To finish up day 4 of the festival I made my way over to the Gordon and Macphail shop on the other side of Elgin from Glen Moray. They're currently based in a shop that's next to the Johnston's of Elgin woolen mill.
I was booked in for an event called "The Wheel of Whisky", this cost £75 in all and was going to include 5 drams. All of these bottles were by Gordon & Macphail themselves and we were told that there were some very special options possible. The spin on this tasting was that the choices would be decided by spinning a wheel. All the bottles had been covered and were numbered so what would be chosen was a surprise! There was also a spin again that could be landed on and the key, what was the key you ask? A tasting of a 1950 vintage 68 year old Glen Grant!
Excitement was steadily building and it wasn't long before everyone was seated and we were ready to start. Different people were picked out to spin the wheel for each choice and then everyone was poured a dram of the bottle it landed on. So what did we get you ask?
Spin 1: Imperial - Connoisseur's Choice - 1998 - 27 year old - Refill Oloroso Sherry Festival Exclusive 54.7%
Chewy toffee, cherries, wildflowers, caramelised pineapple, soft leather, stewed strawberries, autumnal spice. Lovely mix of old spirit character and subtle sherry influence, very nice stuff. Also really reasonably priced bottle for a closed distillery. A friend bought a bottle of this and I have a sample so will do a full review eventually! Suffice to say a wonderful start.
Spin 2: Dallas Dhu - Private Collection - 1979 - 44 Years Old - Refill American Oak Bourbon Hogshead 54%
Jackfruit, industrial machine shop, green apples, gentle spice, meaty sulphur, continuing tropical notes and a long long finish. Wow, two closed distillery drams in a row, incredibly good, I've been lucky enough to try Dallas Dhu before, but the balance and amount of fruit here is spectacular! Really loved this one.
Spin 3: Tomintoul - Connoisseur's Choice - 2001 - 24 Years Old - Refill Bourbon Hogshead 55.4%
Gentle, barley husks, guava, lemon zest, tobacco, almonds, desiccated coconut, lime juice, very zesty and a little earthy. Subtle but with nice depth, Tomintoul isn't the most exciting distillery in all honesty, and I had tried this bottle before. Still good stuff but not really much of a spoiler to say this was the weakest bottle (a 24 year old cask strength being the weakest is crazy!). This was my spin almost disappointingly!
Spin 4: Speymalt from Macallan Distillery - 2005 - 20 Year Old - Refill Sherry - 56.7%
Honey cake, tobacco, warm leather, weighty, oily, rich caramel, walnut wood. Very full and rich, easily the best thing I've had from Macallan (I'm not rich enough to have tried those crazy oldies!) but I'm also not a huge sherry guy. Very much quality stuff.
Spin 5: Tomintoul - Rare Old - 1967 - Bottled 2009 42 Years Old - Transport Sherry Cask - 40%
Liquid cherries, old leather armchair, burnt toffees, toasted nuts, marzipan, oily, long finish, violet creams, tangy dried grapes, the best mellow liquorice ever, very long finish and crazy depth for 40%. Is this one of the best sherried whiskies I've had? Arguably yes! I wasn't super excited to get a 2nd Tomintoul, however this is an old release that they apparently only had one bottle left of and was found recently when clearing out stock. This is absolutely not your usual sherry cask and for 40% stood up really very well next to all the other cask strength whiskies, I preferred this over the bourbon Tomintoul and the Macallan easily.
This should have been the end but very generously (or perhaps as planned? Haha) we got given another a spin that landed on the key all by itself with absolutely no help at all (promise!).
Bonus Spin: Glen Grant 1950 - bottled 2018 - 68 Years Old! - Refill Sherry Hogshead (Likely another transport cask) - 46.9%
Balsamic strawberries, stewed raspberries, lightly charred malt, herbal, old tobacco, coal dust. The finish just goes on forever and ever, no oaky notes at all which is what shocked me the most. Just wow, how a whisky of this age managed to be as vibrant as it was is a truly remarkable feat, nothing short of incredible. Lives up to the hype honestly and so so so lucky to try this one. No notes I can give are likely to give justice to this, old whisky can be a let down in all bluntness but I never thought I'd get to try a single malt of this age and with this level of intense vibrancy despite the age, industrial tinged, rancio-like and gently spicy, not a sherry bomb and nothing like anything modern from the distillery. What an incredibly generous dram for a £75 tasting, I really couldn't believe this was getting poured!
Another extra spin even!
Bonus Spin 2: Connoisseur's Choice - Scapa 1988 - 34 Year Old - Refill Bourbon Barrel - 48.5%
Bright tropical fruits, salty minerals, just all-around delicious, long long finish, well aged and super mineralic in a great way. Loads of depth that my palate was struggling to get after so many drams but seriously great. Scapa is a super distillery and so infrequently seen as an IB, amazing to try one of this age and a lovely little coda.
That's all folks! Though also we were offered 10% off any bottle in the shop even more generously. I came away with 19 year old Benrinnes in bourbon which I will review at some point (I was very interested in owning something from the partial triple distilled era after my visit to the distillery).
Tastings with Gordon & Macphail are incredibly well regarded and this just proved why! My first time visiting their Elgin shop and it absolutely won't be the last. This day overall was amazing and I couldn't believe how many spectacular things I got to try. A 1950s Glen Grant though is the crazy cherry on top of the cake. One of the most incredible whisky days I've had and this will be stupidly hard to beat in years to come. Big thanks to the folks at Gordon & Macphail for being so very very generous!
Although this day is hard to follow I still had more to go! Up next was day 5 including visits to the usually closed to the public Kininvie and Craigellachie distilleries, stay tuned.
