Scotland, Speyside. Distillery operational. Owner: Pernod Ricard

Like Longmorn and Glen Grant, Strathisla was for a long time associated with the renowned independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail, whose bottlings released with the owners' consent were often confused with the distillery's own. It was also within their vaults that the character and aromatic profile of this first-class malt was forged. A generous and complex style characterized by first and second-fill sherry cask ageing which would become extremely popular among whisky enthusiasts. This identity was abundantly explored through the vintages offered by Gordon & MacPhail, the oldest of which dates back to 1937 (the “Licensed Bottling” white label and “Connoisseurs Choice” black label). In 2004, things changed. The distillery owner, the Chivas Brothers group (Pernod Ricard), took back control and began releasing small batch official bottlings of Strathisla in the ranges Cask Strength Edition and Distillery Reserve Collection.

A Strathisla distilled in 1948 and bottled by Gordon & MacPhail. Strathisla’’s owners Seagram granted bottling licenses to both its subsidiary Chivas Brothers and Gordon & MacPhail, who retained this until the 1980s. Many bottlings from the distillery can therefore be found as Gordon & MacPhail bottlings, particularly for the Italian market. Despite losing the license, G&M continues to buy and bottle the distillery’’s whiskies, notably for the Distillery Labels range, which use the same label. Gordon & MacPhail is one of Scotland’’s oldest bottlers and was founded in Elgin in 1895 by James Gordon and John Alexander MacPhail. As was often the case at the time, the business started out as a delicatessen and wine merchant. In 1915, John Alexander MacPhail retired and a new partner joined the business, John Urquhart. He was joined by his son George in 1933, a few years after James Gordon sadly died in a car crash. Gordon & MacPhail works with many of Speyside’’s leading distilleries, from whom it has accumulated considerable stocks. It is also licensed to bottle whiskies for many of them, including Glen Grant, Linkwood, Mortlach, Macallan and Glenlivet. The business really took off in the 1970s, acquiring distributors in a huge range of countries and selling casks to several Italian bottlers in selections that would become legends in their own right. Gordon & MacPhail is still run by the Urquhart family today, from the same building, and is one of the most iconic bottlers in the industry, with incredible stocks of sometimes very old and rare whiskies. The company is in complete control of the entire maturation process. Gordon & MacPhail has also owned the Benromach distillery since 1993.