Buy rare and selected Mortlach Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Mortlach is the oldest legal whisky distillery in Dufftown, Banffshire, Scotland and was founded in 1823 by James Findlater, Donald Mackintosh and Alexander Gordon and received its official licence in the same year. Mortlach has the historical significance of being the first legal distillery in Dufftown, a town now recognised as the heart of the Speyside region and the whisky centre of the world.
The name Mortlach is interpreted in different ways; in addition to the translations big green hill or bowl-shaped valley, it is sometimes also translated as massacre of the wild geese, whereby wild geese refers to the Danish army that was defeated by the Scottish King Malcolm II in the area around Dufftown in 1010. The distillery originally traded under the name Dufftown Distillery and was owned for a time by John and James Grant of Glen Grant, then later by George Cowie, before it finally came to Diageo via the Distillers Company Ltd (DCL) and United Distillers (UD), which still owns it today. Incidentally, the distillery s most famous apprentice was probably William Grant, the later founder of Glenfiddich.
A formative phase began in 1853 when George Cowie took over the distillery. His son, Dr Alexander Cowie, later joined the company. Alexander, who also had medical and scientific knowledge, is often credited with developing, or at least perfecting, Mortlach s unique and complex distillation process. Mortlach s most outstanding feature is its unique distillation process known as the way or 2.81 distillation. It is a highly complex form of partial triple distillation that combines six differently shaped stills (three wash stills, three spirit stills) in a specific, almost mysterious way. A small spirit still, affectionately known as Wee Witchie, plays a key role as its distillate is distilled again. The result of this process is an unusually heavy, complex and often described as meaty New Make Spirit by Speyside standards. The number 2.81 is an estimate by the master distillers of how many times the spirit is distilled on average.
The water at the distillery, which is part of the Speyside region, comes from springs in the Conval Hills and makes a decisive contribution to the strong flavour of the whisky. The distillery has a mash tun (12 tonnes) made of stainless steel, six fermentation vats (59,000 litres each) made of larch wood, three wash stills (32,500 litres in total) and three spirit stills (26,000 litres in total). Unusually for Scottish whiskies, some of the whisky at Mortlach is distilled using a triple distillation process, which is more commonly known from Ireland and is otherwise only used by Benrinnes and Springbank. The spirit still no. 1, known as The Wee Witchie, which is also the distillery s smallest still, is used as an intermediate still, but only the after-run (feints) from the first two wash stills is distilled in it, not that from wash still no. 3, the largest still.
Mortlach has not bottled itself for a very long time and a large part of its production now goes into blends from Johnnie Walker, Cardhu and Talisker, which is why many of the independent bottlers still have it on offer today, sometimes with very old and excellent bottlings. Originally mainly offered by Gordon and MacPhail, there are numerous great and rare bottlings from Coopers Choice, Signatory Vintage, Adelphi, Cadenhead and Murray McDavid.
Mortlach is also nicknamed the Beast of Dufftown among connoisseurs and whisky lovers due to its strong, robust and complex flavour profile, which stands out from many lighter, fruitier Speyside whiskies. The character is considered to be full-bodied, rich, complex and often with an oily, viscous texture with the typical meaty, savoury notes, the trademark of Mortlach, which can be reminiscent of aged meat, broth, leather or sometimes even a slight, pleasantly perceived sulphur note (reminiscent of matches or dried meat), which is attributed to the complex distillation process. Particularly when matured in sherry casks, notes of dried figs, dates, sultanas, plum jam or orange peel with strong spicy notes such as ginger, cloves, black pepper and a distinct oak spice with a dark sweetness such as toffee, molasses, dark chocolate or malt sweets are evident.
With its robust character and depth with dark fruit flavours and special spiciness, Mortlach single malt is also considered the best choice for a fine cigar. Mortlach whiskies are regarded by connoisseurs as true classics from Speyside.