Back in 1993, United Distillers struggled to know what to do with the more mature casks of single malt whiskies in its inventory. Some were from closed distilleries and all were remnants of the infamous ‘Whisky Loch’, the excess stock of the 1980s caused by over production in the 1970s and a reduced demand for whisky during an economic downturn. The quality of these whiskies was variable, but at the same time it seemed a shame to blend away 20+ year old whiskies, particularly from distilleries such as Port Ellen and Brora.
That’s when the idea for the Rare Malts Selection began to emerge. Mike Collings, who had launched the Classic Malts of Scotland in 1988, was inspired by the SMWS model of bottling single casks from different distilleries under a single branding. Something like this would be perfect for specialist whisky shops. These shops had helped establish the Classic Malts, but were already seeing distribution of those whiskies diffused into multiple retailers.
Master blender Maureen Robinson was responsible for tasting the cask samples and cask selection. Whisky writer Michael Jackson and his acolyte Owen Barstow wrote all the tasting notes, with Jackson giving advice on bottlings too. Gerry Barney of Sedley Place designed the labels, the same man who had designed the British Rail logo in 1964. By 1996, Lucy Pritchard and Dr. Nicholas Morgan were working on marketing malt whisky.
In 1995 the first batch of bottlings was released, each selling for an eyebrow raising £37. At the time no one appreciated their value, which would only be seen decades later.
The challenges of bottling on such a small scale were huge for a company geared to producing cases of blended Scotch whisky by the millions. United Distillers already had over six million casks of whisky maturing, and the casks the team wanted to bottle were spread, seemingly at random, all over Scotland. We are told that drawing cask samples was ‘a nightmare’.
It was often difficult to know what casks would be available until the last minute, but there was a selection criteria for each batch. In principal there should be two bottlings from closed distilleries as well as two from open distilleries. Each whisky should be at least 20 Years Old, no consecutive bottlings from the same distillery, and no bottlings of the same vintage from a single distillery within two years.
Casks of whisky from the six Classic Malts distilleries (Dalwhinnie, Talisker, Cragganmore, Oban, Lagavulin and Glenkinchie) were never available for the Rare Malts Selection. Nor was Cardhu at the start. Distilleries such as Caol Ila, Glen Ord and Clynelish that were available at the start of the project became so popular in their own right that they were also off the Rare Malts list by the end.
There were never more than 1000 cases (of 6 bottles) of each bottling of Rare Malts. The majority of those went to the main market, the UK, and most went to the Oddbins retail chain. Much of the rest went to Denmark, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Austria, China… and a small number of cases went to South Africa. At first the Rare Malts were bottled in 20cl sets for Duty Free shops as well as 70cl and 75cl bottles.
The Rare Malts Selection was finally killed off after a decade, with the final release in 2005. By then it had become harder to maintain the variety of whiskies, and it was difficult to move the price of Rare Malts beyond £70. Even in the 2000s, many of the Rare Malts didn’t sell and some markets even returned cases. At the same time, collectors increasingly wanted their single malts branded with distillery labels. In 2001 the first Port Ellen Special Release was put on the market for £110. As the new range proved successful, the Rare Malts Selection was replaced by Diageo’s annual Special Releases.
1995 Releases
Bottled for the European market, 70cl
Brora 1972 22 Year Old, 58.7% ABV
