Scotland, Speyside. Distillery operational. Owner: DiageoRanked “first class” by the main players in the Scotch whisky industry, Cardhu (aka Cardow) was, from the late 19th century, the leading malt of the famous Scottish dandy Johnnie Walker. Johnnie Walker & Sons bought the distillery in 1893. In response to the period of prosperity following WWII, Cardhu's production capacity was significantly increased and in the late 1960s, its owners, the Distillers Company Ltd (the future Diageo) launched an 8 year old version with a very marked sherry influence. This bottling was quickly replaced by a 12 year old version that would become the standard age statement for Cardhu, now matured in bourbon casks. In the mid-1980s, Cardhu completed its final metamorphosis and adopted its current small, square, stocky bottle. It was such a success that a major part of its production was quickly reserved for the bottling, threatening the balance on which the Johnnie Walker blend depended. The solution proposed was the release in the very early 2000s of Cardhu 12 Year Old Pure Malt (no longer a single malt). Arousing the ire of the Scotch Whisky Association, this version was phased out and has now become a collectable. Note that very few independent bottlings of Cardhu exist.

The first versions of Cardhu 12 Year Old were released in the 1960s. At the start of the new millennium, its Pure Malt version caused quite the controversy as it used the distillery’’s name on the label, despite being a blend of several malt whiskies rather than the single malt its name seemed to imply. Coming under heavy fire from critics, Diageo quickly discontinued the expression. Today’’s Cardhu 12 Year Old is a genuine single malt.