Scotland, Lowlands. Distillery operational. Owner: Beam - Suntory

The property of Stanley P Morrison (Morrison Bowmore) from 1984, Auchentoshan passed into the hands of the Japanese company Suntory when the latter bought Morrison Bowmore in 1994. Located in the Lowlands of Scotland, Auchentoshan practices triple distillation, which enables the fruity and floral character of its distillate to be revealed. A key component in the blends Islay Legend and Rob Roy, Auchentoshan made a name for itself in the 1990s with its 1965 and 1966 single casks, examples of a style long lost following the distillery's renovation in 1969. In 2007, it struck again and released two very rare 50 year old single casks distilled in 1957 (#479 and #480, with less than 200 decanters per cask), presented in superb decanters. These are the oldest vintages of Auchentoshan ever bottled.

An Auchentoshan distilled on 8 December 1989 and bottled in June 2006 for the Secret Stills range from Scottish bottler Gordon & MacPhail. This is a limited edition of 500 bottles and a blend of two sherry hogsheads (5746 and 5747). Launched in 2005, the Secret Stills range never directly reveals the name of the distillery featured. The more astute enthusiast will nonetheless be able to hazard a fairly good guess thanks to the information provided on the back label. 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 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.