Macallan 10 Year Old Gordon and MacPhail 100 Proof 1970s

It may be hard to imagine today, but for much of the 20th century, Macallan was primarily a constituent malt in blends. It was not until the 1980s downturn in the market that the distillery decided to focus on its single malt brand. Fortuitously, this coincided with the crest of a wave of enthusiasm for the high quality releases that the distillery had licensed to Campbell, Hope & King and Gordon & MacPhail in the 1960s and 1970s. These remain some of the most collectible on the market. While global single malt sales volume is still lead by Speyside neighbours, Glenfiddich and Glenlivet, Macallan is easily the most sought after. So much so in fact, that they had to open a brand new distillery in 2018, a subterranean architectural masterpiece within the Easter Elchies estate, boasting 36 copper pot stills.

This is one of those Gordon & MacPhail bottlings. The company helped Macallan survive during the 1930s and 1940s by buying a regular batch of stock from them, which in turn allowed them to release a lot of these special Macallan bottlings, primarily to the Italian market. The company mostly used this classic "Macallan-Glenlivet" label, but on occasions used the more familair Macallan branding as well.

This 100 proof 10 year old was bottled in the late 1970s and the distillery retained the age-statement as part of its proprietary range when it reclaimed the license for its brand in 1980.