Talisker 1957 Gordon and MacPhail Cask Strength / 53.5%

For a long time, Talisker was the sole distillery on Scotland’s iconic Isle of Skye. Renowned for the quality of its output, the distillery has rarely changed hands, joining DCL (now Diageo) back in 1916. Despite this, releases were not the most common. An 8 year old was bottled officially and Gordon & MacPhail produced what are now classic and sought after vintage bottlings under official license from the distillery. When a 10 year old expression became a founding pillar of United Distillers’ Classic Malts range, the popularity of the distillery exploded, and it is now one of the most revered and exported in Scotland. As such, independent bottlings like this are scarce, and particularly sought after when they appear.

Gordon & MacPhail were granted a license by DCL to officially bottle Talisker single malt in the 1970s and 1980s. Although their access to casks of Talisker has dried up in recent years, these older releases are regarded as being of exceptional quality, and are highly sought after.

The distilleries in the DCL portfolio were always licensed to one of their blending companies, who often had their own single malt brands for them. As a result, those also licensed to Gordon & MacPhail (Linkwood, Mortlach and Talisker) were bottled using special labels, each recognisable by their uniform use of the eagle motif. When United Distillers succeeded DCL in the late 1980s, they returned the licenses to their distilleries. It was the success of the Classic Malts 10 year old that followed which spelled the end for Gordon & MacPhail’s supply.