Teaninich 1975 Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice (Brown)

Sweden’‘s Box distillery was founded in 2010 near the Ångermanälven River on the High Coast (Höga Kasten) of Sweden, nearly 300 miles from Stockholm, in a former wooden box factory, by Per and Mats de Vahl after a trip to Scotland. The distillery was renamed High Coast following a dispute with the London blending company Compass Box, who claimed the original name could lead to confusion. Directed by master distiller Roger Melander from its early days, it produces whisky using peated malt from Belgium and Scotland and unpeated malt from Sweden from Viking Malt in Hamlstad. The water, which is filtered through layers of sand and coal, is from the Bålsjön lake. The must is clear, inspired by practices in Japan, and distillation slow. Although the generally cool climate helps vapours condense during distillation, the large range of temperatures from one season to the next—from -30°c in winter to 30°C in summer—has a significant impact on the whisky’‘s maturation. The distillery carries out lots of ageing experiments, trialling different types and sizes of casks, different ageing conditions and positions in the warehouse, etc., as well as experiments at every stage of production. Box quickly made a name for itself as one of the most promising micro distilleries of the last 10 years.

A Teaninich distilled in 1975 and bottled by independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail. Gordon & MacPhail was founded in Elgin in 1895 by James Gordon and John Alexander MacPhail. As was often the case at the time, the business started out as a delicatessen and wine merchant. In 1915, John Alexander MacPhail retired and a new partner joined the business, John Urquhart. He was joined by his son George in 1933, a few years after James Gordon died in a car crash. Gordon & MacPhail works with many of Speyside’s leading distilleries, from whom it has accumulated considerable stocks. It is also licensed to bottle whiskies for many of them, including Glen Grant, Linkwood, Mortlach, Macallan and Glenlivet. The business really took off in the 1970s, acquiring distributors in a huge range of countries and selling casks to several Italian bottlers in selections that would become legends in their own right. Gordon & MacPhail is still run by the Urquhart family today, from the same building, and is one of the most iconic bottlers in the industry, with incredible stocks of sometimes very old and rare whiskies. The company is in complete control of the entire maturation process. Gordon & MacPhail has also owned the Benromach distillery since 1993.