Scotland, Speyside. Distillery closed.

Known until 1965 as Glen Grant #2, Caperdonich was the embodiment of a blender's malt. Built in 1898 just opposite Glen Grant, its owners (J&J Grant, Glen Grant Distillery) made use of it for only a few years before closing it down. When it reopened in 1965, it underwent major restoration and played a key role in the development of the Chivas Regal blend. From this period, only one 5 year old official bottling is still known. It would then not be until the turn of the 21st century, when Pernod Ricard became the owner in 2001 (before mothballing the site in 2002), that a handful of bottlings would be released in the Distillery Reserve Collection and Small Batch Release ranges. A truly endangered distillery!

A Caperdonich 12 year old single cask (#5569) distilled in 1997 and bottled in 2009 by Douglas McGibbon for the Provenance Collection. Douglas McGibbon & Co is a family-owned business created in 1947 by the husband of the granddaughter of Douglas McGibbon, a Scotsman from Islay who moved to Glasgow in the 1890s. It became a subsidiary of Douglas Laing in 1950. In addition to the blend of the same name, Douglas McGibbon had for a long time been responsible for the Provenance range. When Douglas Laing’’s two sons Stewart and Fred split in 2013, however, everything was redistributed. The Provenance range went to Douglas Laing, now managed by Fred Laing, and other ranges like the Old Malt Casks went to Hunter Laing, the independent bottler founded by Stewart Laing. Douglas McGibbon now bottles the Clan Denny range.