Brora 1972 22 Year Old, 60.02% ABV
Brora 1972 22 Year Old, 61.1% ABV
Brora 1975 20 Year Old, 54.9% ABV
Dallas Dhu 1970 24 Year Old, 60.54% ABV
Dallas Dhu 1970 24 Year Old, 60.6% ABV
Dallas Dhu 1970 24 Year Old, 59.91% ABV
Glendullan 1972 22 Year Old, 62.6% ABV
Glenury Royal 1971 23 Year Old, 61.3% ABV
Linkwood 1972 22 Year Old, 59.3% ABV
Millburn 1975 18 Year Old, 58.9% ABV
St Magdalene 1970 23 Year Old, 58.1% ABV
St Magdalene 1970 23 Year Old, 58.43% ABV
75cl
Caol Ila 1975 20 Year Old, 61.12% ABV
Clynelish 1972 22 Year Old, 58.95% ABV
Glenlochy 1969 25 Year Old, 62.2% ABV
Glenlochy 1969 26 Year Old, 59% ABV
Glenury Royal 1971 23 Year Old, 61.3% ABV
Hillside 1969 25 Year Old, 61.9% ABV
Mortlach 1972 22 Year Old, 65.3% ABV
North Port Brechin 1971 23 Year Old, 54.7% ABV
Clynelish 1972 22 Year Old, 58.95% ABV
Glenlochy 1969 25 Year Old, 62.2% ABV
Hillside 1969 25 Year Old, 61.9% ABV
Mortlach 1972 22 Year Old, 65.3% ABV
North Port Brechin 1971 23 Year Old, 54.7% ABV
Bottled for the USA, 75cl
Brora 1975 20 Year Old, 59.1% ABV
Caol Ila 1975 20 Year Old, 61.12% ABV
Clynelish 1972 22 Year Old, 58.64% ABV
Glenlochy 1969 25 Year Old, 62.08% ABV
Hillside 1969 25 Year Old, 61.9% ABV
Mortlach 1972 22 Year Old, 65.3% ABV
North Port Brechin 1971 23 Year Old, 54.7% ABV
Bottled for South Africa, 75cl
Clynelish 1972 23 Year Old, 57% ABV
1996 Releases
Bottled for the European market, 70cl
Aultmore 1974 21 Year Old, 60.9% ABV
Benrinnes 1974 21 Year Old, 60.4% ABV
Craigellachie 1973 22 Year Old, 60.2% ABV
Hillside 1970 25 Year Old, 60.10% ABV
75cl
Brora 1975 20 Year Old, 59.1% ABV
Caol Ila 1975 20 Year Old, 61.18% ABV
Clynelish 1972 23 Year Old, 57.1% ABV
Dailuaine 1973 22 Year Old, 60.92% ABV
Glendullan 1972 23 Year Old, 62.43% ABV
Hillside 1970 25 Year Old, 61.1% ABV
Mortlach 1972 23 Year Old, 59.4% ABV
Teaninich 1972 23 Year Old, 64.95% ABV
Brora 1975 20 Year Old, 60.75% ABV
Caol Ila 1975 20 Year Old, 61.12% ABV
Dailuaine 1973 22 Year Old, 61.80% ABV
Glendullan 1972 23 Year Old, 62.43% ABV
Teaninich 1972 23 Year Old, 64.8% ABV
Bottled for the USA, 75cl
Dailuaine 1973 22 Year Old, 60.92% ABV
Glendullan 1972 23 Year Old, 62.43% ABV
Teaninich 1972 23 Year Old, 64.95% ABV
Bottled for South Africa, 75cl
1997 Releases
April, 70cl
Caol Ila 1975 21 Year Old, 61.3% ABV
Dallas Dhu 1975 21 Year Old, 61.9% ABV
Royal Lochnagar 1973 23 Year Old, 59.7% ABV
Teaninich 1973 23 Year Old, 57.1% ABV
September, 70cl
Clynelish 1972 24 Year Old, 61.3% ABV
Dufftown Glenlivet 1975 21 Year Old, 54.8% ABV
Hillside 1971 25 Year Old, 62.0% ABV
Mannochmore 1974 22 Year Old, 60.1% ABV
September, 75cl
Glen Ord 1973 23 Year Old, 59.8% ABV
Glendullan 1973 23 Year Old, 58.6% ABV
Inchgower 1974 22 Year Old, 55.7% ABV
Linkwood 1974 23 Year Old, 61.2% ABV
Royal Lochnagar 1972 24 Year Old, 55.7% ABV (some boxes incorrectly state the distillation year as 1974)
1998 Releases
May, 70cl
Benromach 1978 19 Year Old, 63.8% ABV
Clynelish 1974 23 Year Old, 59.1% ABV
Glendullan 1974 23 Year Old, 63.1% ABV
Mortlach 1978 20 Year Old, 62.2% ABV
Royal Brackla 1978 20 Year Old, 59.8% ABV
October, 70cl
Brora 1977 21 Year Old, 56.9% ABV
Glen Ord 1974 23 Year Old, 60.8% ABV
Port Ellen 1978 20 Year Old, 60.9% ABV
St Magdalene 1979 19 Year Old, 63.8% ABV
October, 75cl
Caol Ila 1977 20 Year Old, 61.3% ABV
Cardhu 1973 25 Year Old, 60.5% ABV
Glenury Royal 1970 28 Year Old, 58.4% ABV
North Port Brechin 1979 19 Year Old, 61% ABV
Rosebank 1979 19 Year Old, 60.2% ABV
2002 May Releases
70cl
Caol Ila 1978 23 Year Old, 61.7% ABV
Glen Albyn 1975 26 Year Old, 54.8% ABV
Linkwood 1975 26 Year Old, 56.1% ABV
2005 April Releases
70cl
Glen Mhor 1976 28 Year Old, 51.9% ABV
Glendullan 1978 26 Year Old, 56.6% ABV
Linkwood 1974 30 Year Old, 54.9% ABV
Millburn 1969 35 Year Old, 51.2% ABV
2016 Releases, Shanghai Whisky Live
70cl
Caol Ila 1983 33 Year Old, 56.6% ABV
Lagavulin 1976 40 Year Old, 51.2% ABV
Talisker 1976 40 Year Old, 45.7% ABV
