What is an Independent Bottler?

Independent Bottlers play an important role in the Scotch Whisky Industry. In the modern world, consumers are searching for rare, specialist whiskies to challenge their flavour palates and satisfy their thirst for knowledge regarding the fascinating world of Scotch Whisky and this is where Independent Bottlers can provide a significant contribution.

Independent bottlers can offer a fantastic range of Scotch whiskies and through acquiring a number of whisky casks, sometimes from distilleries that are currently 'mothballed', or have been completely dismantled, they are preventing certain fine Scotch whiskies from disappearing altogether. The casks will be matured by the Independent Bottler as they see fit, bottled and presented under their own particular label.

Some Independent Bottlers specialize in producing limited editions of rare, premium single malt whiskies from specially selected casks (from brokers or direct from the distillery). Such whiskies are attractive to the real whisky connoisseur as an opportunity to sample a rare vintage, or a whisky from their favourite distillery that has been matured in a different type of cask or bottled at a different age from the normal standard production.

An increase in demand for more specialist whiskies has seen various independent bottlers extend their range to offer 'Cask Strength Whiskies'. Proprietary whiskies are normally bottled at 40% or 43% abv but 'cask strength' means that no water has been added to the whisky prior to bottling and therefore the whisky may be anything from 40% to over 50%. Other attractive bottling features may include 'NO chill filtering or colouring' as the whisky is presented in its natural ‘straight form the cask’ state.

It could be said that Independent Bottlers, some of whom have been in the whisky industry for decades, offer a vital service to discerning whisky connoisseurs all over the world.