Speymalt from The Macallan Distillery Vintage 1950 (Bottled 2006) G&M /43%/ 0.7l

Gordon & MacPhail has been distributing whisky since the late 19th century, and its current annual offering includes several hundred products.

Speymalt from The Macallan Distillery is the result of over a century of cooperation between the two companies, and a permanent fixture in Gordon & MacPhail's core range. Few people know how many casks of The Macallan lie in the company's warehouses in Elgin, but we do know that the distillery's owners have repeatedly bought rare vintages of their own whisky from the distillery. Speymalt is bottled in vintage versions, and the 1950 Vintage presented here is a real jewel in the brand's crown. The whisky was aged for over 55 years and bottled at 43% abv in 2006. (Note by Gordon & MacPhail.)

Nose: rich, baked fruit, plums, figs and sultanas, wrapped in a subtle hint of smoke; a drop of water releases the sweetness of toffee syrup, Christmas fruitcake and the scent of lightly charred oak.

Palate : Sherry and oak merely announce the arrival of a rich, fruity sweetness carried on a wave of slightly burnt barley malt and liquorice; the water evokes a distant whiff of peat smoke, bitterness of oak and burnt fruit.