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Gordon &
MacPhail release Glen Grant 1948 70 year
old, the oldest expression ever released
from the Speyside distillery.
Elgin
based and family owned and run whisky
creator Gordon & MacPhail today unveiled
the latest addition to its ‘Private
Collection’ range, the Gordon & MacPhail
Glen Grant 1948 70 Year Old, the oldest
expression from the Speyside distillery
ever bottled.
This rare Glen Grant 1948 Cask 2154 was
distilled at a time when very little
whisky was being distilled in Scotland
due to rationing still being in place
following the end of the Second World
War. It was filled to cask, a first fill
Sherry butt, on 11 June 1948, six years
before barley rationing restrictions
were lifted following the war. 70 years
on, Cask 2154 has produced only 210
decanters of the rare Glen Grant whisky.
Gordon & MacPhail's ‘Private Collection’
comprises of a selection of rare single
malts from celebrated, little-known, or
closed distilleries personally selected
by members of the Urquhart family,
owners of Gordon & MacPhail and I am
sure you will agree this rare Glen Grant
1948 single malt certainly appears to be
worthy of its place in this line up and
given Gordon & MacPhail's past record
for bottling rather outstanding
expressions from the Glen Grant
distillery including a few Glen Grant
1948 vintages which they have bottled in
the past at a younger age. More recently
I recall tasting a
Glen Grant
1954 first fill sherry
matured whisky which was outstanding and
I would be confident this new Glen Grant
1948 could be something rather special.
Members of four generations of the
Urquhart family nurtured Cask 2154. John
Urquhart selected the cask with his son,
George, back in 1948. George oversaw
storage of the cask in the fabled
Warehouse No. 5 at Glen Grant
Distillery. His eldest son, Ian,
monitored the whisky and, in May 1968,
arranged for the Sherry butt to be moved
to Gordon & MacPhail’s Elgin warehouse.
Ian’s nephew, Stuart, the company’s
Operations Director, selected Cask 2154
for bottling on 19 October 2018.
Stephen Rankin, Gordon & MacPhail’s
Director of Prestige and member of the
fourth generation of the Urquhart
family, reflected: "Our family has
matured single malt whiskies for 123
years, each generation passing on its
knowledge of how to combine spirit and
oak to create exquisite whiskies. Four
generations of my family have carefully
nurtured Cask 2154 over its 70 years to
produce this unique whisky.
"My great-grandfather, John, selected
the first fill Sherry butt in 1948 to
fill with new-make spirit from Glen
Grant. My family has patiently watched
over this cask, regularly monitoring and
sampling the whisky, recognising the
right moment to bottle it at its
ultimate peak. This masterpiece
epitomises the skill and craft involved
in matching a cask to new-make spirit,
as well as our dedication to creating
unique and intriguing whiskies.
"Thanks to the notable influence of the
Sherry butt on the spirit over the
years, the elegant whisky displays
flavours of dried fruit, orange zest,
and cracked black pepper whilst
maintaining a long, smooth charred oak
finish. The remarkable 70-year-old malt
also has delicate smoky notes, a
reminder that, in 1948, the distillery
would have been using traditional
practices on their floor maltings and
local peat as a fuel."
Bottled at a rather impressive cask
strength of 48.6% ABV, even after 70
years in the cask maturing, it is
presented in an engraved, hand-blown
crystal decanter. It is framed in a
striking wooden presentation case, with
doors which smoothly slide open to
reveal the precious contents.
The Gordon & MacPhail Glen Grant 1948
has a UK RRP of Ł17,500 and will be available from specialist online whisky retailers such as The Whisky Exchange
and
Master of Malt
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