Throughout my career at Whyte & Mackay, that spans nearly 40 years, I have on many occasions had the privilege of sharing a wee dram of one of my own whiskies with the rich and famous. I’m not talking about rejects from “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here” but genuine A-listers (you know, the Hollywood types).

Unfortunately many of my friends and colleagues never believe me. So maybe its time I shared my Goldie Hawn secret. Yes she drinks Whyte & Mackay 40yo!

Believe it or not several months ago Goldie Hawn visited my home town of Glasgow. Making the pilgrimage to Scotland’s foremost city (sorry Edinburgh) to speak at a Charity Fundraising dinner at the Hilton, Goldie was presented with a special commemorate Whyte & Mackay 40yo to celebrate her 40 years on the silver screen. The bottle, which listed all of her starring roles over the past four decades, was presented to her by a good friend and colleague of mine David Brown (that’s the lucky one in the photograph).

I remember one of my colleagues writing afterwards “Ms Hawn, who searched for the elixir to provide eternal youth in the film ‘Death Becomes Her’ was delighted to receive Scotland’s very own Aqua Vitae (the water of life), meaning this was really a case of life imitating art”.

Just about every time I conduct either one of my whisky master classes or a whisky tasting event I am asked, “What is the most expensive whisky ever sold?” In fact I was asked this very question several weeks ago whilst in London.

I’m both delighted and privilege to say that I never tire of this question because the answer is one of my own: the very (very) limited Dalmore 62yo. I’m also pleased to say that the customer in question (no names) brought this fine product to enjoy and not to collect.

Way back on the 15th April 2005 at the Pennyhill Park Hotel, in the small town of Bagshot in Surrey a young gentlemen purchased the hotel’s one and only bottle of the said Dalmore 62yo. The occasion took place over Pennyhill Park’s main bar and I’m told somewhere in the region of £32 - £38,000 changed hands (amount was never confirmed).

Sat with his friends our customer then proceeded to open his purchase and enjoy it. Within 10 minutes 62 years of history were enjoyed in the manner that I would always recommend. A prefect setting with friends requires a perfect serve and that’s exactly what happened.

The element of the story that I also like to highlight is what happened next. Our friend after circulating the bottle amongst his group handed it back with one dram left for the barman to sample. Many professional bar staff would have settled for a small tip so imagine how the barman in question must have felt when presented with the generous gesture of a £1,000 dram to taste. I wish I’d been there.

The Dalmore 62yo is without doubt liquid history. Within the expression the youngest whiskies I used were 62 years old (obviously). The oldest Dalmore liquid was initially distilled on the 10th June 1868, that’s 3 days after the birth of a certain Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Unsurprisingly I am told if you are lucky enough to come across a bottle of Dalmore 62yo on the black market you can now expect to have to swap £60,000 if you want to take it home.

At the recent Germany Whisky Festival it was another memorable event only this year there was an air of despondency hanging in the air – the pangs of recessions was clearly making its mark. Even I was starting to get depressed but for only a matter of seconds. My audience needed to be cheered up but I had all the tools with me…
I quickly served them for my tasting The Dalmore 12 years old, The Dalmore 15 years old and the final viagra of the century the Dalmore 1974 limited edition. One sip from this liquid gold accompanied by a handcrafted delicious bitter chocolate, they were in heaven!

Recession…it’s just a word. Scotch Whisky is a lifetime of warm memories shared with good friends. On this occasion it was many German friends.

Thank goodness the Government has seen sense following the recent Pre-Budget Report by raising excise duty by 4% rather than the original proposed 8%. Taking into account a temporary 2.5% cut in VAT, the overall duty burden on Scotch Whisky will remain broadly unchanged. Scotch whisky is in good spirits with exports generating £2.8 billion for the UK balance of trade coupled with £800 million being contributed to the Exchequer in taxes. Surely the last thing the Government wants is to crack this golden egg.

The Scotch Whisky Experience in Edinburgh has commenced its £2 million spend which will included the World’s greatest whisky collection. It is scheduled for completion early next year when it will be opened by the First Minister of Scotland, Alec Salmond.

What an advert for Scotland. A whisky school built on an old school and still with the clear message – education. I just wish every capital had one.

Whyte and Mackay’s ‘Original’ 40yo is the oldest and the rarest blended scotch available: in my view it’s a definite must have for all you luxury whisky connoisseurs and enthusiasts.

Bottling the ‘Original’ was an incredibly emotional time for me; I felt that I was encapsulating over a 160 year’s of Whyte & Mackay’s deep rooted values of quality and craftsmanship with this unique and magnificent expression. I can still remember that day and how I felt that one of the company’s foremost individuals; Major Hartley Whyte was watching me. It was Major Whyte whose original idea it was to lay down the fledgling spirit that evidentially became this truly fantastic liquid way back on 16th June 1966.

For those that don’t know the ‘Original’s’ hand blown bottle is reminiscent of the earliest Whyte and Mackay styles dating back to 1800s.  Packaged in an antique Hessian bag within a bespoke wooden casket each entity proudly displays the Whyte and Mackay iconic double-lion emblem.

