One of 668 bottles

A large and generous cask bearing the inauspicious number of 932. Distilled in February 1981 it was bottled in September 2007. This is another great offering in the increasingly hard to find Rare Auld series by Duncan Taylor. The fact that the whisky had been matured in a sherry cask is proudly proclaimed on the accompanying box but the bottle label itself is silent on this. The sherry influence is immediately discernable from the warm English breakfast tea – without milk – colour seen through the clear glass bottle. 

Known as Glenesk from 1980-85, and prior to that as Hillside since 1964, this distillery produced both malt and grain at different stages in its history. It is not often seen officially bottled, but has contributed to several Rare Malts Selection releases. Distilling ceased there entirely in 1985, and the site operates exclusively as a maltings now. 

Duncan Taylor was founded in Glasgow in 1938 as a cask broker and trading company. Its modern history began in 2001 when a former Glendronach employee, Euan Shand, purchased the firm and moved it to Huntly in Aberdeenshire, using the impressive cask portfolio it has amassed over the 20th century to become one of the premier independent bottlers in Scotland.