Duncan Taylor was founded on May 27, 1938, in Glasgow, initially as a cask trader and trading company: the company bought and traded casks of whisky, without bottling itself. Over the decades, it built up an impressive stock of rare, old casks.
In 2001, Euan Shand, who previously worked for the Glendronach distillery, acquired Duncan Taylor and its entire stock. Shand moved the company to Huntly in Aberdeenshire — his hometown — and established a full-fledged bottling facility there. In 2014, Duncan Taylor moved again, this time to a converted former supermarket on King Street in Huntly. Since April 2024, Shawn Smith has been the owner.
The approach paid off: between 2006 and 2011, Duncan Taylor was repeatedly named "Independent Bottler of the Year" by Whisky Magazine. The company still bottles according to the same principles: cask strength, without coloring, and without chill filtration.