Càrn Mòr VC

Càrn Mòr Vintage Collection

When the Càrn Mòr Vintage Collection first appeared in 2009 it consisted of 24 ‘sample’ bottles (20cl) of single malt from 24 different years (1983-2006) and 24 different distilleries. The Glentauchers 2006 was only 3 years old, so barely legal. I believe the first distillery representing 1988 was Macallan, which sold out so quickly that the producers were able to bring out a Glenburgie 1988 in the same year (2009). Thereafter there were several replacement years as certain bottles proved more popular than others. By 2012 the collection had got a bit messy as duplicate distilleries had appeared such as Macduff for 1991 and 2005, and Tamdhu for 1989 and 1991.

The Càrn Mòr Vintage Collection was produced by the Scottish Liqueur Centre who subsequently become Morrison & Mackay. When I started collecting whisky in 2013 the 24 years of Càrn Mòr were already getting difficult to find. Nevertheless I managed to get 21 of them before running out of sources. I was missing 1983, 1985 and 1986, which sadly have not appeared at auction. Finally in 2017 I gave up waiting and bought duplicate years for 1992, 1999 and 2006 bringing my collection up to the magic 24. They might not all be unique years or unique distilleries but at least they’re all different. A complete set of 24 bottles in a display case sold at auction in February 2017 for £560 (£23.33 per bottle). In 2010 the Royal Mile Whisky shop in Edinburgh was selling the complete set of 24 bottles for £314.27 (£13.09 per bottle).

The following list shows the bottlings I know of that have appeared for each year of the Càrn Mòr Vintage Collection (distilled 1983-2006). Bottled in 2009 unless otherwise stated:

1983 – Caol Ila (3 releases: 2 in 2009 and 1 in 2010)
1984 – Glenlossie
1985 – Benriach (3 releases: 2009, 2010 & 2011)
1986 – Royal Lochnagar
1987 – Tomatin (3 releases: 2009, 2010 & 2011)
1988 – Macallan, Glenburgie
1989 – Braes of Glenlivet, Tamdhu (2012)
1990 – Strathmill
1991 – Tamdhu, Macduff (2012)
1992 – Glenallachie, Glen Moray (2012)
1993 – Glen Grant
1994 – Tobermory, Aberlour (2012)
1995 – Speyside, Allt a´Bhainne (2012)
1996 – Longmorn
1997 – Ben Nevis
1998 – Miltonduff, Highland Park (2010)
1999 – Craigellachie, Speyside (2012)
2000 – Glengoyne
2001 – Balmenach, The Unnameable (2011)
2002 – Benrinnes
2003 – Clynelish
2004 – Glen Ord
2005 – Macduff
2006 – Glentauchers, Mortlach (2012)