A DALGETY BAY firm that specialises in selling "exceptional" whisky around the world has obtained iconic status after winning an award.

Gregor Hannah sources rare single casks from Scotland's best distilleries to mature at his discretion and release as high-quality, limited editions under his own label, Lady of the Glen.

And it has now been named the Independent Bottler of the Year at the Whisky Magazine Icons of Whisky 2022 awards, held at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh recently.

Gregor said: "Thank you to Scotland's distillers and the cask-makers from Europe, America and the UK because our small team couldn't release the spirit without them.”

As an independent whisky bottler, Lady of the Glen is based on discovering the rarest of casks, from distilleries in the Speyside, Highland, Lowland and Islay regions, and giving customers the chance to buy from an extremely limited edition.

He began Hannah Whisky Merchants in 2012 from his home in Inverkeithing with two casks of mature malt – a Benrinnes and an Invergordon – that he bought with a bank loan that he said was for a car.

Over the past decade Gregor has built up the business and moved to premises in West Way, Dalgety Bay, where the water of life is bottled by hand at cask strength, with no colourings or chill filtering.

The whisky may be re-racked, as putting it in a different style of cask gives it a more unique flavour, and Gregor sources ex-wine casks from bodegas in Portugal and Spain, vineyards in Italy and Germany, cooperages in France and bourbon hogshead barrels from the USA.

The company website says there are 20 million casks of whisky maturing in private Scottish locations and they set out to bring you “the grandest handful of these”.

And it's clearly paying off, with whisky lovers and connoisseurs embracing the chance to buy bottles of exceptional flavour that are unique, drinkable and collectable.

As well as the UK, one of their biggest markets is Australia while they also export to distributors in Belgium, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Canada.

The team includes Paul McKendrick as brand ambassador and the warehouse team of Gavin Routledge and Alex McAndrew.

Gregor told the Press earlier this year: “It took years to get momentum.

“I started with a small number of casks and small capital but as I was able to buy more casks it grew really quickly.

“We’ve got more than 300 casks now and we’ve built up experience after almost 10 years in business.”