A.D. Rattray

This young independent bottling company was founded by Tim Morrison in 2002. Back then the name was A Dewar Rattray. Morrison is the son of Stanley P.  Morrison, who owned the Bowmore Distillery until 1994. Also the Glen Garioch and Auchentoshan Distilleries were once owned by the family. Tim had already been working in his father's family business. After the Morrisons had sold their distilleries to Beam Suntory, Tim invested his share into whisky casks.

The company name is derived from the older family history of the Morrisons. In 1868 Andrew Dewar, an ancestor of the Morrisons, founded a wine and spirit trade company called Andrew Dewar Rattray Ltd. Beside trading, the company also exclusively distributed the products from the Stronachie Distillery. During the economic crisis of the 1920s the company had to be broken up. In 1928 also Stronachie was closed for good. Some decades later T. Morrison bought the rights to the names Rattray and Stronachie. 

After legal quarrels with the blend producer Dewar's, the bottling company was renamed A.D. Rattray.

A.D. Rattray is renowned for the Cask Collection series. It was introduced in 2004 and comprises single cask bottlings at cask strength. The malts are unchillfiltered and are released four times a year. 

Just a few years ago Morrison relaunched the Stronachie malt. He owns an original bottle from 1904, and in order to honour his ancestors, a 10-year-old and an 18-year-old bottling were released. The brand nowadays contains single malt from Benrinnes, which is very similar to the old whisky. In 2015 the 10-year-old Stronachie was awarded 94 points in Jim Murray's Whisky Bible. Beside this series, they also bottle the Cask Islay Single Malt from an undisclosed distillery. This heavily peated, unchillfiltered and moderately priced series is released in small batches and has been on the market since 2012. In 2014 the second batch, this time containing a different Islay malt, was bottled.