The Malt Maniacs' Bottler Ranking
Updated: June 8, 2009

Please don't take this too seriously, it's just a list we came up with.while digging quite deep into our Monitor (more than 30,000 scores).
Please note that small and/or specialized bottlers may be advantaged here.The averages take all malts and all ratings into account.

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RANK BOTTLER SCORE SCORE SCORE SCORE SCORE Number
2008 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 of ratings
             
1 Samaroli 88,00 87,40 86,40 NS NS 341
The Italian bottler Samaroli is leading the pack thanks to some stupendous older bottlings that all Maniacs are constantly chasing as if there was no tomorrow. More recent versions are less thrilling but there aren't many, which may explain why this independent is #1 as far as quality is concerned. But warning, all are very expensive!
2 Sestante 87,80 88,00 85,40 NS NS 169
This very high rank is entirely due to some wonderful old bottlings from the 1980s.
3 The Bottlers 87,60 87,60 87,00 86,90 86,70 103
Great, great whiskies. Too bad The Bottlers don't seem to be active anymore since two or three years.
4 Moon Import 86,80 88,90 88,60 89,10 NS 110
Once again, a high rank due to some fabulous old bottlings. Recent ones are rather more 'average', which explains the slip from 88,90 down to 86,80.
5 The Whisky Fair 86,30 86,20 85,30 NS NS 455
The highest ranked of the new bottlers. Excellent selections by the Germans. Please note that we included smaller brands by the same people, such as The Perfect Dram.
6 Diageo Rare Malts 86,20 86,00 85,80 85,30 84,90 382
A discontinued official series of the highest quality, very close to each distillery's 'true character'. Sob...
7 Jack Wieber 86,10 85,80 86,40 NS NS 371
Maybe a few bottlings in the Castle series aren't absolutely top notch but the Old Train Line and other prestigious series by Jack Wieber are constantly of the highest quality.
8 Scotch S. Malt Circle 86,00 85,60 86,70 NS NS 167
A small German Club and several stellar and very interesting whiskies.

9 Douglas Laing 85,80 85,40 85,50 85,30 86,00 2151
A high average that comes from the fact that the Maniacs are still busy tasting all the old Port Ellens, Ardbegs, Broras, Taliskers and others wonders that Douglas Laing issued three years ago and before. Newer bottlings pull more mixed comments and scores.
10 The Whisky Exchange 85,40 85,30 87,20 NS NS 403
Includes The Single Malts of Scotland and other smaller series. The range gets larger and larger but the quality remains very high. No misses.
11 SMWS 85,30 85,90 85,70 87,00 83,00 995
Some very unusual casks, many very good even if they're hard to track down.
12 Adelphi 85,20 85,30 85,00 84,40 83,80 515
Great work by Adelphi although we'd love labels that would be easier to read ;-).
13 The Nectar 85,20 NS NS NS NS 104
A fairly new Belgian independent. Excellent selection work and funny labels.
15 Cadenhead's 84,50 84,10 84,10 83,30 81,90 1674
The old dumpy bottles, that many Maniacs cherish, explain why the average is high, but there are also several new bottlings that are very good. Up again?
16 Duncan Taylor 84,50 84,10 83,70 82,80 81,60 1032
Many excellent old whiskies and when they are a little less excellent, the prices are extremely fair.

17 Murray McDavid 84,40 84,50 84,40 84,30 83,70 557
Many Maniacs frowned upon the 'let's finish all malts' policies but the very consistent average score show that many of these experiments actually succeeded.
18 Scott's Selection 84,30 83,70 83,90 84,00 84,30 229
Very good quality and many rare and very interesting bottlings.
19 Gordon & MacPhail 83,90 82,20 81,10 80,50 79,60 2684
UP! We all think that Gordon & MacPhail keep improving their whiskies, kudos to them. A great, great bottler.
20 Blackadder 83,80 83,60 83,80 81,80 82,80 657
Many very attractive malts.
21 Dewar Rattray 83,70 84,30 84,40 NS NS 293
Very good bottler, some true gems.
22 Berry Bros & Rudd 83,60 83,50 82,80 82,20 NS 506
High quality and very fair prices.
23 Wilson & Morgan 83,50 83,20 83,00 83,40 84,50 514
               
24 Exclusive Malts 83,30 78,70 81,60 NS NS 127
UP! Amazing how this range improved in recent times. Where will they stop?
25 Signatory Vintage 83,20 82,30 82,10 81,50 80,70 2393
UP! Another large independent bottler that really improved the average quality of its bottlings. Many great ones.
26 Official Bottlings 82,90 82,40 82,30 81,70 81,10 15433
               
27 Hart Bros 82,70 82,40 82,50 81,70 81,40 259
               
28 James MacArthur 82,50 83,20 83,00 82,60 81,90 315
               
29 Cooper's Choice 82,30 81,20 81,60 80,60 79,90 133
UP! Some excellent recent bottlings.
30 Milroy 82,00 82,10 81,00 82,80 NS 130
               
31 Compass Box 82,00 81,00 80,90 NS NS 209
UP!  Better and better!
32 Celtique Connexion 81,90 81,30 80,40 NS NS 182
               
33 Chieftains 81,90 80,30 79,80 79,70 78,20 304
UP! Improves!
34 McKillop's Choice 81,50 80,50 80,10 79,50 81,30 139
               
35 Jean Boyer 81,40 81,50 80,00 NS NS 243
               
36 The Ultimate 79,90 78,90 78,80 77,60 75,80 129
               
37 Flora & Fauna 79,80 80,40 80,20 80,30 NS 162
               
38 Dun Bheagan 79,60 79,50 79,60 NS NS 160
SMALLER BOTTLERS SCORE SCORE SCORE SCORE SCORE NUMBER OF RATINGS
2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2008
Acorn 85,90 87,40 NS NS NS 28
Dun Eidean 82,80 83,10 82,90 NS NS 63
Glenhaven NS 83,00 83,60 83,80 NS NS
Hedges & Buttler NS 70,70 NS NS NS NS
Helen Arthur NS 75,40 76,00 NS NS NS
Kingsbury 91,50 92,10 93,10 NS NS 76
Kirsch Import 81,70 81,90 NS NS NS
Lombard's 81,60 83,70 84,10 NS NS 79
M&H - Taste Still 87,10 87,30 NS NS NS 92
Master of Malt 74,10 75,10 74,50 NS NS 20
Michel Couvreur 77,40 67,00 NS NS NS 37
Natural Color NS 71,00 NS NS NS NS
Prestonfield 86,60 85,70 86,10 NS NS 93
Royal Mile Whiskies 82,30 81,60 82,00 NS NS 57
Scottish Wildlife NS 79,50 79,50 NS NS NS
Silver Seal 86,70 86,90 86,90 NS NS 68
The W. Shop/Glenkeir 84,20 84,50 NS NS NS 40
Whyte & Whyte NS 83,90 84,70 84,70 NS NS