Scotland, Isle of Arran. Distillery operational. Owner: Isle of Arran Distillers Ltd. Independent distillery

On 11 November 1991, Isle of Arran joined the very small circle of independent Scottish distilleries. Founded at the initiative of Harold Currie, former director of Chivas and House of Campbell, the distillery began producing whisky at the end of June 1995, drawing to a close a 150-year absence of whisky production on the island. In late 1998, the distillery released the first edition of its malt in a limited edition (1,000 bottles worldwide), the cask strength Arran 1995 (60.3%). In 1999, the classic version at 43% ABV, was released in a limited number of markets. It would not be until 2002 that the first single casks were released, from vintages 1995 and 1997, revealing the distillery owners' bold and determined character and willingness to experiment with all types of maturation, from port to calvados, cognac and rum. In 2019, Isle of Arran celebrated its double figures with the release of an Arran 18 Year Old and and an Arran 21 Year Old.

An Arran 22 year old distilled in 1996 and bottled in 2019, matured in bourbon hogsheads. Cadenhead 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. Launched in the 1990s, the Authentic Collection marked the end of the previous two decades of bottlings at 46%, instead favouring cask strength releases. It became Cadenhead’’s main range. A limited edition of 276 bottles.