G&M unveils its final Talisker single malt
The 39-year-old whisky will be the last Gordon & MacPhail (G&M) bottling to bear the Talisker name.
The latest addition to G&M’s Connoisseurs Choice series was distilled at Diageo-owned Talisker Distillery on the Isle of Skye, laid down in a refill Sherry butt on 3 March 1987 and bottled on 30 April 2026.
It is presented at a natural cask strength of 51.4% ABV and retails for £1,250 (US$1,670) per 700ml bottle. Just 451 bottles will be available worldwide.
Stuart Urquhart, operations director at Gordon & MacPhail, said: “This release marks a poignant moment for us, as after several decades where bottlings from Talisker Distillery have been absent from our Connoisseurs Choice range, we are now releasing a final single cask bottling from this top distillery.
“Thirty-nine years in a refill Sherry butt has given this whisky exceptional depth without ever losing Talisker’s signature character. For collectors and whisky enthusiasts alike, this is a rare opportunity to own the final piece of our history with this distillery.”
Tasting notes for the release mention raisins, cloves, leather, tangerines, walnuts, cocoa, black pepper and hints of ash.
G&M launched the Connoisseurs Choice range in 1968 to showcase single malts from distilleries whose output was largely earmarked for blending. To date, it has been used to bottle more than 2,000 whiskies from almost 100 Scottish distilleries.
This latest release honours earlier Connoisseur’s Choice bottlings by recreating the original label design with its distinctive red text on black.
Whisky writer and owner of whiskyfun.com, Serge Valentin, commented: “It is rather splendid to see the old black CC [Connoisseur’s Choice] labels again, the ones in use during the 1970s, before the ‘brown banner labels’ which themselves preceded the ‘old map labels’.
“It is true that this series once sheltered many wonderful Taliskers, especially those from the 1950s. I also find that there is something exceedingly chic about releasing malts at 39 years of age, rather than waiting a few more months in order to display ’40’.”
G&M was founded in Elgin, Scotland, in 1895 by James Gordon and John Alexander MacPhail as a grocer’s shop and wine merchant.
In 2020, G&M announced that it would cease filling casks with new make spirit from distilleries it did not own in 2024.
The move was said to allow the company to focus on running its distilleries: Benromach in Speyside and The Cairn in the Highlands.
G&M released the oldest single malt ever bottled in October 2025, an 85-year-old Glenlivet with an RRP of £125,000 (US$168,423).
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