Glenrothes 1961-1996 - Gordon & MacPhail

Glenrothes is a much-loved Speyside distillery with a couple of notable claims to fame, namely that it was the keystone malt for Berry Bros & Rudd’s Cutty Sark blend from its launch in the 1920s, and in the 1990s it was the first distillery to specialise in vintage single malt releases. 

Founded in 1879, Glenrothes was expanded three times between 1963 and 1989, bringing the total number of stills to ten with a hefty production capacity of over 5.5m litres per year. The spirit seems to perform best with medium to long term maturation in sherry casks.

After sporadic old vintage releases in the 1970s under Highland Distillers (later fully acquired by Edrington), Glenrothes launched a core range of vintage single malts in 1994. A string of terrific vintage releases followed, including some astonishing 1960s casks. Although the vintage range has now been dropped, Glenrothes is remarkably consistent - just about any sherried release over 15 years old is likely to be terrific whisky.

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.