What Affects The Price Of Gordon & MacPhail Whisky
Selling Gordon & MacPhail whisky can seem like a daunting prospect. After all, there are so many ways that you can sell whisky. But which way is the most effective? And, how can you get the best price for your whisky? Well, that is where we come in.
At Mark Littler Ltd we can help you to sell your Gordon & MacPhail whisky quickly, stress-free, and for the best price. We make selling whisky online easy with Mark Littler Ltd.
What To Look For
Connoisseur’s Choice: Black Label
This bottle is famous for its black label with red writing, it is one of the most iconic series of scotch whiskies in the industry. The first bottle in this range was created in the early 1970s for Eduardo Giaccone, renowned whisky connoisseur and owner of Whiskyteca. Gordon & MacPhail then used it themselves in a later range at a reduced proof of 40%.
These are presented in a traditional tall style bottle with a screw top hat is either red or gold. The label has a red and gold font and a small image of a cask embellished with the length of maturation. It is also the only bottle in the series to correctly use the possessive apostrophe in the branding; subsequent bottles do not use the apostrophe.
A 35-year-old bottle of 1936 Mortlach Gordon and MacPhail Connoisseur’s Choice Black Label recently sold for £2,550.
Connoisseurs Choice: Brown Label
This bottle was produced between 1980-88 and has a screw cap and a tall bottle. The label is a brown gradient with a gold riband baring the brand name and just below it a circle detailing the age. Bottles are 75cl volume and 40% ABV.
A 12-year-old bottle of 1972 Ardbeg Brown Label Connoisseurs Choice recently sold for £900.
Connoisseurs Choice: Cream Map Label
As implied in the title, these bottles are adorned with a large cream coloured label with a thumbnail-sized image of the region where the bottle was produced. The left side of the image has some small text that reads ‘Connoisseurs Choice, a range of single malts from various districts of Scotland’ and to the right of the image there is a short sentence talking about the area of origin.
This bottle was used from 1989-1996 and was produced in 70cl measurements at 40% proof. They are topped with a screw cap.
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The Six Factors That Affect The Price Of Gordon & MacPhail Whisky
There are six factors that will affect the price of your bottle of Gordon & MacPhail. These are the age of the whisky, the bottling date, the vintage, whether it is a single cask edition, the level of the whisky and the condition of the label and box.
Age of whisky
This refers to the number of years the whisky has spent maturing in the cask, not how long it has been in the bottle. The age is indicated on the label and can vary from 3 to well over 30 years old.
Most collectible bottles are over 10 years old and value usually increases with the age of the whisky. Whisky over 30 years old is the most sought after as it is the rarest.
Any whisky bottled at over 50 years old is highly desirable and a very limited number of distilleries have released whisky over 50 years old.
Bottling date
This relates to when the whisky was bottled. As bottles from a specific year are consumed, the remaining bottles become rarer, so even a ‘standard’ malt released in the 1980’s can become sought after.
If vintage is not stated bottle volume can be an indicator of bottling era. Bottles from the 1970s and earlier use fluid ounces (FL.OZ). In the 1980s standard bottles size was 75cl and in 1991 the standard size (in the EU) changed to 70cl. Note that standard bottle size is still 75cl in the USA, and other bottle sizes are occasionally used, in which case you will have to use other indicators.
Distillation year
The distillation year might also be described as the bottle vintage, and refers to the specific year in which the whisky was distilled (made). It is one of the most important factors that can impact the price of your collectible whisky.
In general, the earlier the distillation year the more collectible your bottle of whisky. Bottles from the first half of the 20th century are highly valued by collectors and fetch a premium. That being said, the bottler is also important, and so two whiskies distilled in the same year, at the same distillery, but bottled by different bottlers will vary in value.
Label & packaging
The label on a bottle of collectible whisky is very important and should be in pristine condition to fetch the highest value. If the label is damaged in any way, such as scratching, blemishing, pealing or mould, then this will have a negative impact on the value.
The box condition is almost as important as the label condition, and the correct box is very important to collectors. A bottle with a damaged or marked box will be worth less, and a bottle without its original box could be worth up to 30% less.
