Linlithgow (Lowlands) was at one time home to five distilleries, including St Magdalene, which was built in the mid-18th century by Sebastian Henderson. It was bought by Adam Dawson in 1798. In 1912, as the family business A&J Dawson struggled to keep up with the competition and the market’‘s decline, it was liquidated and St Magdalene sold to Distillers Company Limited, which, two years later, joined Scottish Malt Distillers, alongside Rosebank. Like so many other distilleries, it closed in 1983, at the height of the Whisky Loch overproduction crisis that hit the industry in the 1980s. Bottlings of St Magdalene are not easy to come by and are found in Diageo’‘s Special Release and Rare Malts selections, as well as from independent bottlers, often under the name Linlithgow.

A Linlithgow (St Magdalene) 30 year old distilled in 1973 and bottled at cask strength in 2004. This bottling is part of Diageo’’s Special Releases, a range released annually that highlights some of the finest whiskies of the group’’s open and closed distilleries. A limited edition of 1,500 bottles.