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

Located in the far north-east Highlands in the town of Wick, Pulteney achieved international renown with its classic 12 Year Old bourbon cask. It was bought by the Inver House Distillers group in 1995, who, to mark the new millennium, released a series of 15 year old cask strength 1982 single casks in the Millennium Single Cask range.The series has since inspired others and, for those brave enough to travel to Wick, the distillery offers the personalized range “Hand Bottled at the Distillery”, opening Old Pulteney up to the world of collectors.

An Old Pulteney distilled in 1961 and bottled by Gordon & MacPhail. In the 1960s, Pulteney’’s owner Allied Breweries granted a bottling license to Gordon & MacPhail, who offered an 8 year old, as well as vintage expressions such as this. These licensed bottlings were released under the name Old Pulteney, a name which continued to be used after the distillery was bought by Inver House in 1995. 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.