Scotland, Speyside. Distillery closed.

Known until 1965 as Glen Grant #2, Caperdonich was the embodiment of a blender's malt. Built in 1898 just opposite Glen Grant, its owners (J&J Grant, Glen Grant Distillery) made use of it for only a few years before closing it down. When it reopened in 1965, it underwent major restoration and played a key role in the development of the Chivas Regal blend. From this period, only one 5 year old official bottling is still known. It would then not be until the turn of the 21st century, when Pernod Ricard became the owner in 2001 (before mothballing the site in 2002), that a handful of bottlings would be released in the Distillery Reserve Collection and Small Batch Release ranges. A truly endangered distillery!

A single cask Caperdonich (#1976) distilled in 1972 and bottled at cask strength in 2008 by Gordon & MacPhail for La Maison du Whisky, matured in a first-fill sherry cask. Gordon & MacPhail is one of Scotland’’s oldest independent bottlers. It 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 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.