Your cart is empty

STORIES

From the Diageo Archives

The Diageo archive shelves, filled with various precious bottles

Discover a taste of liquid history with the Diageo archives.

DISCOVER MORE

For over twenty years, Christine McCafferty, Head of Archives, has enjoyed working with unique, precious and fascinating materials that take us back to the past and pay tribute to the stories of the brands as they continue to evolve for future generations.

Christine McCafferty, head of Archives at Diageo
 Diageo’s Senior Archivist, Joanne McKerchar

Each malt has a unique and inspiring story to tell, and my job is to make sure we do this in the right way for each brand. It is a privilege to be the person responsible for these collections at the Diageo archive.

Diageo’s Senior Archivist, Joanne McKerchar

Johnnie Walker

In the past 154 years Johnnie Walker displays an evolution like no other, from Old Highland Whisky to The Diamond Jubilee. This snake addition from 1880 remains a complete mystery - although the iconic label and liquid remain.

DISCOVER MORE
Johnnie Walker Casks at the distillery
Johnnie Walker 1880 'Snake Edition' Whisky Bottle with snake inside
Mortlach 1900 bottle with cowies blue seal

Mortlach

Explore the fascinating world of the old bottlings from our Mortlach collection. Dating back to c.1900, the oldest bottle already had the unmistakable Cowie’s Blue Seal icon, which can still be found in our bottles today.

DISCOVER MORE
Mortlach casks at the Mortlach distillery

Lagavulin

Lagavulin distillery has been producing whisky for over 200 years, and the distillery has some incredible stories to tell. Dating back to 1911, the oldest bottle already featured the unmistakable ship icon. Back then, the “liqueur” on the bottle referred to products of high quality.

DISCOVER MORE
Lagavulin casks at the distillery
The oldest Lagavulin bottle from 1911
The oldest Talisker bottle in the world, dating  from 1896

Talisker

Dive into the evolution of Talisker, with this original bottle from 1938. Distilled November 1896 with 42 years of maturation, this is the oldest bottle of whisky in the archive collection and the only one of its kind known of in the world.

DISCOVER MORE
Talisker distillery

Brora

The Brora Triptych was released to mark the reopening of the distillery, after being closed for 36 years. The release is an ode to its history and epitomises the character of its whisky.

DISCOVER MORE
Brora Distillery
Brora Triptych bottle

Keep the conversation going.

Contact us for further information, or subscribe to our newsletter.

LEARN MORE