LOT ID: 0624-146
End Date : Aug 07 2024 08:10 PM
Linkwood 1946. Bottled by Gordon & MacPhail. 70cl. 40%. In presentation box.
A rare 1946 Linkwood Speyside single malt whisky bottled in the 1990s or very early 2000s by Gordon & MacPhail. 1946 is the only known 1940s vintage of Linkwood, and only G&M ever had stock, so this is one of very few examples we know of that were made at Linkwood in the immediate post-war period. A fabulous old school sherried Linkwood, elegant and very waxy, with rich fruit and a deep melange of herby, spicy notes. A whisky of genuine complexity and class.
FILLING LEVEL
High Shoulder
Linkwood is a large Speyside distillery making top class single malt whisky for owner Diageo’s portfolio of blends. Such is Linkwood’s importance to the blending industry that very little of its production is officially released, with only the mediocre Flora & Fauna edition and one horribly overpriced Special Release appearing in the last decade or so.
Much more rewarding are the terrific Rare Malts editions of Linkwood bottled from 1995-2005, all from 1970s vintages that showcase the distillery’s fantastically pure spirit style to great effect. There have also been numerous outstanding long-aged Linkwoods by Gordon & MacPhail, who were licensed bottlers of Linkwood for many years and have bottled the oldest Linkwoods yet released, the Private Collection editions from 1953 and 1956, both of which were over 60 years old.
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.
BID | DATE | TIME | |
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£725.00 | 7th August 2024 | 19:59 | |