Glenburgie 1963-2003 - Gordon & MacPhail

Glenburgie is a large Speyside distillery whose production of over 4m litres per year is almost entirely destined for the Ballantine’s blend. The distillery’s association with Ballantine’s goes back as far as the 1930s when Glenburgie was brought out of mothballs by new owner Hiram Walker. As well as its traditional pot-distilled whisky, Glenburgie made a separate spirit called Glencraig on a pair of Lomond stills from 1958-1981. Chivas Brothers (Pernod Ricard) bought Glenburgie in 2005 following a major reconstruction during which the distillery was completely demolished and rebuilt. 

Official bottlings of Glenburgie have always been extremely rare due to its importance to Ballantine’s, although a handful of new official bottlings under the Ballantine’s brand have appeared since 2017. Gordon & MacPhail have been releasing licensed bottlings of Glenburgie since the 1980s and other independent bottlings (including some excellent Glencraigs) have become more frequent in recent years.

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.