The original Speymalt whiskies from Gordon & MacPhail were a range of export bottlings for the Italian importer Meregalli which ran from the 1980s until the mid-1990s. Gordon & MacPhail’s name did not appear on the labels of these releases - the bottler was listed on the label as ‘Speymalt Whisky Distributors Ltd, Elgin’ and the series was labelled Speymalt Special Reserve.

Perhaps unusually, this original Speymalt Special Reserve series included whiskies from many non-Speyside distilleries, with bottlings from North Port, Lochside, Kinclaith and even Caol Ila and Ardbeg. However, in the mid-1990s the original series lapsed and the Speymalt label was repurposed for a series of small batch vintage Macallan bottlings that continues to this day.

The Speymalt Macallans from Gordon & MacPhail have been a remarkable series, with some stunning whiskies bottled in the last three decades. Highlights include the earliest vintage, a 1938 Macallan 65-year-old bottled in 2004, and the longest-aged bottling, a 70-year-old Macallan 1945 bottled in 2016. 

The early Speymalt bottlings were all released at 40%, with the standard bottling strength rising to 43% in the early years of the millennium and the occasional export edition at 46%. This policy was discontinued in 2019, since when all new Speymalt Macallans have been bottled at cask strength. Needless to say, the Speymalt Macallans from Gordon & MacPhail have always been very good value for money compared to the official Macallans, and their popularity continues to grow as prices of the latter continue their recent stratospheric trajectory.