Glenlochy 1977-1994 - Gordon & MacPhail - Connoisseurs Choice

Glenlochy is one of the overlooked lost distilleries of the Highlands. The distillery was founded in 1898 but production was relatively small and Glenlochy’s output was only ever destined for the blending vats. Glenlochy was closed in 1983 by Diageo forerunners DCL during the whisky lake crisis and the distillery buildings were almost completely demolished in 1991 to make way for a hotel.

Glenlochy was never officially bottled as a single malt during its lifetime, but a handful of superb Rare Malts editions of the 1969 vintage appeared in the mid-1990s. Outstanding independent bottlings of Glenlochy have been released by Cadenhead’s, Signatory, Gordon & MacPhail and the SMWS, among others. At the time of writing in 2024 there has been only one new release of Glenlochy since 2015 so it appears that the last stock of this very fine old school Highland single malt whisky may soon be finished.

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.