In 2008, Gordon Motion – having spent a decade as the assistant to the head whisky maker – was settling into his new role as Edrington’s master whisky maker. On a trip to the Highland Park distillery, which would become his focus in the following decades, he identified 10 casks from 1968 which he believed had huge potential. He decreed that they should not be bottled for another decade. As it happened, he held off a little more.
In 2023, he finally released some of that batch as a 54-year-old. Now, he’s filled just 170 bottles of Highland Park 56 (£40,000), the oldest expression from the remote Orkney islands distillery. This is not the same whisky aged a couple of extra years, however. Let’s rewind back to 2008.
Motion didn’t simply chalk “Do not bottle until 2018 earliest” on the 10 casks. He vatted them into five new containers that he believed would benefit the extended maturation (bear in mind, the angels’ share would have reduced the volume by half in three decades). And not five similar barrels… The 54YO spent the extra time in a sherry butt, which left it rich, sweet and smooth, with tropical fruit notes, but cumin spice and fresh chopped herbs too, with a little fireside smoke. The new 56YO spent its extra 16 years in new American oak, resulting in a more honeyed profile, along with hazy summer jasmine, Seville orange and the gentle, fragrant heather smoke that’s a signature of Highland Park.
Skilled sleuths and mathematicians will have worked out that if there were five distinct casks containing the 1968 distillate, there must be three releases to come, each with a different secondary maturation. That is not confirmed, but perhaps – if Motion does not vat once again – a 58YO, 60YO and 62YO?
As with the 54YO, the 56YO is once again encased in a design collaboration between glassmaker Michael Rudak and wood craftsman John Galvin, conceived to resemble Orkney’s 5,000-year-old Stenness standing stones.
Where the Highland Park presentation is all organic shapes, hand crafting and classic materials, its sister distillery The Glenrothes has released a 51YO with a very different feel to its encasement.
At first, it seems impossible to get to the bottle that lies inside a solid white column of Jesmonite, an eco-resin that hardens into something like an ostrich-egg shell. And just like an ostrich egg, to get to the precious liquid within, you are provided with a hammer and encouraged to smash the shell. It is intended to represent “strength in fragility”, echoing the orchids found on the Glenrothes Estate, as well as the character of the whisky itself. The Glenrothes was founded in the Speyside region in 1879 with the distinct aim of producing an extremely delicate, elegant spirit.
The concept perhaps says more than that about the current state of collectible whiskies. If spending tens of thousands of pounds on a bottle, there is an implication of trust between buyer and distillery that the quality of this whisky matches its rarity. (If buying on the secondary market, there’s a further leap of faith in terms of authenticity.) This tests that bond of trust even further… is there actually a whisky in there at all? It’s Schrödinger’s Whisky – until you open it, the bottle is both empty and full. And most collectors will want to keep it in mint condition.
Of course, there is in reality 750ml of 51YO Glenrothes single malt in each of the 100 vessels (£37,000) – the scandal if that were not the case would not be worth the risk of just one owner deciding to crack it open! Anyone who does can return the shards to The Glenrothes and the distillery will ask a kintsugi artist to turn them into a vase.
According to Jonny Fowle, global head of whisky at Sotheby’s, The Glenrothes has a special ability to age into complexity ‘…with each layer of flavour playing its own discrete role but with perfect integration. There have been some whiskies to achieve this, all of which are hailed with legendary status by collectors.’
He specifically points to the tropical fruit notes: ‘Those characteristics are bright and expressive, with a vitality that is rare to find in a whisky of such an age. It’s simultaneously energetic and sophisticated.’
The Glenrothes 51 is available at Sotheby’s Wine & Spirits in New York and Hong Kong, and at Harrods and other luxury retailers in London. Highland Park 56 is available at Harrods, Berry Bros & Rudd et al.
