William Cadenhead takes over
William Cadenhead joined the business around 1853.1,6 He took it over in 1858, after Duncan died, and Aberdeen knew him better as a poet than as a wine merchant.1,2,6
Robert Duthie
After William Cadenhead died on 11 December 1904, Robert W. Duthie took over and built the firm's name on single malt whisky and Demerara rum.1,2,6 He also began vatting, or mixing, the malts he could get, rather than only bottling single malts, and developed the house blends Putachieside and The Hielanman.1,2,6 Duthie died in 1931, with the business struggling in the Depression, and the firm passed to his two sisters.2,3,6
Ann Oliver in charge
1931–1972His sisters put long-serving employee Ann Oliver in charge, but by the early 1960s the firm's paperwork had slipped and poor decisions had set in.1,6,7 From the early 1960s it also sold single malts in tall bottles at higher strengths, until these stopped by the early 1970s.1,6,7
The Christie's sale
When Ann Oliver retired, nobody knew what the stock filling the Netherkirkgate premises was worth.2,3,6 Christie's sold all of it in London on 3 and 4 October 1972, the largest sale of wines and spirits in Britain to that date.2,3,6 Hedley Wright, owner of J&A Mitchell & Co Ltd, saw buying the firm as a way to get glass bottles, then in short supply, but they never arrived.1,4,5
In Campbeltown
It has bottled everything in Campbeltown since 1972.
Releases by year
Bottles in Peated bottled by William Cadenhead's, by release year.
| Year distilled | Bottles |
|---|---|
| 1990 | 1 |
| 1992 | 1 |
| 1994 | 1 |
| 1995 | 1 |
| 1997 | 1 |
| 2013 | 1 |
| 2014 | 1 |
| 2016 | 1 |
| 2018 | 2 |
| 2019 | 2 |
| 2021 | 2 |
| 2022 | 2 |
| 2023 | 2 |
| 2024 | 8 |
| 2025 | 20 |
| 2026 | 34 |