New Glen Grant from Gordon & MacPhail
Independent Elgin-based bottler Gordon & MacPhail has just announced the release of another whisky, the third in the Mr. George Legacy Series.
Glen Grant 1959 63yo Mr George Legacy, 56.5% vol., is a whisky aged in first-fill sherry casks. According to the manufacturer's note, in its aroma we can expect accents of spices, dried fruits and demerara sugar. In the taste, on the other hand, we should find red fruits from the compote, Seville oranges, mint, raspberries, cocoa and ripe oak.
The latest whisky in the Mr. George Legacy series will soon be available through specialty aging liquor stores, in an edition limited to only 368 bottles. Each will cost the equivalent of £6,499 at retail.
Gordon & MacPhail was founded in 1895, a time when Scotch whisky was hugely popular. By that time, the world had already seen the invention of the continuous distillation apparatus (Coffey columns), the launch of grain whisky production, the introduction of blended whisky, and most importantly, the plague of phylloxera in French vineyards, which opened world markets to an alternative to cognac, which turned out to be Scotch whisky. At the time of its founding by gentlemen James Gordon and John Alexander MacPhail, the company dealt in groceries in the widest possible range, and that included tea, coffee, wine, as well as whisky. In 1915, the company was joined by John Urquhart, who quite quickly proved his usefulness in the field of whisky selection, and this, over time, became the most important commodity of the Gordon & MacPhail company.
In 1933, John's son George Urquhart appeared on the horizon, known affectionately - not quite according to the rules of the English language - as Mr. George. It is to him that the Gordon & MacPhail form owes its unwavering position in the world of Scotch whisky. He and his father are credited with an impressive, if not legendary, stock of barrel-aged whiskey owned by the company. In 1968 Mr. George launched the now legendary single malt whisky series called Connoisseur's Choice. This was happening at a time when hardly anyone had ever heard of the single malt whisky category, and almost all Scotch whisky sales were in the blended whisky segment. However, Mr. George decided to share with the world the joy of tasting malt whiskies, which are the basis of the blends made from it. And started a trend that continues to this day.
The importance of the whiskeys in Gordon & MacPhail's possession can be seen in the fact that for many years they were the ones who bottled semi-official editions of liquor from distilleries that did not have their own official offerings. Thanks to Gordon & MacPhail, many years ago we had the opportunity to find out what whisky from Mortlach, Strathisla, Longmorn, Imperial, Glenburgie, Ardmore, Linkwood and many others tasted like, long before the owners of each distillery decided to show the world under their own banner. It is an open secret that Gordon & MacPhail and the Macallan brand work closely together to prepare and bottle some of the rarest and oldest editions of whisky from this legendary distillery.
In 2010, Mortlach 70yo was released as part of the new Generations series. A year later, the second installment of the series, Glenlivet 1940 70yo, saw the light of day. In 2015, the Mortlach 75yo was launched.
In 1993, the company bought the closed and to the core looted Benromach distillery in Forres (Speyside). Although it took the new owners five years to get the distillery up and running, its startup embodied the great dream of successive generations of the Urquhart family to be not only a distributor, but also a producer of Scotch whisky. The official opening of Benromach in 1998 was attended by Charles, then Prince of Wales, now on the royal throne.
In 2019, construction began on Gordon & MacPhail's newest "baby," The Cairn distillery, located on the edge of the Cairngorm Mountains National Park. The distillery, which recently opened, offers tours and tastings, and the flavor profile the distillery intends to achieve in whisky production is indicated in the form of editions of blended malt whiskies made from Gordon & MacPhail's stock, and showing how The Cairn single malt whisky will taste after 12, 18, 25, 30, and even 57 years have passed. This alone should be a testament to the potential of this bottler.
At the House of Whisky Online you can find extremely an extensive range of whiskies bottled by Gordon & MacPhail. Among them are old editions, both in terms of bottling date and the age of the liquid contained in the bottles. At the time of preparing this material, the oldest vintage G&M whisky in our range was Glenlivet 1938, but you can find a whole range of others from the 1940s,., 50., whether 60. last century. An impressive collection indeed, proving the best of what Gordon & MacPhail can do.
[19.04.2023 / Photo: Gordon & MacPhail]