A D Rattray Girvan Grain 1964 A 50 Year Old Sleeper Whisky

In the realm of Scotch whisky it is not all that uncommon to see bottlings released, particularly from independent bottlers, which are decades and decades along in age. We saw that earlier this month, for example, with the very high brow unveiling of Gordon & MacPhail’s Mortlach 75 year old. While this was going on, rival A D Rattray had an older expression it was more quietly bringing to market in the form of a 50 year old single grain from the Girvan distillery.

Now, to be fair, there are a range of differences separating these two at least half-century old whiskies besides just time in barrel. These include the whisky style (single malt vs. single grain), distillery (mighty Mortlach vs. much lesser known Girvan) and, perhaps most notably, price. In this last item the Gordon & MacPhail bottling sat way up on the price scale at £20,000 (around $30,650 USD), whereas the A D Rattray one was at least slightly more down to earth at £495 (around $765 USD).

The whisky that’s the focus of this article was distilled by Girvan back in 1964, and is said by A D Rattray to be the first bottled for its new Vintage Cask Collection, noted for its focus on releases that have been “selected from some of Scotland’s most respected distilleries and [that] are bottled at vintages rarely found.” There was only enough available from this single cask expression to produce 255 bottles, all of which clock in at a cask strength of 46.8% ABV.

“It is particularly fitting that this 50 year old is the first cask in our new Vintage Cask Collection range as it is the oldest whisky we have bottled to date and is from the nearest distillery to our headquarters – Girvan is just 7 miles down the road,” said Tim Morrison,  owner of A D Rattray, in a statement. “There is also a strong family connection between the two companies as my father, Stanley P Morrison, and Charles Grant Gordon were friends and in fact I visited Girvan distillery on many occasions while it was being built in 1963.  At that time I had just started working as part of the production and management team of Bowmore Distillery which had recently been acquired by my father.

“It all seems like a lifetime ago and to see a bottle of whisky which was distilled back then in the hands of my son, Andrew, the next generation of our family business, makes me very proud.”

Official tasting notes are below for the A D Rattray Girvan Grain 1964. If you want to pick up a bottle, there look to be a few retailers which may have it in stock overseas.

• Nose: Deep and exquisite aromas of orange peel, dark chocolate truffles, Brazil nuts, nutmeg, rich honey and coconut.
• Palate: Silky. Luscious vanilla, sweet oranges, banana bread, some liquorice and spicy notes.