Golden year for whisky range

Single malt firm marks half century of series with new bottlings

Gordon & MacPhail has enhanced its Connoisseurs Choice malts to mark the anniversary

Gordon & MacPhail, the family-owned whisky specialist, is celebrating 50 years of its Connoisseurs Choice range with the addition of a new series of single malts aged for at least 30 years.

The range was first launched in 1968 by George Urquhart, second generation member of the Urquhart family, which owns the company, and has included whiskies from almost 100 of Scotland’s distilleries in more than 2000 bottlings.

The new series of releases, which like all whiskies in the range are non-chill filtered and natural coloured, features single malts from distilleries such as Speyside’s Mortlach and Linkwood as well as Islay’s Caol Ila.

Our new unique expressions from revered distilleries will appeal to a wide range of tastes.

Each whisky has been chosen for bottling by associate director of whisky supply and grandson of George, Stuart Urquhart, and are available in decanter-style bottles inside wooden presentation boxes.

Stephen Rankin, director of prestige at Gordon & MacPhail and also a grandson of George Urquhart, said while his grandfather George was thought an “eccentric” when he first launched the single malt range in the 1960s, due to the then strong prevalence of blended whiskies, fifty years of success had proved his decision was a wise one.

“Today, he is heralded as one of the industry’s pioneers, having provided whisky lovers with the opportunity to explore many whiskies never readily available as single malts,” said Rankin.

“Our new releases celebrate this proud heritage, presenting unique expressions from revered distilleries that will appeal to a wide range of tastes around the world.”