Mortlach 25 Years G&M Distillery Labels 70 cl. 46%
Single Malt Scotch Whisky
It’s always a pleasure to see a Gordon & MacPhail Mortlach and this new 25 year old in the Distillery Labels range looks like a belter. Mortlach is one of the distilleries that has defined Gordon & MacPhail, just as they themselves have helped to define the ideal character of this distillery for many single malt fans.
G&M have increased the strength of this 2023 release of Distillery Labels Mortlach 25-Year-Old to 46% (most recent previous batches were bottled at 43%), providing a welcome bump to the flavor intensity of what was already an excellent whisky.
Nose: Rich sherry aroma combined with fruit cake.
Taste: Autumn spices and undertones of orange compliment summer berries.
Finish: A long, lingering finish of almonds.
Gordon & MacPhail and Mortlach have a remarkable symbiosis. There is certainly no doubt that Gordon & MacPhail’s Mortlach has always comfortably outclassed Diageo’s mediocre and overpriced official bottlings.
Founded in 1823, Mortlach was the first of Dufftown’s “Seven Stills” to be licensed. It rose to prominence under George Cowie & Son, whose unique distillation regime produced a famously “meaty” whiskey highly prized by blenders. It was for this reason that it was acquired by John Walker & Sons, and so important to them was that little stock remained for bottling as a single malt. The Flora & Fauna release was the first official distillery bottling, but it wasn’t until 2014 that Mortlach was bottled under its own fully fledged single malt label. Fortunately, there have been many spectacular releases from independent labels like this over the years.
Mortlach was one of the distilleries that licensed its brand to Gordon & MacPhail to produce official releases in the 1970s and 1980s, without having the capacity to do so themselves at the time. This good standing with the distillery provided the Elgin-based independent company with a steady supply of high-quality casks and subsequent high-quality releases.
Gordon & MacPhail are to the noble single malt what Lennon & McCartney are to pop music. For more than 100 years, they have insisted on jumping over where the fence is highest. The inherited sense of selecting the absolute best casks from a wide range of distilleries is practiced today as it was 100 years ago. Once the dish is selected, it is transported to G&M’s warehouse in Elgin. Here the cask is looked after and cared for along with thousands of other selected casks until that day in the future, be it five, ten or fifty years down the line, when the whiskey has reached its zenith. Only here are the precious drops bottled.