Level
The level of the whisky has a large impact on the value. On almost all bottles it should be well into the neck, a level in the lower half of the neck is worth less and levels into the shoulder will significantly impact the value.
Older bottles are more prone to a drop in level as the bottles were not intended for storage. A drop in level implicates the long term storage prospects for any collector but as alcohol is more volatile than water it is the alcohol that will evaporate first, which impacts the flavour.
Single Cask Bottlings
Single cask bottlings are generally more sought after, as by default they are unique and usually of a significantly limited edition. Look out for numbers on your bottle like XXX/250, with the second number generally being less than 500, which would indicate a single cask edition.
Longer edition numbers such as XXX/5000 are often also collectible. These longer numbers usually indicate that the release is a vatting of a number of casks.
How We Can Help Sell Your Berry Gordon & MacPhail
Private Sale
Our brokerage service is a simple, stress-free way to sell whisky. We will broker the sale between you and one of our buyers. For this service, we charge a 10% commission (inc. VAT) of the final sale price of the item. This avenue is fast and simple. We will take care of everything for you.
Auction
At Mark Littler Ltd we can also help you to sell whisky via auction. We have teamed up with the country’s leading online whisky auctions to help you to sell whisky at auction without the hassle. This is a great option for lower-value bottles, or if you do not mind taking some risks.
Shop
The final option is selling your whisky through our one-of-a-kind online shop. On our shop, we broker the sale of high-value bottles for our customers. Your bottle will sit amongst rare and expensive whisky and our advertising campaigns aim to draw the eye of whisky collectors everywhere.
What is the price of your Gordon & MacPhail whisky?
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The History Of Gordon & MacPhail
Set up by John Alexander MacPhail and James Gordon in Elgin in 1895, Gordon & MacPhail are arguably one of the longest running independent bottlers to date. They are not only famed for their longevity, but also for having the largest collection of rare and old whisky casks in the industry.
Following the retirement of MacPhail in 1915 John Urquhart joined the company, sadly only two weeks later Gordon was killed in a car accident, after which Urquart’s son George joined the company. Urquart became senior company partner and started the broking side of the business as well as bottling whiskies from renowned distilleries under special licences, such as Glenlivet.
The driving force of the business and a dream of Urquhart and his future generations was to have their own distillery. This dream finally came true in 1993, when they bought Benromach. Before it was opened by Prince Charles, the distillery was upgraded. Eventually, a new range of Benromach expressions were released and to this day it remains an important part of the company.
The name Gordon & MacPhail is incredibly popular in the whisky world and the company are often looked to for inspiration for newer bottlers. Since day one, it has been based in the small town of Elgin and at the heart of its operations is their retail unit on South Street. This combines the famous Whisky Room and over 1,000 malts for sale with a wine and deli merchant.
Across town is where the maturation, bottling and offices are based at George House. In the warehouse there is an incredible collection of rare and old malt casks, with some prized Macallans from the pre-war era. The whiskies they bottle are spread across distinct ranges, like The MacPhail’s Collection, Rare Old, Cask Strength, The Private Collection and Connoisseurs Choice. Generations is the most exclusive, with the oldest bottle of single malt being released in that label; a 70-year-old Mortlach.
A bottle of 70-year-old Gordon and MacPhail 1943 Private Collection recently sold for £28,970.
Send us details about your bottle directly via email or use the form below.
We contact our international network of customers for the best offers.
If you decide to proceed with an offer we issue you with a contract.
Send us your bottle. We have a fully insured courier service available.
We complete the sale with the buyer and send your funds via BACS.
Bottle Selling FAQ
“I found Mark’s details online after looking to sell a collectable bottle of whisky. I was going to use a well know auction site but Mark secured an offer higher than the highest estimation from any auction house, within days, even after the 10% commission was deducted. Communication was perfect; punctual, to the point and polite. Collection and delivery were taken care of by Mark and instruction was clear and easy to follow. Payment was received to my bank within days of posting the bottle. I can’t recommend Mark enough; he runs a tight ship gets top end offers from his clients and delivers quickly.”
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