independent bottler it is today. After Duthie, it was managed by one of his employees, Ann Olivier, whose stubborn approach to running the business led to much of the stock having to be sold at auction by Christie’’s (London) in 1972 to feed the kitty and save the business. It was then sold to J. & A. Mitchell and Co, who also owned Springbank, and moved to Campbeltown.