Founded in the Orkney Islands in 1885 by John Townsend, a distiller from Speyside, the Scapa distillery is, alongside its neighbour Highland Park, the most northerly distillery in Scotland. The distillery was mothballed in 1994 by its then owner (Allied Distillers) and only a few distillations completed by the Highland Park team enabled Scapa to survive. It officially began production again in 2005, after it was bought by the French spirits giant Pernod Ricard.

A Scapa 12 Year Old bottled for the Caledonian Malts range by Allied Distillers, who owned the distillery at the time. The range was introduced in 1991 in response to the Classic Malts released by United Distillers in 1988. This version was eventually replaced by a Scapa 14 Year Old in 2004.