Only 1,000 bottles have been released, each one includes a certificate of authentication that I have proudly signed.

So why do all expressions of The Dalmore carry the stag icon - our emblem of aristocratic pedigree?

The legend dates back to the 13th Century, 1263 to be precise, when a member of the Mackenzie family risked his life to save Scotland’s ruler, King Alexander III, from a charging stag. Intuitively courageous he shot the charging beast with a single arrow. As a token of his appreciation the grateful monarch bequeathed the stag to the Mackenzie family - a symbol of valour and courage.

In 1786 Benjamin West was commissioned to commemorate the act and the resulting painting hangs proudly, to this day, in the National Galleries of Scotland, at the foot of The Mound, Edinburgh.

The Mackenzie family have been using 12-point stag’s head iconic symbol to set the whiskies from their Dalmore distillery apart since the 1800’s.

To celebrate the Dalmore 40 year olds regal pedigree and peerless quality a metal stags head proudly adorns every bottle.

I have spent the majority of my career nurturing and cradling this fine spirit almost as if it was a member of my own family. What truly motivated me to bring this masterpiece to life was the pioneering spirit of one of my heroes; Col. H. A. C. Mackenzie who mashed, fermented and distilled the fledgling spirit, ultimately filling bespoke, redolent oak casks on the 21st March 1966. From that day forth we have known that this was going to lead to something undeniably magnificent - a true expression of our distillers art.

Those that know me know that I’m a very proud man. Proud in particular of what I like to call “finesse” – a simple process where I fully mature my malts and then seek to enhance and enrich the whisky by “finessing” in an additional cask type.

The Dalmore 74 is a classic example - the spirit was filled to its original cask on 15th March 1974, barrels of American white oak that had previously been filled with aromatic bourbons from Kentucky.

After 30 years of slumbering maturation, which included a short stay maturing in Apostoles & Amoroso Oloroso sherry wood, I transferred the malt to a single, immense Matusalem butt from Gonzalez Byass.  Matusalem is a multi award winning sherry crafted from Palomino and Pedro Ximenez grapes and matured for some 30 years in their soleras in Jerez de la Frontera and has long been a favourite of mine.

Having absorbed subtle sherry characteristics and aromatic spices from the oak this sumptuous single malt was bottled in summer of 2008 at 42% abv. This higher strength offers a truly rich, intense sensation.

I am very proud to present the Dalmore 74 in a hand crafted deep brown leather gift case with both our bottle and gift box carrying our distinctive and iconic 12 point stag head - our “royal”.

I always like to describe the Dalmore 73 as a breath taking union of the King of Malts and the King of Grapes.

I initially matured the young liquid in American White Oak. I then subsequently allowed it to spend several years gathering complexity in Cabernet Sauvignon casks. Not ordinary cask but those from a rare vintage Chateau Haut-Marbuzet (Saint Estephe). In my humble opinion the pedigree here is faultless and truly unique.

My aim from the outset was to retain as much character of the malt as possible, and not to rush the various stages, allowing the whisky time to harmonise. I always tell my friends that it took an age to reach perfection with this spirit, but only a few seconds to recognise it as a deserved masterpiece.

You can read the tasting notes at your leisure but let me tell you now the nose is initially far from a typical Dalmore, however the taste almost as a surprise has the familiarity of the Dalmore pedigree.

I may be slightly on the biased side but in my opinion the Dalmore 73 Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the most distinctive, 33 year old limited editions ever released.

I have got to be honest, I have a soft spot for the Island of Jura. There are only 180 people living on the island, and rather more deer. It has one shop, one pub and one malt distillery. But it does have two famous dates in its history. One is 1984, the book written on the island by George Orwell who was briefly a resident. The other is 1966, when on the 12th November, we distilled what has become the most exclusive bottling of Jura ever released.

My intention was to produce a highland-type malt different from the typically peaty whiskies of the western isles so I knew this was always going to be something very rare. Pure spring water, tall elegant stills, American White Oak with some Oloroso sherry casks, a unique microclimate and some blood and tears from me combine to make this limited liquid very unique.

The result is just 98 bottles of a rich golden amber, a very rare malt. Isle of Jura 40 years old is a malt which not only reflects the character of the island of Jura, but captures its spirit of 40 years ago.

Way back on the 26th October 1974 this noble spirit of rare breeding started its life within the beachside warehouse of Jura’s only distillery. Thirty four years of being cosseted and nurtured in the finest sherry wood has resulted in a taste spectrum of absolute delight.

Pure spring water, tall elegant stills, Gonzales Byass sherry casks, a unique micro-climate and the dedication of the men of Jura, that I am eternally grateful for, combine to make this rare Isle of Jura 1974 a true vintage.

At last this great masterpiece has been awakened for you to enjoy. Sip and savour the very heart of Jura and feel every beat of Island life…

This iconic Jura bottle, with its gold detailing, is encased in a beautiful leather hinged box.  The wax dipped capsule enhances the look and feel of the finished expression and I have validated its rarity with a certificate of authenticity that I have individually signed and numbered.

Albeit the newest addition to my Rare & Prestige range it’s without doubt a true great and certainly a classic if I my say so.