A. D. Rattray’s 79th Cask Collection release for Spring 2026 brings together five individual casks, each drawn from distilleries more commonly encountered as part of a vatting or blend.
Over the past few months, we’ve been quietly assembling a vatting for a forthcoming special release - sampling, adjusting, and crafting a small-batch whisky from a selection of individual casks. It’s a process that reminds us just how much of Scotch whisky is shaped by the bottler: balanced, layered and refined through blending.
Blending certainly has its place. It creates consistency, harmony and a recognisable house style. But every now and then, it’s worth stepping back from a finished composition to consider the individual casks that make it possible - and this release does just that.
Each of the five casks in Cask Collection No.79 is presented as it was found: single cask, natural strength, undiluted and unfiltered. Through single casks, we take a closer look at the finer details - a glimpse beneath the surface of a typical release.
These are the building blocks: character, texture and structure at the heart of each distillery’s style, before they are shaped into something broader. Together, they offer a different perspective - not a polished core expression, but the singular character of a cask that must be harnessed to create the whiskies we know and love.
