Independent Bottlers
Independent bottlers buy casks of single malts and either bottle them immediately or store them for future use. Many of the independents began as stores and merchants who bought the whisky in bulk and bottled it for individual sales. Many distilleries do not bottle their whisky as a single malt, so independent bottlings are the only way the single malt gets to market. The bottling process is generally the same, but independents generally do not have access to the distillery's water source, so another source is used to dilute the whisky. Additionally, independents are generally less concerned with maintaining a particular style, so more single year and single cask bottlings are produced.
Established independent bottlers include Duncan Taylor, Master of Malt, Murray McDavid, Douglas Laing & Co, Signatory, Hart Brothers, Cadenhead's, and Blackadder.
Read more about this topic: Single Malt Scotch
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