Signatory Scotch Whiskey

If you are looking for a special bottle of Scotch for yourself or as a gift might I recommend an independent bottler rather than straight from a distillery? I know it sounds strange, but let me explain. There are a few bottlers that purchase barrels directly from a distillery and then age it themselves. In many cases, they even get to pick the barrels that they want. Distilleries are willing to do this because it provides an income stream without having to wait years for a finished product. Additionally, most single malt whisky is a blend of many barrels to create a house style. One of these bottlers is available in Hawaii and I have really enjoyed carrying them in the store. Signatory individually selects and bottles Scotch Whiskey from the barrels of many coveted distilleries. The bottles are all numbered and state the cask number, type of barrel, distillation date, and bottled date. No coloring is added and their whole line up is un-chillfiltered so as to preserve as much flavor and complexity as possible. Because they aren’t filtered the Scotch may turn cloudy when stored in a cold place, which isn’t exactly a problem here in Hawaii. Not only do these bottles look really cool, they also present an exceptional value compared to the distilleries they came from because their business model is rather streamlined with very little marketing budget and maintenance costs when compared to the actual distilleries. Because of the single barrel concept, each run is very rare. This makes each bottle a unique experience that will probably never come again. I currently have some in stock such as Auchentoshan 1999 where only a few 6-packs were imported into the USA. The next time you are in need of a bottle of single malt Scotch consider giving an independent bottler such as Signatory a try.