The Private Collection is a small but extremely high-quality range of whiskies first launched in the late 1990s. It showcases small batch and single cask malt whiskies of great rarity, age and immense quality hand-selected by family members of Gordon & MacPhail.

Most are bottled either at 45% or at natural cask strength without filtration or colouring, although a few of the early examples were also bottled at 40%.

By its nature, almost every bottling in this series is a ‘highlight’ so it is hard to select just a few. But some particularly emblematic examples have been a 1942 Mortlach, 1943 Glenlivet, 1965 Caol Ila, 1969 Clynelish, 1955 Strathisla, 1951 Mortlach... you get the idea.

The range is often characterised by low outturn releases. For example, the 1942 Mortlach was limited to just 24 bottles. Similarly, a more recent Tamdhu 1960 was limited to just 36 bottles.

All this has helped secure this range a particular level of reverence since its creation and any releases in this series are always hotly anticipated and keenly sought after.

The MacPhail's Collection

The ‘MacPhail’s’ collection is a broad umbrella which has been home to a number of malt whiskies of varying ages and strengths by Gordon & MacPhail over the years.

The whiskies are not from the same distillery but are always Speyside malts and usually, sherry matured. Some of the oldest examples have been vintage releases from the 1940s bottled in the 1980s.

While younger expressions have been high strength 10-year-olds such as the ‘Gold 106’ series of bottlings. The range is broad, varied but generally consistent, high quality, sherry-driven, Speyside single malts. Many can still be found for fair prices these days and are often excellent to drink.