About Mortlach 70 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Situated in the heart of the Speyside region of Scotland, Dufftown is known as the Whisky Capital of the World. The village, which produces more malt whisky than any other town in Scotland, is home to seven distilleries, the oldest of which is Mortlach Distillery.
Mortlach Distillery was founded in 1823 by James Findlater, together with his friends Alexander Gordon and James Macintosh. In 1831, however, Findlater sold the distillery to John Robertson for the paltry sum of £270. In 1837, it was sold again to John and James Grant, who dismantled the distilling equipment and shuttered the doors to the distillery. For the next two decades, the building was used first as a brewery, and then, rather curiously, a church. In 1851, however, the distillery began producing whisky once more. Even at the time, it was an impressive distillery, according to the
Wine & Spirits Trade Record. The distillery had two still-houses: “In one there are three old-fashioned stills, in the other there are three larger stills, installed in 1897.” The distillery also had “four gigantic malt floors, and the largest mash tun in the district."
In 1964, the distillery was largely rebuilt and today, houses a unique configuration of six stills. The stills — three wash stills and three spirit stills — are each different shapes and sizes (one still is nicknamed “Wee Witchie” because it is shaped like a witch's cap), and aren't paired together. This unusual configuration, together with the partial triple distillation method used at Mortlach Distillery, produces a whisky that is full-bodied and meaty.
Mortlach 70 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky is part of Gordon & MacPhail’s “Generations” label, and was first put into the cask on October 15, 1938 by John Urquhart, the grandfather of Gordon & MacPhail Joint Managing Directors, David and Michael Urquhart. Matured in a Spanish oak, ex-bodega sherry hogshead cask, the whisky was bottled exactly 70 years later, yielding 54 full-size bottles at cask strength (46.1% ABV).
“This is a very special day for us, one we’ve literally been anticipating for generations. Our family has been in the whisky business for a long time, with each generation building and handing on a lifetime’s expertise to the next,” say David and Michael Urquhart.
Mortlach 70 has a delicate aroma of rosewood, black cherries, dates and licorice. The palate is fresh, with starburst notes marrying elegantly with sherried oak and peat smoke, and leads to a supple finish accented by big notes of peaches, saddle leather and candlewax.
The world’s oldest whisky when it was originally released, pick up a rare treasure today!
About Scotch
Scotch is the most popular whisky in the world and is considered the king of them all! There are five whisky regions in Scotland (six if you count the not officially recognized Islands), and each of them produces spirits with unique properties and distinct tasting notes. (The type of grain used determents the type of the scotch.)
Malt whisky is made of malted barley, and grain whisky uses other grains like corn or wheat. Most of the time, a whisky is blended from different distilleries hence the name blended scotch, but if a malt whisky is produced in a single distillery, we get something extraordinary called a single malt.
Check out our impressive selection of scotch whiskies, find your new favorite in the Top 10 scotch whiskies, or explore our treasury of rare & hard to find scotch whiskies.
