New Arrival: Mosstowie Signatory 1979

2013 so far has consisted of thinking more about whisky than purchasing or drinking. A very sad state of affairs we'll all agree. As part of our recent jaunt to Skye we dropped into Edradour Distillery to pick up a bottle. It is a picturesque postcard image of a distillery with its roots in the illicit stills before the taxman became interested in revenue.

You can read all about the distillery here and I'd recommend it as a stop over from the slog of the A9 motorway. The setting is a world away from many distilleries you can visit and perfectly formed. The debate continues regarding the Eradour malt itself which I've often read soapy comments about. Still take heart that the distillery shop is a fantastic place to discover whisky as this is the homeland of the Signatory independent bottling label. And what a line-up of malts and prices await!

Mosstowie? Not a well known distillery label and one consigned to the history books since its closure in 1981 when the Lomond stills were removed from the site. You can read all about the its history here and it is fascinating stuff, particularly as we're dealing with a very intensive type of distillation rarely seen today. Needless to say any Mosstowie is thin on the ground now and this is where indie bottlers come into their own. 

Signatory have been (I think) the sole releaser of Mosstowie of late with a couple of bottles seeing release to sell out. I wanted a bottle of Mosstowie and sometimes it is best to head to the source whenever possible. Mosstowie like Glencraig stopped when the Lomond stills were removed. Speaking of which, maybe Glencraig is next!

Info
Distillery: Mosstowie
Age: 32 years
Distilled: 06/02/1979Bottled: 12/01/12
Limited Edition of: 211
Strength: 51.5%
Cask no: 1306
Release: 211 bottles
Additional: matured in a Bourbon barrel