Gordon & MacPhail MD to retire

Ewen Mackintosh, managing director of Scotch producer Gordon & MacPhail, will step down next year after three decades at the company.

Gordon & MacPhail has said it has started its search for the managing director’s replacement, with Mackintosh retiring in spring 2024.

He said: “After 33 years working for Gordon & MacPhail I feel that now is the time to step down. I have seen, and been part of, many exciting developments over the last three decades including the purchase and reopening of Benromach Distillery in Forres, the release of some of the world’s rarest single malt whiskies, and more recently the successful building and establishment of the Cairn Distillery and visitor centre, near Grantown-on-Spey.

“With the company in such a strong position, I feel it is the right time to hand the baton on as Gordon & MacPhail looks forward to its next exciting chapter. I’d like to thank my colleagues both past and present for their commitment and dedication over the years, no more so than over the last three years in dealing with the pandemic and subsequent adjustments.”

He served as Gordon & MacPhail’s managing director for the last 10 years.

Mackintosh will continue working with Gordon & MacPhail when his successor is appointed, supporting the new hire to achieve a ‘seamless transition’.

Neil Urquhart, chairman at Gordon & MacPhail, said: “As a family business our people are hugely important to us, and we are indebted to Ewen for more than three decades of service.

“Ewen’s dedication and commitment has supported huge growth and change throughout the business, and his leadership shines through in the highly skilled and talented team he’s helped build and develop. Ewen’s leadership of the project to build and commission The Cairn Distillery is testimony to our long-standing approach of investing for future prosperity.”

In April, the brand celebrated King Charles III’s coronation with a 74-year-old single malt from his birth year.