The Banff distillery was located in the east of Speyside in the Highlands of Scotland. It was built in 1824 by Major James McKilligan before coming into the hands of the Simpson family. The distillery was closed in 1863 by James Simpson Junior, who opened a new distillery in Inverboyndie, closer to the railway line. 1877 saw the first of a long series of fires that would plague Banff’‘s history. In 1932, in a difficult economic climate, the Simpson family sold the distillery to Scottish Malt Distillers Limited (SMD), a subsidiary of Distillers Company Limited (DCL) that managed its malt distilleries, but it remained closed until World War Two. In 1941, it was bombed by the Luftwaffe and production only began again after the war, before once again coming ceasing due to fire in 1959. Like many other distilleries, it closed in 1983 and, when it was being demolished in 1991, the last warehouse caught fire, bringing to a close the beautiful story of Banff. In the DCL era, Banff mainly produced whisky for blends, although a few bottlings of the malt can be found, particularly in the Rare Malts collection or with independent bottlers. Fans appreciate its fruity, oily and slightly smoky character.

A Banff distilled in 1974 and bottled in 1992 by Gordon & MacPhail for the Connoisseurs Choice 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 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. The Connoisseurs Choice range is one of Gordon & MacPhail’’s spearhead collections. Created for the Italian collector and importer Edoardo Giaccone in the early 1970s, it became part of the permanent range in 1979 and has remained so ever since, despite changing greatly, from red and black labels to map labels and today’’s design, as well as the gradient label. Older editions were bottled at 40% and coloured artificially. Today, the whiskies in the range display their natural colouring and are often cask strength.