Triple success for Gordon & MacPhail in major whisky awards

Gordon & MacPhail are toasting triple success in the prestigious Icons of Whisky Awards.

The Elgin-based whisky specialists won the Visitor Attraction Manager of the Year and Whisky Retailer of the Year – Single Outlet awards, while recently retired managing director Michael Urquhart was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The Visitor Attraction Manager of the Year award went to Susan Colville, Brand Home Manager at Gordon & MacPhail owned Benromach Distillery.

“I’m thrilled to have won this award, but more importantly I’m delighted for the team that works so hard to make a visit to Benromach a pleasure,” said Mrs Colville, who won the Young Ambassador of the Year at the 2012 Icons of Whisky Awards.

The judges said: “As Brand Home Manager, Susan is the welcoming face of the distillery, offering tales from her travels and stories of her life growing up in Speyside. The distillery centre team, with Susan at the helm, offers a rare experience. You can enjoy a unique and personalised tour, followed by a dram and chat.”

The Whisky Retailer of the Year – Single Outlet award went to the company’s spiritual home, its shop in South Street, Elgin, which was opened almost 120 years ago.

The judges said: “It is still going strong to this day and is known for the aroma of home cooked local gammon and cheese which greets customers on arrival.

“The store boasts a Whisky Room which stocks around 1,000 different single malts attracting people from all around the world. This ‘Aladdin’s Cave of Whisky’ is a must see, especially if you are after the very old or rare.”

Inclusion in the Hall of Fame is a permanent tribute to individuals who have made a lasting contribution to whisky, and Mr Urquhart joins his brother David, also a former Managing Director of Gordon & MacPhail, who was inducted last year.

“It’s a tremendous honour for me to sit alongside some very illustrious names from the whisky industry,” Mr Urquhart said.

“I feel it is a reflection of the success of Gordon & MacPhail as a whole and I thank our employees, suppliers and worldwide customer base for their ongoing support.”

Mr Urquhart retired as Managing Director of Gordon & MacPhail in September this year and is a non-executive director of the company.

Notes 

Gordon & MacPhail is one of the UK’s leading independent specialist wholesalers and distributors, stocking over 4,500 products, including an extensive portfolio of wines, spirits and UK specialist beers and ciders.

Four generations of the Urquhart family have continued the tradition of seeking out the best and rarest Scotch whiskies. Since its foundation, Gordon & MacPhail’s policy has been to send casks to distilleries throughout Scotland, fill them with “new make” spirit and mature them either at the distillery of origin or in the firm’s own bonded warehouses in Elgin.

The world’s leading malt whisky specialist, Gordon & MacPhail exports to more than 50 countries. It offers more than 300 presentations of own-bottled single malts and has a stock-holding of more than 700 whiskies.

In March 2010 Gordon & MacPhail made history as it launched the world’s oldest single malt whisky – Gordon & MacPhail Generations Mortlach 70 Years Old – at an exclusive event at Edinburgh Castle.

Benromach distillery, which employs just three experienced distillers, went through many changes of ownership and closures before being “rescued” and restored by Gordon & MacPhail in 1993 and was officially opened by the Prince of Wales in 1998. In 2009, Benromach 10 Years Old – the first aged Benromach malt to be made at the distillery under Gordon & MacPhail – was launched.