Balblair 1964 - 17 Year Old - Gordon & MacPhail - Connoisseurs Choice

Located in the Northern Highlands a few miles from Glenmorangie, Balblair’s whisky is old-school coastal Highland style. The original Balblair distillery was founded in 1790 but production was moved in 1872 to a new distillery which was subsequently rebuilt in 1894 and then mothballed from 1911-1949. Balblair was acquired by Hiram Walker in 1970, became part of Allied Distillers in 1988 and was finally sold to Inver House Distillers in 1996. Inver House have been owned by Thai Beverages plc since 2006.

Sporadic official bottlings of Balblair occurred prior to the Inver House takeover, and Gordon & MacPhail also bottled Balblair semi-officially under licence for many years. Inver House issued a memorable 33-year-old Balblair in 2000 before launching a popular vintage range in 2007. The core range reverted to age statement releases in 2019. Most of the classic indie Balblairs are from Gordon & MacPhail, with notable releases also from bottlers including the SMWS, Adelphi and Douglas Laing.

Founded in Elgin as a merchant grocer and wine and spirits wholesaler in 1895, Gordon & MacPhail are one of the oldest independent whisky bottlers in Scotland. Co-founder James Gordon owned shares in Longmorn, Strathisla and Glen Grant, and Gordon & MacPhail were soon bottling officially licensed single malts from several distilleries and sending empty casks from their wine business to be filled with new make spirit and returned for maturation in their Elgin warehouses.

Gordon & MacPhail pioneered high strength single malts at 100 proof (57%) in the 1950s, and in 1968 the company launched Connoisseurs Choice, one of the first integrated ranges of small batch independent whisky bottlings. After finally becoming distillers themselves with the purchase of Benromach in 1993, in 2010 Gordon & MacPhail bottled the first 70-year-old single malt whisky (a Mortlach 1938) and in 2020 the company released the first ever 80-year-old whisky: Glenlivet 1940.