Blair Athol 1997 Distiller's Art 17 Year's Old One of 689 bottles. Langside Distillers started out as a blending company in the 1970s, producing Scotch brands such as B&B, Glen Drumm and John Player Special. They moved into the business of bottling independent single malts with their Douglas of Drumlanrig label in the 2000s, before becoming a subsidiary of Hunter Laing in 2013. Nowadays they produce its Distiller’s Art and Hepburn’s Choice bottlings. This whisky was distilled in 1997 and aged for 17 years in a single cask. It was bottled in 2014. Blair Athol distillery is one of Scotland's oldest, dating back into the late 18th century. Its modern story begins when it was closed down by Peter Mackenzie in 1932, and was purchased by Arthur Bell & Sons the following year. Distilling recommenced in 1949, and with Blair Athol malt at its heart, Bell's became one of the world's best-selling whiskies. Despite its importance to the blend, Blair Athol was also bottled as a single malt under the Bell's banner in the 1970s and 1980s. New owners, Guinness, were less interested in this when they took over in 1985, but their subsequent iteration, United Distillers, brought a back distillery bottling with the Flora & Fauna release. Despite its popularity, Blair Athol has yet to be bottled under its own single malt brand. Other official bottlings from the Diageo era are very rare too, however the distillery has regularly provided casks to independent companies, many of whom have bottled some exceptional releases.