Scotland, Northern Highlands. Distillery operational. Owner: Inver House Distillers Ltd.

It was at the dawn of the new millennium, under the leadership of Inver House Distillers Ltd - the distillery's new owners from 1996 on - that Balblair freed itself from its past as a blender's malt (Ballantines', Hankey Bannister, Pinwinnie, etc.) and became a single malt in its own right. Unpeated and frequently aged in ex-bourbon casks, Balblair released numerous small-batch vintage bottlings. In the early 2000s, the classic 10 Year Old and 16 Year Old Elements versions were joined by two outstanding versions aged respectively for 35 years (1970) and 33 years. It was, however, with two bottlings from 1966 (38 years) and 1974 (27 years) matured entirely in sherry casks that Balblair veered off the beaten track and attracted the attention of collectors.

A Balblair distilled in 1973 and bottled in 1998 by Gordon & MacPhail. 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.