Glentauchers was built in Speyside by James Buchanan & Co. in 1898, in the midst of the whisky boom. At the time the distillery was used to supply the group’s leading blends Buchanan’s and Black & White. Like many other distilleries at the time, Glentauchers markedly increased its production capacities in 1966 and closed in 1985, in the height of the Whisky Loch. It was bought in 1989 by Allied Distillers, who reopened it in 1992 to supply the Ballantine’s blend. Although an official 12 year old from the 70s exists, as well as a 15 year old launched in 2017, Glentauchers is primarily found at independent bottlers.

A Glentauchers distilled in 1991 and bottled by Gordon & MacPhail, one of Scotland’’s oldest independent bottlers. Gordon & MacPhail 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 whiskies.