Gordon & MacPhail
History
Gordon & MacPhail is the oldest bottler in continuous operation in Scotland. The company was established on 25 May 1895 as a grocery. The company's name is derived from the names of the two founders, James Gordon and John Alexander MacPhail.
One of the first employees was John Urquhart. He soon excelled with his skills in selecting casks and blending the malts. John Urquhart was also the first to introduce maturation in Spanish ex-Sherry casks. This came natural to G&M, since as wine merchants they had the necessary casks at hand. J. Urquhart also began to mature the malts for longer than what was usual at a time when cask maturation was actually limited to a minimum. In 1915 Urquhart was eventually appointed senior partner, and after the death of the founders he took over business completely. Today G&M is still run by the Urquhart family.
In 1993 G&M bought the Benromach distillery. After a period of renovation Prince Charles reopened the distillery in 1998. Thus G&M's supply of malts is secured for the future.
Range
Due to its long history, G&M has an impressive amount of casks in stock. The company is the licensed bottler for some distilleries that don't offer original bottlings. By now these individually labelled bottlings are regarded as original bottlings by connoisseurs.
G&M also still owns cask from distilleries that don't sell to independent bottlers anymore. Multiple distilleries ran out of old casks. G&M gave the required casks back to the distillery and in return received younger casks.
Through long-term planning and storage management, G&M also managed to bottle the oldest whiskies in the world. By now they have released one Mortlach and two Glenlivet single malts, all 70 years old.
The sixties saw the final breakthrough for G&M. With the Connoisseurs Choice series they were internationally successful in important export markets. The success of the Connoisseurs Choice series is now regarded to have triggered the founding of other independent bottlers.
Contrary to many of their competitors, G&M gives tasting notes for each bottling.
Series
In this series the single malts are bottled at cask strength and without chill filtration or additional colouring. Each bottle states the cask number, the distillation date and the bottling date.
The Connoisseurs Choice Series started G&M's international success in the 60s. Some of these vintage whiskies wouldn't have been available as single malts if it wasn't for this series. All the whiskies are not chill filtered and uncoloured.
Distillery Labels
For this series each distillery gets their own specially-designed label. Meanwhile some malts are also marketed officially as licensed bottlings.
Dunkeld Atholl Brose
This whisky liqueur is made from various single malts, honey, herbs and oatmeal.
Generations
Gordon & MacPhail has long-running trade relations with many Scottish distilleries. This enabled them to have new make filled into their own casks at many distilleries. Some of these bottlings are more than 70 years old. Often the whisky survived the whole distillery.
MacPhail's
The spirit for MacPhail's was distilled specifically for G&M, who then let the whisky mature in specially selected casks. It's unknown which distilleries produced the whisky.
In this series each single malt is personally selected by the CEO of the company.
Private Collection Ultra
These exceptional, rare bottlings are selected by members of the Urquhart family.
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee
This Glen Grant was distilled on 6 February 1952, four days before the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. To celebrate her diamond jubilee, the malt was bottled exactly 60 years later.
As the name suggests, the Rare Old series comprises rare and old whiskies. Many of the distilleries have meanwhile seized production.
Rare Vintage
In cooperation with the respective distilleries, the label of each bottling was individually designed.
G&M has excellent business connections with the renowned Macallan distillery. Under the Speymalt label only malts from this distillery are bottled.
This series comprises whiskies from various Scottish distilleries, among them Bunnahabhain, Glen Scotia, Glenglassaugh, Glenrothes, Glenturret, Highland Park and Tamdhu.
