Scotland, Western Highlands. Distillery operational. Owner: Diageo

Found in the centre of the town of the same name, Oban has developed a solid reputation since joining the Six Classic Malts range in 1988. Whilst its rise to glory has been less spectacular than that of Lagavulin and Talisker, it is no less legitimate, thanks to bottlings released under the Distillers Edition and Manager's Dram labels, and its vintage bottlings, including an outstanding Oban 32 Year Old 1969 and a 20 Year Old 1984. With a very modest production capacity (approx. 700,000 litres of spirit per year) compared to its colleagues - 1.2 to 2.3 million litres of spirit per year), Oban's owners take special care to ensure the sustainability its stocks.

An Oban 21 year old distilled in 1996 and bottled at cask strength in 2018, matured in refill European oak butts. 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.