Murray McDavid Whisky Murray McDavid are Independent Bottlers with a difference. The tradition of independent bottling goes back 150 years and was, until fairly recently, the only source for many of Scotland's finest malts.
A new take on the world’s best spirits - naturally. Selected by Jim McEwan, our own bottlings come from some of the oldest distilleries around. They are chosen for their individuality and diversity. Some are selected for further refinement with a period of Additional Cask Evolution (ACE) on Islay in European Oak.
Murray McDavid is a relatively recent actor in the world of whisky independent bottling. Unlike many other bottlers, Murray McDavid has no blenders tradition, bottling only single malts instead of blends .
The company was founded by Mark Reynier, Simon Coughlin and Gordon Wright (the latter being a member of the family owning Springbank) in 1996. The company is named after Mark Reynier's grand parents, Harriet Murray and Jock McDavid, aide-de-camp of Winston Churchill during WW1.
The philosophy is largely inspired by the traditions from the top-of-the-range wine world. Mark Reynier a third generation wine merchant, uses several aspects from the wine world in the preparation of their bottlings, for example always tasting each cask, creating an assemblage of several casks from the same distillation for maximal complexity.
Murray McDavid represents a particular trend in the world of independent bottlers, due to the wine traditions inherited by its managers. Great respect for tradition and a constant search for quality. Unlike many others, they never bottle a "single cask", arguing that these kind of bottlings never guarantee a constant quality, are unrepresentative, and often out of balance. There are many factors influencing the quality of a cask (poor quality wood, nails, poorly coopered casks, the proximity of the windows or ceilings, the humidity and temperature in the maturing warehouse, etc…)
Murray McDavid never adds any colouring, nor do they chill filter their products. All bottlings are with Islay Spring water, bottled at the Bruichladdich distillery.
The range of products is intentionally small (less than 10 bottlings, selected from distilleries which have produced great whiskies, rather than simply distilleries having a well known names.
There are three ranges:
The Benchmark (quintessential examples of younger malts),
The Mission (for older malts – limited to 600 bottles, selected by Jim McEwan, released annually) and
Jim McEwan's’s Celtic Heartlands (for exceptionally old or unique casks limited to 700 decanters released annually) –
and the soon to be released Maverick range. | 
