250 Bottles of the World’s Oldest Single Malt Whisky are Coming to Market
On February 3, 1940, Queen Elizabeth was still a princess. Franklin Roosevelt was debating whether to run for an unprecedented third term as president. World War II had broken out in Europe a few months before. None of the Beatles had yet been born. And at the Glenlivet distillery near Moray, Scotland, Cask #340, which had formerly held Oloroso sherry, was filled with new make whisky and laid down to age. Eight decades later — eight decades and two days, to be precise — the whisky was placed into stainless steel tanks to await bottling, becoming in the process the oldest Scotch whisky, by time in the barrel, on record. And now, after a year-long pandemic-related delay, Generations 80YO From Glenlivet Distillery, as it’s known, is coming on the market in a one-time-only release of 250 bottles.
You’ve Got To Know When To Hold ‘Em
Casing open photo credit Gordon & MacPhail
The liquid may have been distilled at Glenlivet, but it’s owned by Gordon & MacPhail, the legendary independent bottler who bought the new make and provided the ex-sherry cask back in 1940. Since 1967, it’s been aging at Gordon & MacPhail’s facilities in Elgin. Back when it was first laid down, single malt whiskies were almost completely unheard of — distilleries generally sold their whiskies to blending houses like Johnnie Walker, Haig & Haig, or Dewar’s. It was a handful of intrepid independent bottlers, Gordon & MacPhail foremost among them, who specialized in malt whiskies made at a single distillery, from whence came the name.
Cask photo credit Gordon & MacPhail
The fact that Cask #340 survived so long is somewhat miraculous. By 1940, the Scotch whisky industry had been decimated for decades, with American Prohibition, the worldwide economic depression of the 1930s, and then World War II all happening over a span of 20 years. Stephen Rankin, Gordon & MacPhail’s Director Of Prestige and a member of the fourth generation of his family to own and operate the business, says that thanks to wartime rationing, “most distilleries in 1940 lost one-third of production. Glenlivet was to see their capacity drop by two-thirds.” It took a decade after the war’s end for distilleries to be able to meet demand, with whisky being rationed in the UK until 1954.
So how did this cask avoid being bottled decades ago? Chalk it up to the tenacity of George Urquhart. The son of John Urquhart, who’d been the sole owner of Gordon & MacPhail since 1915, George started working at the company in 1933 at the age of 14. Early on, he became an avid student of cask aging and held onto maturing whiskies far longer than the distilleries from which they’d been purchased. “People thought that George was eccentric to the point of (being) mad,” says Stephen Rankin. “He’d release a 35-year-old single malt. 35 years? You could do a 5-year-old seven times over for that, and make more money cumulatively. But George stuck to his guns.” Some of the longest-matured single malts owe their existence to George Urquhart, including this one.
Around The Cask In 80 Years
There have been a few Scotches with 70-plus years of barrel time logged, including a handful of Gordon & MacPhail bottlings under the Generations name. But Generations 80YO is the first whisky to have crossed the eight-decade barrier. The idea of bottling it as an 80-year-old first gained serious consideration, according to Railing, around 2018, when it was a mere stripling of 78. “Stuart [Urquhart, Gordon & MacPhail’s Director of Operations] came to us and said, ‘This is my take on it — it’s a beautiful, beautiful whisky, and we think it’ll make 80 without dropping any more strength.’ So we thought, this could definitely happen. And we really started closely monitoring it from that point on.” The final product, which went into the barrel at about 62.5% ABV in 1940, was bottled at a cask strength of 44.9% ABV, without chill filtration.
But How Does It Taste?
1940 Glenlivet is different from what we know today; the distillate was heavier and oilier, and due to wartime rationing, the barley was malted over a peat-fueled fire — in other words, this Glenlivet is a peated malt. Time in the barrel lessens the influence of the peat, which makes its presence felt here only as a wisp of smoke on the finish. But it’s still a pleasant surprise.
Sir David Adjaye & Stephen Rankin photo credit Gordon & MacPhail
Such an antiquated whisky would be expected to taste like an oak stave, but time and Cask #340 have been kind to Generations 80. The color is a bright copper with hints of gold and long, thick legs. The aroma is light, sweet, and almost perfume-like, with lots of orange and floral notes. The floral elements are present on the palate as well, along with a light herbaceousness evolving into dark chocolate and walnut on the back of the tongue. it tastes far younger than its years, with a gentleness that’s classic Glenlivet and a very long, delicate and drying finish. Mint, gentle oak and faint smoke finish off the ride.
Packaging sketch photo credit Gordon & MacPhail
A first-of-its-kind whisky deserves a unique package, so Gordon & MacPhail brought aboard famed architect/designer Sir David Adjaye, OBE, who’s designed everything from fine furniture to affordable housing. Adjaye started working on a design in June 2019, even as the liquid was still aging. He’s created a distinctive and striking decanter, housed inside an oak box which helps to represent the long journey of the whisky. “He wanted to create something that had (a sense of) theater,” says Rankin.
The suggested retail price for the 250 bottles to be made available at retail hasn’t yet been made available, but it’ll likely be priced somewhere between a Tesla and a studio apartment in Manhattan. Decanter #1 will be auctioned off by Sotheby’s on October 7th, with the proceeds after expenses going to the Scottish charity Trees For Life, whose avowed goal is to “rewild the Caledonian Forest,” as well as planting trees in Ghana. Hey, an 80-year-old whisky you can write off as a charitable donation sounds pretty appealing.