Scapa 1993-2009 - Gordon & MacPhail

Scapa is an unusual distillery, and sadly little-seen these days. Scapa is one of the overlooked gems in Pernod Ricard’s portfolio, but its small size and remote location on Orkney - where Scapa has long been in the shadow of its more famous neighbour, Highland Park - have historically worked against the distillery. These factors, along with sporadic production due to mothballing and refurbishment closures in the past led to gaps in the maturing stock inventory and a history of well-regarded but often short-lived or overpriced official bottlings.

Independent bottlings of Scapa are rare, with only Gordon & MacPhail (who were licensed bottlers for the distillery) bottling more than a handful of casks in the last decade. At auction, older bottlings by G&M, the Scotch Malt Whisky Society and the Italian bottler Moon Import are highly sought after, while more recent examples of aged Scapa for G&M’s Connoisseurs Choice Cask Strength series probably offer the best value.

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.