This article provides a comprehensive overview of the Rare Malts Selection, tracing its origins, selection process, and release strategy. We’ll delve into the factors that contributed to its initial success and eventual decline, as well as its enduring legacy in the whisky world. Additionally, we’ll examine the rising demand for rare and closed distillery bottlings and how Diageo’s Special Releases have carried the torch for showcasing unique and exceptional whiskies. Whether you’re a seasoned collector or simply curious about the history of scotch whisky, this exploration of the Rare Malts Selection offers a fascinating glimpse into a pivotal chapter in the evolution of the single malt market.
Creating The Rare Malts Selection
In the early 1990s, United Distillers struggled to decide how to use the more mature casks of single malt whisky held in the company’s inventory. All these casks were remnants of the infamous ‘Whisky Loch’, the excess stock of the 1980s that resulted from overproduction in the 1970s and reduced demand for whisky during an economic downturn. Many casks were also from distilleries closed during the ‘Whisky Loch’ downturn, including Brora and Port Ellen.
Although the quality of these whiskies was variable, United Distillers concluded it would be a shame to only use these 20+ year old whiskies for blending.
The concept for the Rare Malts Selection was initially proposed by Mike Collings, United Distillers’ Malt Marketing Director who had previously launched the Classic Malts of Scotland single malt range in 1988.
Recognizing the enthusiasm and growing demand for single malts, Collings proposed a single brand created from specially selected single malts bottled from the remaining stocks of rare old whiskies of different distilleries – the future Rare Malts Selection.
Master Blender Maureen Robinson would select the casks, based on a combination of rarity and because they had reached a consistent and unsurpassed standard of excellence. In 1995, the first batch of bottlings for the Rare Malts Selection were released, originally selling for only £37. At the time no one appreciated the malt’s value, which would only be realized decades later.
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Selecting The Whiskies
With an inventory of over six million casks of maturing whisky spread across Scotland, United Distillers determined a selection process to identify rare old malts of unsurpassed excellence.
Each whisky would be approximately 20 years old, with no consecutive bottlings released from the same distillery, and no bottlings of the same vintage from a single distillery within two years. Casks of whisky from United Distillers’ Classic Malts of Scotland distilleries (Cragganmore, Dalwhinnie, Glenkinchie, Lagavulin, Oban, and Talisker) would not be released as part of the Rare Malts Selection.
In 1999, the declining stock of casks suitable for older whiskies meant the Rare Malts were reduced to an annual release of four bottlings, normally with two bottlings from closed distilleries and two from working distilleries.
Early Rare Malts Selection releases were bottled from individual casks, which resulted in multiple different ABV% versions of the same release. A notable example of this is the Brora 1972 22 Year Old from 1995, which was released in five different ABV% versions.
As the Rare Malts series continued, bottling from individual casks was abandoned for the conventional method of normalizing (vatting) several casks into one batch, producing 5,000-6,000 bottles with a single ABV%. Multiple batches could be bottled for the same release, another reason different ABV% versions could occur in one release. The last Rare Malts release with ABV% differences was the Caol Ila 1977 21 Year Old from 1999, with two different versions released.
Releasing The Rare Malts Selection
Initially the Rare Malts Selection was released for the global duty-free travel market. The release policy in 1995 was two annual releases for the European market, a Spring and Autumn release bottled in 70cl size bottles. A separate release for selected export markets including the USA and South Africa, was released in 75cl size bottles.
A number of Rare Malts bottlings were originally exclusive to specific global markets, such as the Linkwood 1972 23 Year Old released in South Africa. Despite this, releases were not unique to bottle sizes, as a number of Rare Malts including the Glenury Royal 1971 23 Year Old had the batch split, and were released as both 70cl and 75cl bottlings.
In 1999, the Spring and Autumn release policy was abandoned, with the Rare Malts limited to a single annual release due to declining stocks of older malts.
The changing release policy also resulted in all future Rare Malts bottlings being released as 70cl bottles, as greater focus was placed on the UK specialty market, with the majority of the Rare Malts Selection marketed through the Oddbins retail chain.
Each Rare Malts bottle has a sequence number, with the majority of Rare Malts Selection releases consisting of 5000-6000 bottles. In the earlier releases between 1995 – 1997, sequence numbers are not included while the labels of early Rare Malts versions state ‘Limited bottling’.
After 1997, Rare Malts labels carry the text ‘Limited Edition’, and also include the bottling month and year in small print. Rare Malts labels also varied on the labels of USA and South Africa export market releases.
The Decline Of The Rare Malts Selection
In 2005, the final Rare Malts Selection bottlings were released. By this time, it had become a challenge to maintain the variety of whiskies available for the Rare Malts Selection. Distilleries such as Caol Ila, Glen Ord, and Clynelish which featured amongst early Rare Malts releases had become popular in their own right through official distillery label bottlings, leading these distilleries to be dropped from the Rare Malts list.
The evolving whisky market also contributed to the Rare Malts decline, as collectors and enthusiasts increasingly wanted to purchase single malts branded with official distillery labels. Even in the 2000s, many of the Rare Malts bottlings didn’t sell meaning it was difficult to raise the price of these 20+ year old whiskies beyond £70.
Demand for distinctive and older limited edition cask strength whiskies remained high, and Diageo (successor to United Distillers) sought to create a new range of distillery label single malts drawn from older stocks or unusual expressions of a distillery’s character.
In 2001, the first of Diageo’s Special Releases including two Talisker expressions and a Port Ellen 22 Year Old bottling originally marketed for £110 quickly sold out. In the second edition of Special Releases for 2002, Diageo introduced expressions from Talisker, Port Ellen, Brora, Lagavulin, Dalwhinnie, and Oban.
Diageo’s Special Releases would develop into an annual range of limited-edition cask strength whiskies from a combination of famous and closed distilleries. As the Special Releases range proved successful, the Rare Malts Selection was retired.
A Revival?
The ongoing success of Diageo’s Special Releases, combined with growing enthusiasm for bottlings for silent and closed distilleries amongst the whisky community has prompted a revival of interest in the Rare Malts Selection.
Special Release bottlings have proven integral in building the cult reputation and desirably for bottlings from many of Diageo’s distilleries, such as Brora and Port Ellen which both featured annually in the range until 2018.
All 121 Rare Malts bottlings have become increasingly sought after as collectors and investors seek the surviving bottles of these unique cask-strength whiskies, with examples such as the highly regarded Brora 1972 22 Year Old (60.02% ABV) recently selling for over £12,000.
