Gordon & MacPhail

The most remarkable whisky shop in the world, and it happens to be in the centre of Elgin. Gordon & MacPhail began as a grocery and wine merchant in 1895, and the shop on South Street still sells groceries — but the whisky department is what draws people from across the globe. The company is one of Scotland's most respected independent bottlers, and the shop stocks hundreds of expressions, including extremely old and rare whiskies unavailable elsewhere.

Even if you are not buying, the shop is worth visiting as a kind of whisky library. The staff know their stock in depth, and tasting notes are provided for most bottles. Prices range from accessible to eye-watering. The shop is open Monday to Saturday.

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A story
Gordon & MacPhail, founded in 1895, is not a distillery but something rarer: an independent bottler and blender that buys new-make spirit from dozens of distilleries, matures it in its own casks for years or even decades, and releases the results under its own labels. The company owns casks of whisky from distilleries that closed long before many of its bottles will be opened. In 2020 it released a 80-year-old Mortlach from 1938, the oldest single malt Scotch whisky ever bottled.