Glenlossie 40 Year Old 1982 Gordon & Macphail Private Collection #1 Single Refill American Oak Hogshead #3398 UK Exclusive Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (2022) 70cl
1 of 125 bottles produced from a single American oak hogshead.
Arguably the most famous independent bottler of Scotch whisky there is. Gordon & MacPhail was founded in Elgin in 1895 by James Gordon and John Alexander MacPhail. It is now owned by the Urquhart Family who have bow bottled over 350 different expressions from around 69 different distilleries. Gordon & MacPhail is the Trading name of Speymalt Whiskies while also owning the Benromach distillery, which they purchased in 1993. Some of the brands include Connoisseurs Choice, Cask Strength, Rare Old and Speymalt.
The Connoisseurs Choice series is known for independently bottling carefully selected individual casks to showcase distillery character and cask influence.
TASTING NOTES
Nose: Rich orange zest aromas give way to green apple and a hint of grapefruit. Ripe autumnal fruits come to the fore alongside aged leather.
Palate: Smooth and sweet with apricot flavours giving way to soft citrus zest. Subtle tropical fruits lead to mature oak.
Finish: A medium-bodied finish with lingering mixed nuts.
About Glenlossie
Glenlossie was founded near Elgin in 1876 by John Duff, a former manager at Glendronach, in partnership with a consortium including Alexander Grigor Allan (who would later have a share in Talisker) and HMS Mackay. The restless, entrepreneurial Duff departed in 1888 to seek his fortune in South Africa and, later, the USA.
In 1962, Glenlossie's license was transferred to the DCL subsidiary Haig (the blend which accounted for almost the entirety of Glenlossie's malt). At the same time the number of stills was increased from four to six. Less than a decade later, in 1971,a sister distillery, Mannochmore, was constructed on Glenlossie's site and a dark grains plant was also added to convert pot ale and draff from the group's distilleries into animal feed. There is also a bonded warehouse on Glenlossie's land containing over 200,000 maturing casks from various Diageo distilleries.
Given that Glenlossie was named as one of only twelve 'top class' malts by blenders in 1974, it is perhaps surprising that the distillery is so little-known. The reason, however, is easy to determine - the blender's high regard means that demand for Glenlossie remains extremely high, and as a result less than 1% of the distillery's output is kept back for single malt. The only official bottling of Glenlossie currently available is the 10 yo Flora & Fauna release available since the 1990s. This range is being gradually phased out, however, and it remains to be seen what plans Diageo have for this distinguished, yet obscure, workhorse.
Independent bottlings of Glenlossie are pretty rare, although Gordon & Macphail have bottled a handful of expressions recently.
