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 rare Scapa 1988 bottled for the Round Bottle range from Scottish independent bottler Signatory Vintage, designed to reflect the shape of a cask. This is a 9 year old distilled on 25 January 1988 and bottled in May 1997 from casks 169-171. Signatory Vintage was founded in 1988 by Andrew Symington, who previously worked at Prestonfield House, Edinburgh, where he would select casks specially for the hotel. In 2002, he bought the Edradour distillery in Pitlochry, in the Highlands of Scotland and moved Signatory Vintage vintage to the site, including the warehouses opposite the distillery.