Glencadam 1974 (bottled 1991) - Connoisseurs Choice (70cl, 40%) ***sold***
This 1974 vintage is a Gordon & MacPhail bottling from 1991.
Despite being nearly 200 years old, Glencadam is still a lesser-known single malt. For the majority of the 20th century it was owned by blenders, first Gilmour Thompson, and then Hiram Walker who bought it in 1954. Over the next half century a series of amalgamations brought the distillery into the hands of Allied Distillers. Despite being the home of the Stewarts Cream of the Barley blend, it was shut down in 2000. Allied Distillers experimented with a brief distillery bottling of Glencadam single malt in the 1980s, but it was not until Angus Dundee re-opened it in 2003 that it was pushed as a single malt brand. Prior this, independent releases like this were the only real chance to try this well-regarded spirit.
Gordon & MacPhail are one of the largest and most recognisable whisky companies in the world. Although they began distilling at the newly refurbished Benromach distillery in 1998, for most of their history they were an independent bottler. Their labels are recognised by whisky lovers the world over, and their licensed bottlings from distillery's like Macallan and Talisker in the 1970s and 1980s, when the companies were not bottling themselves, are a huge part of the success of those distillers today.
The Connoisseurs Choice label is one of the most recognisable independent bottlings on the market. It was initially created for renowned Italian importer, Edoardo Giaccone in the early 1970s, but became a mainstay of the core Gordon & MacPhail portfolio in 1979.