‘When You Taste It, You Taste Time’: Gordon & Macphail Releases Rare 74-Year-Old Scotch With $45,000 Price Tag
This Gordon and Macphail offering from Glenlivet Distillery was distilled in 1949 and is from the distillery’s last cask from that year. (Photo: Gordon and Macphail)
This week, Gordon and Macphail announced the launch of a new expression within its Private Collection Range, a rare whisky from the Glenlivet Distillery that was distilled in 1949. The expression is one of the oldest whiskies ever released from Gordon and MacPhail and will sell worldwide for a suggested retail price of $45,000.
The scotch whisky was matured in a refill sherry butt that was chosen by the Gordon and MacPhail team on Jan. 1, 1949. 74 years later, on March 6, 2023, just 192 bottles were drawn from the cask which sat undisturbed at Gordon and Macphail’s warehouse. The single malt hosts a 49.3% ABV and was drawn from the company’s last 1949 cask, making it even rarer. The whisky was initially an exclusive with the Dubai International Airport but is now globally available.
Whisky writer David Broom had more than his fair share of thoughts about the spirit. Broom is a lecturer for the WSET’s Professional Certificate in Spirits program and worked as a contributing editor at Whisky Magazine, according to his biography in The Whisky Manual.
“When you taste it, you taste time,” Broom said about the 74-year-old scotch. “You can taste all the vintages and everything that’s happened. The concentration of fruits, the layers and the complexity are off the scale. You’d think it’s an old whisky, but it’s not just an old whisky. It’s an extraordinary whisky.”
Gordon and Macphail was founded in 1885 and has bottled whiskies from over 100 Scottish distilleries, according to the brand.
“Patience, knowledge, skill and a commitment to quality are all the principles exemplified in this greatly aged single malt,” Gordon and Macphail Managing Director Ewen Mackintosh said in the news release. “Gordon and Macphail 1949 from the Glenlivet Distillery is extremely scarce — our very last cask from the Glenlivet Distillery in 1949, making it a must for whisky enthusiasts looking to savor a remarkably aged single malt exuding layers of character and decades of maturation expertise.”
In July, Gordon and Macphail made the milestone decision to stop bottling whiskies from distilleries it does not own. The highly significant choice marked the end of Gordon and Macphail’s 128-year tenure as an independent bottler and is arguably one of the most significant decisions the brand has made of late.
Gordon & Macphail 1949 from Glenlivet Distillery Tasting Notes, Via the Brand
Nose: Sweet stewed fruit aromas with fragrant cinnamon spice and old leather. Beeswax polish coupled with a touch of aniseed and clementine.
Taste: Autumnal spice and fruitcake balanced with cracked pepper.
Finish: Spicy, leading with citrus and mixed nuts.
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