The company
Duncan Taylor's origins can be found in Glasgow, where the company was active as a whisky broker and trader from 1938.
Later, the company began bottling whisky independently. This came about through co-operation with Abe Rosenberg, who had one of the largest private cask collections. The American Rosenberg was active as an importer of blended whiskies in the 1960s. During his many visits to Scotland, he bought casks from distilleries and agreed that the casks would continue to be stored in the respective distilleries. As his focus increasingly shifted from blends to single malts, he collected many treasures, particularly from the 1960s and 1970s, and built up a stock of 4,500 casks. When Abe Rosenberg died in 1994, the casks were still lying untouched in the distilleries' warehouses. After his death, the 'Abe & Susi Foundation' was set up with the aim of selling the barrels for good causes. Duncan Taylor took care of the marketing and bottling for the American foundation.
In 2002, the Scotsman Euan Shand took over the management of the company. The company headquarters were also relocated: Duncan Taylor is now based in Huntly in Speyside, where the distillery density is also very high. Since then, the company has focussed on the production and marketing of its own brands.
The range
Named after a historic hill in Speyside, Scotland, where the battle for the crown between Robert The Bruce and John Comyn was fought in the 16th century, the Battlehill range contains single malt and single grain whiskies matured for up to 55 years.
The Dimensions malts vary between 10 and 40 years, emphasising the dimensions of the individual cask characters. Each bottling is labelled with precise distillation, bottling and cask dates.
Duncan Taylor has spent many years experimenting with the maturation processes of different cask sizes. An Octave cask only holds around 50 litres. The small casks allow the malt to have more contact with the oak wall and thus absorb the flavours more quickly and strongly. The Octave series includes maturations or finishes in these very casks. The malts are bottled cask strength, non-chill-filtered and without colouring.
In addition to these standard ranges, Duncan Taylor also has collections of more unusual whiskies. The Tantalus, for example, contains single malts and grains that have matured for at least 40 years in Duncan Taylor's warehouses. In the Rarest Collection, rare malts from distilleries that have long since closed are bottled. The grain whiskies from the Rare Auld Grain series are also rare single casks.
In addition to the single malt casks, the independent bottler also produces blended wh iskies. The Black Bull brand, for example, dates back to 1864 and has belonged to Duncan Taylor since 2009. The blend of single malts and single grains is now available in a wide variety of versions, such as 12-year-olds, with a rum cask finish and as a smoky edition. Other blended whiskies and blended malts from Duncan Taylor include The Big Smoke (an Islay blended malt), Loch Ness (a blended whisky dedicated to Scotland's national mascot), Smokin (The Gentleman's Dram) and Scottish Glory (with a traditional blend recipe).
