Cadenhead did not start as a whisky company, but as a wine and distillation trade: founded in 1842 by George Duncan in Aberdeen, and named after his brother-in-law William Cadenhead who took over the business completely in 1858. Under later leadership, the company increasingly specialized in sourcing and bottling exceptional casks of whisky from distilleries across Scotland.
In 1972, Cadenhead moved from Aberdeen to Campbeltown after more than 130 years, when J&A Mitchell & Co — owner of Springbank distillery — took over the company. Since then, everything has been managed in-house: from cask selection to storage and bottling, true to the same principle with which it once began — whisky without additives, just as it comes from the cask.