Independent Bottlers
Now more than ever, the Whisky Industry is growing at an unprecedented speed, which created a
global interest in whisky. Nowadays around 90% of the distilleries in Scotland are owned by huge,
international companies like LVMH, Diageo or Suntory.
Independent bottlers play a vital role in the industry, offering the customers bottlings produced at a
much smaller scale, mostly coming from Single Casks or small batches.
Distilleries were forced to sell their surplus stock for profit due to the low demand the industry
suffered during the 1970s and 80s. During these hard times, independent bottlers were playing a
major role in supporting the struggling distilleries and creating ongoing, historical relationships.
In the past, with blends predominant on the market, Single Malts were rarely seen. This changed
when independent bottlers started releasing the casks sourced from the distilleries under their own
label, sometimes at cask strength (no water added) and offering different choices to the customers
from the ones already available.
Among Independent bottlers, we can find big names like Gordon and MacPhail, Signatory Vintage and
Douglas Laing and smaller, surging brands like Stalla Dhu.