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Ladyburn 48 Year Old, Statement No. 52
This whisky comes from a distillery that no longer exists. Ladyburn, distilled 28th September 1973, matured for 48 years in cask reference 5679, and bottled by Blackadder in June 2022 at its natural strength of 44.9% abv. Just 96 decanters were filled, Raw Cask, straight from the wood, each presented in its gift case.
Ladyburn operated for nine years. William Grant & Sons, the family behind Glenfiddich and Balvenie, built it inside their Girvan grain complex in 1966 to supply malt for blending. By 1975 the stills were silent, and shortly afterward they were dismantled. Nothing of the distillery survives except the whisky it made, and after half a century, precious little of that. Ladyburn is one of the rarest Lowland malts in existence, and 1973 stock comes from the distillery's final years. What is in this decanter cannot be made again by anyone, anywhere.
Casks of Ladyburn surface so rarely that each one is an event. This is genuine last of its kind liquid: a 48 year old survivor from a nine year window that closed in 1975, carrying a Blackadder Statement number, the family's mark for the definitive casks in their care. Ninety six bottles stand between this whisky and history.
About Blackadder Statement
Blackadder International was founded in 1995 by Robin Tucek and remains a family operation, run today with his daughter Hannah and son Michael. The house philosophy has never changed: the cask is king. Every release is bottled without chill filtration and without added colour, and the Raw Cask series goes further still, bottled straight from the cask so that nothing standing between the wood and the glass is lost.
Statement is Blackadder's flagship series. A Statement number is reserved for the casks the family judges definitive, the finest whiskies to pass through their warehouse in a given era. The rarest of these are presented in glass decanters rather than standard bottles. This is Statement No. 52.
Distillery profile
- Built in 1966 by William Grant & Sons inside their Girvan grain distillery complex in Ayrshire, to produce Lowland malt for the Grant's blends.
- Silent by 1975. When Girvan's grain operation needed room to expand, Ladyburn was closed and its stills were dismantled. The distillery is gone, permanently.
- Its working life spanned barely nine years, making surviving stock finite in the strictest sense: one of the rarest Lowland single malts in existence.
- The 1973 distillations belong to the final years of production, drawn from the last casks the distillery would ever fill.
- For collectors, Ladyburn sits in the small circle of lost distilleries whose every remaining cask is irreplaceable.
Cask profile
Cask reference 5679 was filled on 28th September 1973 and slept for forty eight years before Blackadder bottled it in June 2022. At 44.9% abv, the strength is exactly where nearly five decades of Scottish maturation left it: no water added, no chill filtration, no colouring.
As a Raw Cask release it was drawn directly from the wood. Fine cask sediment may be present in the decanter. Blackadder considers that sediment part of the whisky, not a flaw, and bottles it deliberately.
The outturn is 96 decanters worldwide, each presented in its gift case with a certificate of ownership. The Whiskey Lab's allocation is a small fraction of that number.
Certificate of Ownership
Each decanter ships in its presentation gift case and is accompanied by a certificate of ownership issued in the purchaser's name by Blackadder International. Your name, on the record of this cask, permanently.
On Tasting Notes
You will not find Blackadder's tasting notes here. By design.
Blackadder shares every technical detail a curious drinker could ask for: distillery, cask number, distillation date, bottling date, ABV, outturn. Everything that makes the liquid what it is. What they leave to you is the experience of drinking it.
Tasting notes shape expectation. They tell you what you should find before you find it. Blackadder's position is that the spirit in your glass should speak for itself, and what you find there belongs to you. Pour it neat. Add a few drops of water if it asks for it. Take your time. The cask did.
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Brand | Blackadder International |
| Series | Statement No. 52, Raw Cask |
| Format | Glass decanter in presentation gift case |
| Style | Single Malt Scotch Whisky, single cask |
| Region | Lowland |
| Distillery | Ladyburn Distillery, Girvan (closed 1975, dismantled) |
| Age | 48 years |
| ABV | 44.9% |
| Volume | 700ml |
| Cask reference | 5679 |
| Distilled | 28th September 1973 |
| Bottled | June 2022 |
| Outturn | 96 bottles worldwide |
| Cask strength | Yes, natural strength after 48 years, bottled straight from the cask |
| Non-chill filtered | Yes |
| Natural colour | Yes |
| Certificate | Certificate of ownership issued in the purchaser's name |
| Availability | Open release |
The Whiskey Lab's Quality Commitments
- Single Cask & Small Batch: Ensuring a unique profile for each release.
- Natural Colour & Non-Chill Filtered: Preserving the authentic character and purity of the whisky.
- Honest Storytelling: Every cask profile written by people who actually handled the liquid.
