Talisker 12 Year Old Distillers Agency 1970s

For a long time, Talisker was the sole distillery on Scotland’s iconic Isle of Skye. Renowned for the quality of its output, the distillery has rarely changed hands, joining DCL (now Diageo) back in 1916. Despite this, releases were not the most common. An 8 year old was bottled officially and Gordon & MacPhail produced what are now classic and sought after vintage bottlings under official license from the distillery. When a 10 year old expression became a founding pillar of United Distillers’ Classic Malts range in 1988, the popularity of the distillery exploded, and it is now one of the most revered and exported in Scotland.

This is a 1980s bottling of the 12 year old age-statement. Prior to the formation of United Distillers in 1988, the distilleries within the DCL portfolio were often licensed out to its blending companies, in this instance it was The Distillers Agency. DCL later included an 8 year old Talisker as part of their Ascot Malt Cellar collection in 1982, by then being bottled by another of their blenders, John Walker & Sons. When United Distillers succeeded DCL, one of their first orders of business was to reclaim control of the distribution of their single malts, and bottling responsibility for Talisker was returned to the distillery with the introduction of the Classic Malts, which saw this expression discontinued after decades on production.