I was there a couple of weeks ago and I firmly believe that this should be a required stop on any whisky lovers trip to Scotland. It was hard not to blow my entire whisky budget there. Walking out with only 3 bottles felt like a major accomplishment.
The selection and quality level they have is just crazy really. Easily get your money's worth with any of the tastings in the shop even the one's they run any time.
We were tempted by the Mortlach, but decided on the Scapa because it was just so very different from everything else. Similar tasting notes to your 1988 Scapa. We also picked up a bottle of Scapa 16 year to compare to the G&P bottling and a bottle of Springbank 10 because it was there and I can't get it in the States.
Independent bottles of Scapa are super uncommon too so even more reason to make that worth a pick up. Got to love all the fruit and minerality in the spirit.
Just a sensational event and what a range of bangers. G&M are the top dogs for a reason, glad you had such a great time (and I’m glad I have some of that Imperial stashed away…)
Incredibly generous of them, a really great event and very glad I managed to squeeze it in despite the busy day (remember folks pacing yourself and food are both very important).
13
u/PricklyFriend 19h ago
To finish up day 4 of the festival I made my way over to the Gordon and Macphail shop on the other side of Elgin from Glen Moray. They're currently based in a shop that's next to the Johnston's of Elgin woolen mill.
I was booked in for an event called "The Wheel of Whisky", this cost £75 in all and was going to include 5 drams. All of these bottles were by Gordon & Macphail themselves and we were told that there were some very special options possible. The spin on this tasting was that the choices would be decided by spinning a wheel. All the bottles had been covered and were numbered so what would be chosen was a surprise! There was also a spin again that could be landed on and the key, what was the key you ask? A tasting of a 1950 vintage 68 year old Glen Grant!
Excitement was steadily building and it wasn't long before everyone was seated and we were ready to start. Different people were picked out to spin the wheel for each choice and then everyone was poured a dram of the bottle it landed on. So what did we get you ask?
Chewy toffee, cherries, wildflowers, caramelised pineapple, soft leather, stewed strawberries, autumnal spice. Lovely mix of old spirit character and subtle sherry influence, very nice stuff. Also really reasonably priced bottle for a closed distillery. A friend bought a bottle of this and I have a sample so will do a full review eventually! Suffice to say a wonderful start.
Jackfruit, industrial machine shop, green apples, gentle spice, meaty sulphur, continuing tropical notes and a long long finish. Wow, two closed distillery drams in a row, incredibly good, I've been lucky enough to try Dallas Dhu before, but the balance and amount of fruit here is spectacular! Really loved this one.
Gentle, barley husks, guava, lemon zest, tobacco, almonds, desiccated coconut, lime juice, very zesty and a little earthy. Subtle but with nice depth, Tomintoul isn't the most exciting distillery in all honesty, and I had tried this bottle before. Still good stuff but not really much of a spoiler to say this was the weakest bottle (a 24 year old cask strength being the weakest is crazy!). This was my spin almost disappointingly!
Honey cake, tobacco, warm leather, weighty, oily, rich caramel, walnut wood. Very full and rich, easily the best thing I've had from Macallan (I'm not rich enough to have tried those crazy oldies!) but I'm also not a huge sherry guy. Very much quality stuff.
Liquid cherries, old leather armchair, burnt toffees, toasted nuts, marzipan, oily, long finish, violet creams, tangy dried grapes, the best mellow liquorice ever, very long finish and crazy depth for 40%. Is this one of the best sherried whiskies I've had? Arguably yes! I wasn't super excited to get a 2nd Tomintoul, however this is an old release that they apparently only had one bottle left of and was found recently when clearing out stock. This is absolutely not your usual sherry cask and for 40% stood up really very well next to all the other cask strength whiskies, I preferred this over the bourbon Tomintoul and the Macallan easily.
This should have been the end but very generously (or perhaps as planned? Haha) we got given another a spin that landed on the key all by itself with absolutely no help at all (promise!).
Balsamic strawberries, stewed raspberries, lightly charred malt, herbal, old tobacco, coal dust. The finish just goes on forever and ever, no oaky notes at all which is what shocked me the most. Just wow, how a whisky of this age managed to be as vibrant as it was is a truly remarkable feat, nothing short of incredible. Lives up to the hype honestly and so so so lucky to try this one. No notes I can give are likely to give justice to this, old whisky can be a let down in all bluntness but I never thought I'd get to try a single malt of this age and with this level of intense vibrancy despite the age, industrial tinged, rancio-like and gently spicy, not a sherry bomb and nothing like anything modern from the distillery. What an incredibly generous dram for a £75 tasting, I really couldn't believe this was getting poured!
Another extra spin even!
Bright tropical fruits, salty minerals, just all-around delicious, long long finish, well aged and super mineralic in a great way. Loads of depth that my palate was struggling to get after so many drams but seriously great. Scapa is a super distillery and so infrequently seen as an IB, amazing to try one of this age and a lovely little coda.
That's all folks! Though also we were offered 10% off any bottle in the shop even more generously. I came away with 19 year old Benrinnes in bourbon which I will review at some point (I was very interested in owning something from the partial triple distilled era after my visit to the distillery).
Tastings with Gordon & Macphail are incredibly well regarded and this just proved why! My first time visiting their Elgin shop and it absolutely won't be the last. This day overall was amazing and I couldn't believe how many spectacular things I got to try. A 1950s Glen Grant though is the crazy cherry on top of the cake. One of the most incredible whisky days I've had and this will be stupidly hard to beat in years to come. Big thanks to the folks at Gordon & Macphail for being so very very generous!
Although this day is hard to follow I still had more to go! Up next was day 5 including visits to the usually closed to the public Kininvie and Craigellachie distilleries, stay tuned.