Strathisla 1967-2004 - 37 Year Old - Duncan Taylor - Rare Auld - Single Cask 1332

One of the greatest of the Speyside distilleries, Strathisla distillery’s whisky is equally at home in sherry or bourbon casks but is not heavily marketed as a single malt, as its spirit is a crucial ingredient in owner Pernod Ricard’s portfolio of blended whiskies. The only official bottlings released are the standard 12-year-old and a series of single cask bottlings available only at the group’s distillery visitor centres.

Thankfully, Gordon & MacPhail have long been a licensed bottler of Strathisla and hold a very considerable stock of Strathisla casks dating back decades. G&M have bottled a remarkable number of superb Strathislas, from the extraordinary 1937 vintage bottles through to the recent 65-year-old Strathisla 1953. At auction, away from the famous vintages and long-aged sherrybombs, mid-aged Strathislas from Gordon & MacPhail are generally excellent value.

Duncan Taylor was founded in 1938, originally as a cask broker. The Glasgow-based company was acquired in the 1960s by the American blender and entrepreneur Abe Rosenberg, who amassed a large stock of maturing casks. Following Rosenberg’s death in 1994 the Duncan Taylor business lay dormant until the early 2000s, when the trustees offered some casks to businessmen Euan Shand and Alan Gordon. 

Shand and Gordon were so impressed with Duncan Taylor’s stock that they bought the company in 2002 and began bottling some of Rosenberg’s best casks. A string of extraordinary bottlings of Longmorn, Macallan, Bowmore and Springbank were released under the now defunct Peerless range and today Duncan Taylor, with Shand in full control since 2006, is established as one of Scotland’s most interesting independent bottlers.