Scotland, Campbeltown, Mull of Kintyre. Distillery operational. Owner: Loch Lomond Group

It is almost a miracle that Glen Scotia survived the crises of the 20th century and the periods of restructuring that were to hit the Scotch whisky industry. And yet, along with Springbank, it was for a long time one of only two survivors of the long and inexorable decline of Campbeltown, once a veritable whisky metropolis. Glen Scotia boasts a handful of bottlings, all now extremely rare, dating from the 60s and 70s and aged between 5 and 12 years old.From the late 1980s, its bottlings were similar to those of Littlemill, as the distilleries both belonged to the same owners. Since 2015, the Loch Lomond group has completely redefined the distillery's range and released a plethora of exclusive bottlings.

A Glen Scotia distilled in 1990 and bottled in 1999 by Gordon & MacPhail for the MacPhail’’s range. 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.