Whisky Focus - Gordon & MacPhail ‘Private Collection’ Range Gets A New Look

Elgin based and still family owned and run whisky creator Gordon & MacPhail today unveiled a new look for its ‘Private Collection’ range, a range of ultra-rare and exclusive single malts personally selected by members of the Urquhart family, owners of the company for four generations.

Among Gordon & MacPhail’s maturing stocks are casks from no fewer than twenty-six closed, mothballed or demolished Scotch distilleries – a liquid archive unrivalled anywhere else in the world. The new look for the Private Collection range launches with two new whiskies, firstly a very rare single malt from one of those closed distillery's, Inverleven 1985 33 Year Old and the second whisky debuting the new look bottle and packaging is a Glenrothes 1974 44 Year Old single malt.

In 1985, Gordon & MacPhail sent Cask 562, a refill bourbon barrel, to the Inverleven Distillery located in Dumbarton within the area known in whisky terms as the ‘Scottish Lowlands’. The distillery had been making spirit for only forty-seven years and new-make would only flow for another six years before the Inverleven still was mothballed. The site was demolished in 2002, never to produce again. This exceptional single malt has matured for thirty-three years before being bottled at cask strength (ABV 57.4%). It has a RRP of £1,000

The second ‘Private Collection’ release dates back to 1974 when a refill Sherry puncheon was filled at Glenrothes Distillery in Speyside. The rich, mahogany whisky has an ABV of 49.5% and has a RRP of £1,250

Presented in ridged heavyweight bottles housed in veneered wooden boxes, both ‘Private Collection’ releases were selected for bottling by Stuart Urquhart, Gordon & MacPhail’s Associate Director of Whisky Supply and member of the fourth generation of the owning family.

Further ultra-rare releases from the new ‘Private Collection’ will be revealed in coming months.

Stephen Rankin, Gordon & MacPhail’s Director of Prestige and member of the Urquhart family, said: "For over a century my family has been maturing whisky and using our skills, experience, and passion for single malts to recognise exactly the right moment to bottle a spirit that will be loved by discerning whisky drinkers around the globe. These two exquisite malts are complemented perfectly by the beautiful new packaging."

Both the new Gordon & MacPhail ‘Private Collection’ Inverleven 1985 33 Year Old and Glenrothes 1974 44 Year Old will be available from November from specialist online whisky shops such  as The Whisky Exchange and Master of Malt
 

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