The world’s oldest bottled Speyside single malt whisky – costing £385 a nip – has been opened at long last and sipped by special guests who soaked in the atmosphere of Edinburgh Castle yesterday.
A precious bottle of Gordon and MacPhail’s Mortlach 70-Year-Old was piped into the Queen Anne Room under the escort of soldiers from The Highlanders 4th Battalion.
Only 54 full-size 70cl decanters will be sold at £10,000 with £2,500 for the smaller 20cl version.
The spirit from Speyside’s Mortlach Distillery was casked on October 15, 1938, on the order of John Urqu-hart, the grandfather of Gordon and MacPhail joint managing directors David and Michael Urquhart.
David Urquhart said: “We believe Mortlach 70-Year-Old is a malt without comparison. Whisky fans and people wishing to own a piece of Scotland’s liquid history will be excited about it.”
The whisky was matured in a former sherry cask made from Spanish oak. It has been bottled in a teardrop-shaped hand-blown crystal decanter with a silver stopper.
Connoisseur Charles Mac-Lean, one of the select group of tasters, wished his sample could have been bigger. Describing it as “remarkable”, he praised its attributes of waxiness and smokiness, “uncommon today, more usual before the 1960s”. He said the spirit was the colour of sun-bleached polished mahogany, with a mellow, waxy, fruity aroma and fresh and juicy hints of apricot jam, flaked almonds and whin flowers, which become light coconut oil.
It was surprisingly lively tasted straight, with a smooth, waxy mouth feel, said the whisky expert, who found dried fig and tobacco notes, and an intriguing light smokiness. “I could have continued to smell and taste it for hours,” he said.