Who bottles private label whisky for shops like M&S?

[Dmitry]

Hey folks,

I deal in whisky tourism for the Russian market in Scotland, and one of my clients has recently asked me an interesting question which I have no idea how to answer:

We all know that shops such as Tesco, Sainsbury, M&S and Waitrose have their own private label beverages. Frequenly these include blended and malt whiskies. Does anybody here have any idea who would bottle it for them? Are there any large players to whom the shops outsource this in the UK, or do they have their own private facilities?

Has any of you gentlemen ever encountered this issue?

Sincerely yours,

Dmitry

[bifter]

I know that Iain MacLeod for one supply some of the supermarkets, at least Sainsburys and (IIRC) Lidl.

I've seen Gordon and MacPhail bottles in Tesco, I don't know if this signifies that they supply the Tesco branded bottles?
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"Whisky is liquid sunshine."
[George Bernard Shaw]

[Alastair]

Hi Dmitry

The big supermarkets will never reveal the distillery where their whisky originated from, they would not be allowed to.

I believe Ian Macleod Distillers bottles Sainsburys single malts for them and a few years back it was believed that Glenmorangie bottled Tesco whisky for them but when LVMH took over Glenmorangie i believe this stopped as it didnt fall in with the upmarket LVMH image.

I have not tasted a poor supermarket label single malt and they offer great value and part of the fun is trying to identify the distillery it came from but as i said this will never be confirmed. If we knew Tesco Islay whisky came from Caol Ila why would you buy Caol ila 12 year old when you can buy the supermarket bottle cheaper.

Obviously the supermarket Islay single malts would be the easiest to identify The distllery where supermarket whisky comes from will always be anonymous but the fun part is trying to guess where it comes from.

[Mark]

In my experience what is in the supermarket single malt whisky bottling can vary, just depends where they source the whisky, for example i would say over the years Tesco Islay single malt has varied from Bunnahabhain to Caol Ila.

Each vatting of single malt will all be skillfully blended but i am sure they will never bottle an expression identical to the original distillery bottlings available from the distillery it was sourced from as a knowledgible whisky drinker would recognise it.

The fun part is testing your whisky knowledge to try and identify where it originated from.

[bifter]

Funnily enough I'm dramming the Cooperative 12 Year Old Highland Single Malt tonight, 40% and around £18. I reckon it's Dalmore! However that's not to say it hasn't come to the Coop via an independent bottler.
_________________
"Whisky is liquid sunshine."
[George Bernard Shaw]

[Dmitry]

I agree that it often feels like a game with the private label whiskies in large stores :D

However, while it is at times possible to deduce the product's distillery via the flavour, I am personally more interested in the bottlers in this case - rather then the source of the substance. In this light the tip about Ian Macleod Distilleries (Sainsbury) is just what I am looking for.

By any chance has any of you heard anything about who works with M&S, Waitrose or Morrisons in a similar capacity?

Once again, many thanks for the prompt reply! :D

[William]

Dmitry, Marks & Spencer whisky is bottled for them by Burn Stewart Distillers, at least it was a few years ago that may have changed. As Burn Stewart Distillers own Ledaig/Tobermory, Deanston and Bunnahabhain you could assume this is what will be in the M&S single malts. I suspect their Islay malt is a peated Bunnahabhain, their Highland malt is Deanston, their Isle of Mull malt is Ledaig
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There's no bad whisky. Just good whisky and better whisky.

[nitram]

[Dmitry]

Thanks folks! This has been of great help! Ill go and shake these leads and will check what falls from the apple tree :D

[Fergie]

I dont think M&S do there own label Highland malt now, which was very likely to have been Deanston. As nitram pointed out they do now sell Deanston but it is the old 40% chill filtered version and not the new and very much improved non chill filtered 46% expression. I suspect when Burn Stewart Distillers started bottling their single malts at 46% and non chill filtered M&S got the remainder of the old Deanstion 40% stock to sell and they done away with the M&S highland malt.