Glenury Royal

One of three distilleries permitted to use the word "Royal" in their name, the other two being Royal Lochnagar and Royal Brackla, Glenury Royal was founded in 1825 by Robert Barclay in the eastern Highlands. The distillery was originally built with its own maltings, which were closed in the late 19th century, and passed through a number of owners until it finally closed its doors for good in 1985.

Often described as a spicy, malt-forward spirit, bottlings of Glenury Royal are now very rare with some excellent examples from Diageo as part of their Rare Malts series and, more recently, the Special Releases series. Gordon and MacPhail and Signatory have also released excellent single cask editions, which are worth tracking down.