Gordon & MacPhail launches 7 new Glenlivet Expressions, including Private Collection 1976 [Tasted #537 - #539]

Ahead of the September release of the oldest single malt Scotch ever bottled, Gordon & MacPhail's Generations 80-Years-Old from Glenlivet Distillery, G&M is launching seven new Glenlivet expressions across both its "Private Collection" and "Connoisseurs Choice" ranges.

The bottles, which range from £104 to £1,750 include:

• Gordon & MacPhail Private Collection 1975 from Glenlivet Distillery, Refill Sherry hogshead
• Gordon & MacPhail Private Collection 1976 from Glenlivet Distillery, Refill American hogshead
• Gordon & MacPhail Private Collection 1976 from Glenlivet Distillery, First fill Sherry hogshead 
• Gordon & MacPhail Private Collection 1980 from Glenlivet Distillery, Refill American hogshead
• Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice 1993 from Glenlivet Distillery, Refill American hogshead
• Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice 2003 from Glenlivet Distillery, Refill bourbon barrel
• Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice 2004 from Glenlivet Distillery, Refill bourbon barrel

Keep an eye on the blog for more details on the Generations 80 Year Old soon, but ahead of that, G&M were kind enough to send through samples of the Private Collection 1976 (American Oak hogshead), Connoisseurs Choice 2003 & Connoisseurs Choice 2004 so we could share our thoughts.

Gordon & MacPhail Private Collection 1976 from Glenlivet Distillery (43.9% ABV, 45yo (30th Jan 1976 to 8th Feb 2021), refill American hogshead #1565, 1 of 124 bottles, Speyside, Scotland, £1,750)

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Colour: Yellow gold.

Nose: Subtle pears, green apples and vintage oak spice. A creaminess emerges, vanilla milkshake-like, then apple pie with cream.

Palate: Leather (new leather) at first, remaining throughout and quite dominant. Honey-drizzled apple slices and licorice follow, with some maple syrup after some time. There's a slight milk chocolate note too after a while, but the leather remains throughout. 

Finish: Honied apples, a lingering nutty slice, and lemon zest.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 90/100. Different notes to what I was expecting, based on the specs alone, but a very enjoyable and unusual dram, with a fantastic nose (an excellent candidate for the 1920s Blenders Glass, if you have one). The years have imparted some varied and interesting flavours, and it all works well together.

Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice 2003 from Glenlivet Distillery (46% ABV, 17yo (1st Jul 2003 to 14th Jun 2021), refill bourbon barrels #800356 & 800358, 1 of 510 bottles, Speyside, Scotland, £127)

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Colour: Light yellow gold (Riesling-like)

Nose: Green apple and paprika spice. There's a slight dustiness, and with time, some peaches and then apple crumble.

Palate: Follows the nose, with peaches and apple, but there's a creaminess to it - almost like a vanilla apple pie. After time a slight herbaceousness follows.

Finish: Herbaceous, with lingering vanilla cream.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 89/100.

Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice 2004 from Glenlivet Distillery (46% ABV, 16yo (10th Nov 2004 to 21st Jun 2021), refill bourbon barrels #800671 & 800672, 1 of 510 bottles, Speyside, Scotland, £104)

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Colour: Light yellow gold (Riesling-like)

Nose: Green apple and spice like the 2003, with a bit more meatiness - some tangy fruity BBQ sauce, with white pepper. After 20 minutes, vanilla cream emerges.

Palate: Banana, apple, pears, custard pie with vanilla cream. Slight hints of pineapple and pear.

Finish: Herbaceous, with a very slight meaty smoke.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 90/100.

All seven whiskies are available now, from the usual UK outlets including The Whisky Exchange (no word yet on Hong Kong or Australian availability or pricing). A big thanks to G&M and ANMComms for the samples.

Cheers,

Martin.

Tasted #386: The Last Drop 1971 45 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky (45yo)

Back in 2016 I spent an evening at Angel's Share, meeting the lovely Rebecca and Beanie from The Last Drop Distillers, learning of their family's incredible links to the drinks business and tasting their latest release at the time, the 50 Year Old 'Double Matured' Blended Scotch (full article here). It was an absolutely fantastic whisky (easily one of the best blends I've ever had), as was the 48year old I'd tried a bit earlier.

Fast forward just over two years, and I found myself back at the same spot, catching up with the team (Rebecca and Cecily) and trying their latest release...which I'd expected to consist solely of whisky, but was pleasantly surprised to see comprised not only the whisky (1971 Blended Scotch Whisky, a 45yo blend), but also...

• A 70 year old Cognac from 1947 (bottled in January 2018); and
• A 148 year old port, from 1870!

Fair to say I didn't expect to be trying my oldest ever distilled spirit (70yo), and oldest ever wine (148yo) on that random Tuesday evening, but I wasn't about to complain!

The 70 year old, 1947 Cognac was incredibly fresh and vibrant, without any overbearing oak (and with many complex notes, including fresh vegetation, lemon pie, cloves, spicy grapefruit peel, apricot preserve and mince pies), whilst the 1870 port was quite different to the 100 Year old Australian Tawny tasted a few years back, particularly in colour, being a bright red copper, and showing notes of toffee, spice and red berries. Not overly sweet or cloying at all, and just really, really drinkable (as was the 48 year old 1970 port that accompanied it).

Of course, this is a whisky blog, so my main focus was on the whisky, which was first blended in 1983 as an ex-Bourbon 12yo for the US. After bottling, the remaining blend was refilled into 11 ex-Oloroso butts, and after 9 years some more was siphoned off to be bottled as a 21yo.

What remained was refilled again, into nine ex-American Oak barrels, where they lay in a dunnage warehouse for another 24 years, until they'd reached 45yo.

So in summary: ex-Bourbon (for 12 years), ex-Oloroso (for 9 years), then ex-Bourbon (for 24 years), bottled in 2017, with 1,352 bottles available.

The Last Drop "1971 Blended Scotch Whisky" (47.2% ABV, 45yo, Blend, Scotland, One of 1,352 bottles, £2,500ex-VAT)

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Colour: Burnished copper-orange.

Nose: Sweet and fruity initially - almost Cognac-like. Quite nutty too, then some baked pear and pecan pie emerges, but the nuttiness remains at the forefront.

Palate: Just as fruity as the nose - green apples at first, then a slightly citrus (orange) note, then lots of spice. Treacle / toffee sweetness follows, with some banana bread and stewed apricots too.

Finish: Long length, with lots of spice and some oak. Almost rye-like on the finish! 

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 90/100. A very enjoyable whisky and one that's obviously taken on a lot of different and interesting notes from it's "triple maturation" over the years!

Cheers,

Martin.

Many thanks to Rebecca and Cecily for visiting HK and sharing their wonderful products with us again.