WORLD'S OLDEST WHISKY - MORTLACH OR MACALLAN

At the end of last week I received an email from David Urquhart of Gordon & MacPhail giving details of their latest single malt bottling.

Released under Gordon & MacPhail's Generations range, Mortlach 70 Years Old is the oldest bottled single malt Scotch whisky in the world.

The new-make spirit from Speyside’s Mortlach Distillery was filled into the cask on 15th October 1938 by John Urquhart, my grandfather. Exactly 70 years later, the decision was made to carefully empty the cask and bottle the contents.

Each bottle is beautifully presented in a tear-shaped hand-blown crystal decanter with an elegant silver stopper. The decanter nestles in a stylish silver base and is framed in a handmade Brazilian Rosewood box, created using wood from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certified sources.

Mortlach 70 Years Old was matured in a Spanish oak, ex-bodega sherry hogshead cask, which yielded 54 full-size (70 / 75cl) and 162 (20cl) small decanters bottled at cask strength (46.1% ABV). The large decanter will have a RRP of £10,000 and the small decanter a price of £2,500.

You may already have read about this whisky since it has attracted a lot of media attention as the oldest bottling of single malt ever offered for sale. If you would like some more information, follow the link below
http://www.gordonandmacphail.com/mortlach70/

For those of you who weren't aware, Gordon & MacPhail had previously bottled a Macallan from 1938 at 65 years old. We currently offer this dram for sale and we believe it to be the oldest single malt ever offered for sale over the bar.

WHISKY LIST

Just over a month ago I told you that I had produced an updated whisky list. Well the good news is it's now available to view online at

http://www.thegrillaberdeen.co.uk/whisky.htm

The bad news you could say is that it's already out of date.

The following bottles are now finished
Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist
Caol Ila G&M 25yo Private Collection

Some good news though - we have managed to acquire some new bottlings and will be putting them on sale shortly

the much raved about Ardbeg Rollercoaster,
the specially commissioned Dee Dram from Dalmore (helping to raise funds to protect the environment of the River Dee),
and a cask strength bottling of Kilkerran from Glengyle distillery in Campbeltown, one of the first bottlings from this new distillery and aged for 3 years in a Port Pipe.

OLD MACALLAN

A couple of years ago I bought a Gordon & MacPhail bottling labelled as Pride of Strathspey, Distilled 1938. I suspected that this might be a bottling of Macallan since the firm has always had access to a significant number of casks.


I was pleasantly surprised to read the latest blog from The Whisky Exchange which confirmed my suspicions, see the full article at http://blog.thewhiskyexchange.com/2010/02/secrets-from-sukhinders-stash-pride-of-strathspey-1938/.


At £30 a dram this is surely a bargain for anyone wishing to sample an old Macallan.

Malts of the Month

Our Malts of the Month for March are

Non-Smoky - Glenmorangie Original.

Smoky - Ardmore 1993 from Gordon & MacPhail & Bunnahabhain from Duncan Taylor.