What is an independant bottler?
Without independent bottlers, many interesting malt whiskies would have vanished forever into blends, and would never be seen as singles.
It is unusual for a distiller to reserve all his whisky for bottling as a single malt. Most sell a substantial proportion of their output for blending.
Independent Bottlers often bottle their whisky at cask strength. Once the whisky is bought it is often removed from the warehouses of the distillery. The difference in the microclimate allows the whisky to mature a bit differently from the official distillery bottlings
Popular independent bottlers:
Alchemist
Adelphi
Blackadder
Cadenhead
Douglas Laing
Duncan Taylor
Gordon & MacPhail
Hart Brothers
Ian Macleod
Master of Malt
Murray McDavid
Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Vintage Malt Whisky Company