American oak Sherry cask number 336 was filled on 3 February 1940 at the Speyside distillery, and emptied 85 years and two days later, on 5 February 2025, yielding a total of 125 decanters – designed by American architect Jeanne Gang on the theme of ‘Artistry in Oak’.
The release, bottled at 43.7% abv, is the latest in a series of record-breaking single malts bottled by Gordon & MacPhail, including an 80-year-old Glenlivet, priced at £90,000 in 2021 and taken from a cask also filled on 3 February 1940; and a 75-year-old Mortlach, released in 2015 at £20,000.
‘We’ve not bottled this just because it’s 85 years old, but because we’ve been monitoring it for so long, and we know that it’s outstanding,’ Stephen Rankin, director of prestige at Gordon & MacPhail and fourth-generation family member, told Decanter. ‘Age is the number, but why it gets bottled is the quality. It’s not bottled because it’s very old; it’s bottled because of the quality.’
Rankin explained that the cask was ‘so important’ to ensuring that quality at such an advanced age: cask 336 was an American oak ‘transport cask’ used to ship rich oloroso Sherry to Scotland from Williams & Humbert in Jerez, with unusually thick staves and a tight grain helping to ensure that the wood did not overwhelm the distillate.
The cask was filled early in the Second World War on the orders of father and son John and George Urquhart, at a time when whisky production was curtailed due to rationing and lack of manpower. ‘Most distilleries had cut production by half, Glenlivet probably by two-thirds,’ said Rankin.
At the time, the vast majority of malt whisky was destined for the blends that dominated the market – but Gordon and MacPhail was unusual in earmarking casks to be bottled in their own right as single malts.
‘This cask was filled to be aged beyond what was normal for the time,’ said Rankin. ‘That was what Gordon & MacPhail were already doing – and it would have been destined for single malt, and a single malt of age. We were the licensed bottlers for Glenlivet at that time.’
Tasting notes for the whisky are being kept under wraps, but Rankin said that previous releases from the same period shared remarkable similarities with today’s Glenlivet, including a distinctive orange note – alongside a sooty smoke more redolent of the production methods used at the time.
Full details of the decanter design, as well as pricing and tasting notes, will be announced later this year, with the whisky due to be released in October 2025. Decanter #1 will be auctioned by Christie’s New York in November, with proceeds (minus costs) donated to American Forests, a US non-profit organisation focused on forest restoration.
Those interested in purchasing Gordon & MacPhail 85 Years Old from Glenlivet Distillery should register their interest at gordonandmacphail.com.
