2003 Gordon & Macphail Speymalt from Macallan 20 Year Old Cask Strength Single Malt Scotch Whisky (700ml)

Gordon & Macphail announced several years ago that their 'Speymalt from Macallan' series will continue to be bottled occasionally, however, they'll only be released in 'selected' worldwide markets. Australia doesn't seem to be one of those, and we suspect the whisky in question was scheduled for the US. Twenty years old, single cask, cask strength and sourced from one of Scotland's most prestigious independents, good things have been said about some of these early 2000 G&M Macallans - no doubt partly because the bottler continues a practice of filling and maturing in their own casks rather than buying 'ready made' malts and then finishing them off for a year or two. This way, G&M maintain as much quality control as is possible for an indie. Judging by the colour alone, this looks to have been very active on the sherry front and has all the hallmarks of a strong distillery expression. Presumably non-chill filtered, but not stated on the label, cask #13603609 yielded 298 bottles at 57.7% Alc./Vol.

Notes from the bottlers... Sweet stewed fruit aromas with cinnamon and ginger spice. The palate has forest fruits, toasted hazelnuts and black pepper. The finish has charred oak and citrus peel.