Tullibardine Aged Oak Edition 70th Anniversary "Red Lichtie" (70cl, 40%) ***sold***
This Aged Oak Edition of Tullibardine was bottled to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Red Lichtie, a Spitfire presented by the people of Arbroath with a donation of £5,000 in March 1942 A release of Tullibardine in conjunction with the RAF to commemorate the 55,573 young men who died with Bomber Command during the Second World War, and those who have lost their lives subsequently.
On label is reproduction of an original watercolour by Ray Will "Red Lichtie Arbroath".
During WWII The people of Arbroath started a ‘Spitfire Fund’ to raise £5,000 and purchase a Spitfire to help with the war effort. They succeeded in this and a MkVb Spitfire was built at Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory. On 24th May 1942, Spitfire EP121 was delivered to the RAF at Burtonwood and it was named the ‘Red Lichtie’ after the people of Arbroath who purchased it.
Tullibardine distillery in Perthshire was built in 1949 and was quickly acquired by blending firm, Brodie Hepburn. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, the distillery came under ownership of Whyte & Mackay in 1993, who shut it down following year. In the preceding decades, its large production capacity had filled its even larger warehouses. In addition to selling the stock to third-party blenders, Whyte & Mackay used it for their own products, including some well-regarded official single malt releases. Greater emphasis was placed on this when it was sold to new owners in 2003, who re-casked much of the stock in order to launch this reinvigorated version of the Tullibardine brand.