This is a single refill sherry puncheon of Glenrothes, filled in December 1974 and bottled by Gordon & MacPhail in July 2018 for its Private Collection. After more than four decades in wood it still came out at 49.5% ABV, a strength that keeps the old fruit and chocolate notes lively rather than faded.
About This Whisky
Distilled on 2 December 1974, the spirit spent its whole life in refill sherry puncheon #18440 and was bottled on 6 July 2018, which makes it 43 years old by the dates (the product name carries 44). The single cask gave 276 bottles, with no colouring and no chill-filtration. It launched the redesigned Private Collection bottle in 2018, released alongside a 1985 Inverleven.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Rich fruitcake soaked in sherry, dates, orange peel and a thread of old polished oak.
- Palate: Fruit-and-nut chocolate, raisins and baked plum, with clove and a firm but gentle grip of wood.
- Finish: Long and drying, with cocoa, charred oak and a last note of candied peel.
Serving & Food
Serve at room temperature in a small tulip glass and allow it time to settle after pouring; Glenrothes of this age tends to open slowly. Try it neat first, then with a drop or two of water. Pair with dark chocolate truffles, aged Comté or a plate of candied walnuts.
How to Enjoy
A special-occasion dram for lovers of old sherried Speyside, or a considered gift for a 1974 birthday.
Product Details
Bottler: Gordon & MacPhail
Distillery: Glenrothes
Series: Private Collection
Distilled / Bottled: 02.12.1974 / 06.07.2018
Age: 43 years (by distillation and bottling dates)
Cask: Refill sherry puncheon #18440
Bottles: 276 bottles
ABV / Strength: 49.5% ABV
Volume: 700mL
Region: Speyside, Scotland
About the Distillery
James Gordon and John Alexander MacPhail opened their grocery and wine business on South Street, Elgin, in 1895. A young apprentice, John Urquhart, joined almost at once, took charge in 1915, and his family has owned the company ever since. The habit that made the firm's name was sending its own casks to distilleries to be filled with new spirit, then keeping them in Elgin for as long as the whisky needed. The Private Collection is the family's top shelf: casks picked personally by Urquhart family members.
Glenrothes, in the Speyside town of Rothes, first ran spirit in December 1879. Its tall stills are worked slowly to give a light, fruity new make, and that kind of spirit tends to hold its shape through very long sherry maturation.