Glencraig 1970 - Connoisseurs Choice Miniature

Glencraig was an experimental single malt whisky made on Lomond stills at the Glenburgie distillery in Speyside between 1958 and 1981. Lomond stills resemble pot stills from the ground up but instead of a traditional swan neck and lyne arm at the top they have a rectification column with perforated metal plates (as in a continuous still), giving greater control over the distillation process and thus enabling the distiller to make a greater variety of spirit styles.

Glencraig was never officially bottled by Glenburgie and, like the standard pot-distilled Glenburgie spirit, which is used for the Ballantine’s brand, the vast majority of Glencraig was always destined for blended Scotch whiskies. The first Glencraig bottlings appeared in the 1980s from Gordon & MacPhail, who have bottled licensed Glenburgies for decades, and these were soon followed by superb Glencraigs from Cadenhead’s, Signatory Vintage and the SMWS among others.

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.