First introduced in 1968 by Gordon & MacPhail’s legendary director ‘Mr. George’ Urquhart, the Connoisseurs Choice series was one of the first branded ranges of independently-bottled single malt whiskies. 

The original Connoisseurs Choice bottlings had a simple black label featuring a golden eagle.  These bottlings, some of which are the first known bottlings from their distilleries, are very highly sought after nowadays and command extremely high prices. 

The black Connoisseurs Choice labels were replaced around the turn of the 1980s by a short-lived label utilising various shades of brown.  These editions include some of the greatest ever bottlings under the Connoisseurs Choice name, featuring rare single malts from many lost distilleries including Glenugie, Convalmore, Kinclaith and St. Magdalene.

The brown labels were themselves replaced by what are known among collectors as the Map Label editions.  These bottlings began around 1988 with cream labels and a thumbnail map of the relevant region in the centre - good examples include the first bottlings of a series of Ardbegs from the classic 1974 vintage.  

The Connoisseurs Choice range has continued evolving ever since, with major packaging revamps in 1996 and 2008 and an increase in bottling strength from 40% to 43% in 2007. A further significant upgrade to the series occurred in 2012, when chill filtration and the addition of caramel colouring were both discontinued and the standard bottling strength was increased once again, this time to 46%. This decision delighted whisky fans and gave the Connoisseurs Choice series a new momentum.

The Connoisseurs Choice range celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018 with another packaging revamp including a new bottle shape and the departure of the maps from the label. At the same time this most long-lived and iconic of independent bottling series took another big step forward, with the introduction of full cask strength bottlings into the Connoisseurs Choice range. 

The Connoisseurs Choice Cask Strength editions have proven wildly popular with whisky fans and Gordon & MacPhail have been swift to capitalise, issuing an average of over 100 of the cask strength Connoisseurs Choice releases each year since their launch in 2018. 

The success of the Cask Strength releases demonstrates the adaptability and enduring appeal of the Connoisseurs Choice range. A series that began over five and a half decades ago as a range of small batch releases at a standard 40% bottling strength has made a virtue of flexibility over the years. 

Gordon & MacPhail’s uniquely deep and diverse cask inventory has enabled them to ensure that the Connoisseurs Choice series can move with the times to reflect changes in consumer demand. The changing nature of Gordon & MacPhail’s Connoisseurs Choice series is a testament to the continuous evolution of the whisky market, with the range’s 2500+ previous bottlings serving as a remarkable record of post-war distillation in Scotland.