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Closed distillery whisky you can still buy

Whisky from closed and revived distilleries such as Port Ellen, Brora and Rosebank that UK retailers have in stock, with dated prices and no hype.

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Yes, you can still buy whisky from closed distilleries in the UK: bottles distilled before the closure at silent sites such as St Magdalene, Convalmore and Littlemill, and at revived ones such as Port Ellen, Brora and Rosebank. The stock is finite, so the list below changes as bottles sell and new releases arrive.

For the history of each site, see Whiskipedia on lost distilleries and our lost distilleries page, which maps them.

What counts as a closed-distillery whisky

A closed-distillery whisky was distilled at a distillery that has since stopped making spirit. For a distillery that has reopened, only spirit made before the closure counts: new Port Ellen, Brora or Rosebank is the product of a working distillery, whatever the label says about heritage. We date the spirit from the vintage on the label, or, where there is none, from the age statement: a 40-year-old Port Ellen has to predate the 2024 reopening, and so the 1983 closure.

Two kinds of bottle are left out. The Lost Distillery Company blends malts from working distilleries to recreate the style of closed ones, so none of its liquid comes from the closed sites. Blends that include a closed distillery’s whisky, such as Johnnie Walker’s Ghost & Rare series, are blends first, and sit with their brand.

In stock now

Every bottle here is tagged closed-distillery from its distillery and its vintage or age, lowest current shelf price first. Many are single casks or small releases, so match the cask number and vintage before comparing two shops.

Revived distilleries: Port Ellen, Brora and Rosebank

Three of the best-known closed distilleries now make spirit again, which is why the dates on the label matter.

Port Ellen (Islay) closed in April 1983 and reopened in 2024. Pre-closure examples include the Gordon & MacPhail Port Ellen 34 Year Old 1979 Rare Old, an independent bottling at 46% ABV (£1,699.00 at Tyndrum Whisky), and the Port Ellen 40 Year Old 9 Rogue Casks at 51% ABV (currently unavailable). Port Ellen’s peat level isn’t on these labels; our peated tag follows the distillery’s usual style. See every Port Ellen bottle.

Brora (Highlands), founded in 1819 as Clynelish and renamed in 1969, closed in 1983 and reopened in 2021. The Brora 40 Year Old 1978 200th Anniversary is a 1978 vintage at 49.2% ABV (currently unavailable). See Brora.

Rosebank (Lowlands) closed in 1993 and filled its first new-make cask on 18 July 2023. The Rosebank 31 Year Old, at 48.1% ABV, carries no vintage, but at 31 years old it was distilled before the closure (£1,750.00 at The Whisky Shop). See Rosebank.

Why prices are high

No more of this spirit can be made, and every bottle opened shrinks what is left. Most of it is also old: decades in cask mean decades of evaporation and warehouse costs before a bottle is filled. Our guide to why old whisky is expensive sets out those costs. A price is what a shop asks today, not a forecast of what the bottle will be worth.

How we chose: check date and coverage

The list is every bottle tagged closed-distillery with a current in-stock offer from the UK retailers we check: Abbey Whisky, DrinkSupermarket.com, Hard To Find Whisky, Loch Fyne Whiskies, Milroy’s of Soho, The Whisky Shop, Tyndrum Whisky and Whisky Me, in our 24 October 2026 catalogue check. Loch Fyne Whiskies and The Whisky Shop count as one owner. Prices and stock change; the live table on each bottle page is current, and the retailer’s checkout price is the one that counts. Read how we compare prices.

Questions

When did Port Ellen close and reopen?
Port Ellen on Islay, founded in 1825, closed in 1983 in the same wave of DCL closures as Brora. Diageo reopened the distillery in 2024, with a formal opening on 19 March, so the name now covers two eras: the pre-1983 stock and the new spirit, which must mature for at least three years before it can be sold as Scotch whisky.
When did Brora close and reopen?
Brora closed in 1983 and reopened in 2021. The distillery was founded in 1819 as Clynelish and took the name Brora in 1969. Bottles distilled before 1983, such as the 1978 vintage of the 40 Year Old 200th Anniversary release, are closed-distillery stock; spirit made since 2021 belongs to the revived distillery.
When did Rosebank close?
Rosebank, a Lowland distillery founded in 1840, closed in 1993. Ian Macleod bought the brand and the site in 2017 and filled the first cask of new-make spirit on 18 July 2023. A Rosebank old enough to have been distilled before 1993 is pre-closure stock.
Is Johnnie Walker Ghost & Rare from a closed distillery?
Only in part. Ghost & Rare is a Johnnie Walker Blue Label blend that includes whisky from a closed distillery, such as Glenury Royal, alongside the other malt and grain whiskies a blended Scotch needs. It is a blend, not a single malt from that distillery.

About the author

Tom Gregan

· Writer

Tom came to whisky by way of cocktails and rum. As the mind behind CocktailDB.com he spent years on citrus balance, bitters and modifiers before John dragged him over to neat spirits.