Donated by Richard and Stuart Urquhart of Gordon & MacPhail.
This lot contains two bottles of Clynelish 1981 single Highland malt Scotch whisky, specially bottled for Richard and Stuart Urquhart of independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail to celebrate their 21st birthday. One bottle is signed by Richard Urquhart and the other by Stuart Urquhart.
This whisky was mashed on 18 January 1981, the day of identical twins Richard and Stuart's birth, and distilled on 20 January 1981. It was filled into a hogshead which was then divided into two quarter casks and warehoused in Elgin since 1983. The two casks were then vatted and bottled at 46.3% ABV in 2002.
Established in 1895 as a grocers and wine merchant, Gordon & MacPhail is one of Scotland's oldest independent bottlers. John Urquhart joined founders James Gordon and John Alexander MacPhail in their first year of business, and the Urquhart family has run the firm for four generations. In the early 20th century, John Urquhart, now a senior partner, developed the company's whisky broking business, purchasing casks from a number of Speyside distilleries for bottling as single malts and for use in blends. Gordon & MacPhail's Elgin warehouse holds a treasure trove of old and rare casks, and in 2010 the company bottled the world's oldest single malt, a 70 Year Old Mortlach, followed by a Glenlivet of the same age a year later. The company's best known range is the Connoisseurs Choice series of single malts. Launched by George Urquhart in the 1960s, a time when the whisky market was dominated by blends, this series gave a platform to many distilleries which had never been bottled as single malts. Other ranges include The Private Collection, Cask Strength, Rare Old and Generations. In 1993, Gordon & MacPhail purchased Benromach distillery from United Distillers.
This Clynelish 1981 sold at our online auction for £2,500
