Signatory come up with the goods again, this time a 1988 vintage hogshead from the ever-reliable Highland Park. Bottled at full strength and with an enticing full gold colour, this should be excellent.
A very fancy packaging job for this limited expression of 24yo single malt from the Fettercairn distillery. Owners Whyte & Mackay clearly have confidence in the brand to be spending this sort of marketing money on a distillery many malt fans had given up on - we wish Fettercairn well with this latest rebirth.
A 1974 vintage whisky from Glenlivet, as of writing the second biggest selling single malt in the world. This was distilled on the 27th of March and bottled 24 years later by First Cask.
A very special vintage single malt from Bushmills, privately bottled at the turn of the millennium at the remarkable (for Irish whiskey) age of 24 years old.
Released around a decade ago, this 1979 vintage Balblair is a forerunner of the hugely successful 1979 vintage released in the distillery's updated livery in 2007. It seems that this vintage has always been held in high regard by the distillery's owners, and with good reason.
A potent cask strength Royal Lochnagar 1972 bottled in the mid-1990s by the distillers as part of Diageo's Rare Malt selection. The early Rare Malts bottlings were almost uniformly outstanding.
A lightly coloured but well aged sherry cask matured whisky from Macallan, bottled by the adventurous folks at Murray McDavid. The label suggests that Speyside whiskies are bland, but this definitely isn't - distilled in April 1975 and bottled in November 1999.
A 1972 vintage Clynelish released as part of Diageo's Rare Malts series. Despite spending 24 years maturing it is still at a whopping cask strength of 61.3%.
A 1982 vintage whisky from closed St Magdalene (aka Linlithgow), distilled in the year before its closure. This was matured for a total of 24 years, first in bourbon casks and then in casks that had previously contained vintage port. As you might expect, this was bottled by the cask experimentation kings of Murray McDavid.
A special edition of Glenmorangie, bottled in 1999 ready for the millenium. It's a combination of several casks laid down in 1974 with a total outturn of just 2000 50cl bottles - a rare collector's piece, complete with wooden display case.
The Rare Malts are a now-discontinued series of cask-strength releases designed by Diageo to showcase some of the hidden treasures in their portfolio. This particular dram is all the more precious for having come from a distillery closed in 1985.