Glencadam 1974-1995 - Gordon & MacPhail - Connoisseurs Choice

Glencadam is a relatively small Highland distillery that often flies under the radar of many malt fans. Owned by Angus Dundee Distillers, who bought Glencadam from Allied Domecq in 2003, the distillery celebrated a momentous occasion in 2021 with the installation of a water-wheel to generate their electricity - the original distillery built in 1825 was equipped with a similar water-wheel that powered operations for almost 100 years.

In common with its stablemate, Tomintoul, the vast majority of Glencadam’s gentle Highland single malt goes into Angus Dundee’s many blended whiskies. Prior to the Angus Dundee takeover official bottlings of Glencadam were almost non-existent, but there is now a solid core range enhanced by frequent single cask and small batch editions. Independent Glencadams are plentiful, with older vintages from the usual suspects generally very good value, especially at auction.

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.