The Spirit of Scotland single malt whiskies were originally a series of export bottlings done by Elgin independent bottlers Gordon & MacPhail for the Italian market. The earliest examples appeared around the end of the 1980s for indie bottler Nadi Fiori, who already had a relationship with G&M as owner of Intertrade, and included some famous bottlings of 1970s Port Ellen and Ardbeg. 

These early Spirit of Scotland bottlings ran from the late 1980s until around the turn of the millennium and were done as imports for Nadi’s restaurant La Taverna degli Artisti in Rimini, and later for his High Spirits label. Subsequent Spirit of Scotland bottlings were done for importers in the USA, Japan and Denmark, among others, before the series petered out in the mid-Noughties. After a hiatus lasting several years, the Spirit of Scotland label was revived for a short series of whiskies bottled for the Dutch importers van Wees in 2012-2014.

In 2025, Gordon & MacPhail revived the dormant Spirit of Scotland range, revitalising the series with a distinctive new bottle and label. The new Spirit of Scotland whiskies are bottled by James Gordon & Co. rather than G&M or their Speymalt Distillers subsidiary, as previously. The 2025 Spirit of Scotland range kicked off with a string of single cask single malt whiskies from distilleries including Glen Grant, Annandale and Caol Ila, released at full cask strength without colouring or chill filtration.