Knockando

Knockando lies on the banks of the Spey in the heart of Speyside. The name comes from the Gaelic for 'little black hill'. John Thompson founded the distillery in 1898, and it has long belonged to the company behind J&B, now Diageo.

The spirit is light, clean and gently nutty, the kind of malt made for an elegant blend. A large share of the output goes into J&B. For many years Knockando was sold with vintage statements showing the season of distillation and the year of bottling, rather than a simple age. That is why older bottles such as the 1968 and 1977 Extra Old Reserve, or the 1980 bottled in 1995, carry two dates.

Today the official range centres on the 12 Year Old and the 18 Year Old Slow Matured. Older Manager's Dram bottlings turn up at auction as well.

Independent bottlings are not common but do appear. Signatory Vintage has released single casks, including in its Cask Strength Collection, Douglas Laing has bottled it in Old Malt Cask, and Gordon & MacPhail has bottled it too.