Discontinued, but still available from select retailers and auction

Highly recommended for those who enjoy a sulphurous sherry bomb

For the details…

Although distilleries are popping up all over Scotland these days, Speyside, a subsection of the Highlands wedged in between Aberdeen in the southeast and Inverness in the northwest, remains the country’s most populous distilling region. Amidst the general boom, Speyside is relatively quiet when it comes to new builds, but it is home to many and various distilleries of varying degrees of renown.

Arguably, Speysides whisky capital is the town of Dufftown, which is roughly in the center of the region, and which boasts 6 operating distilleries along with another 3 no longer in production. Of the active distilleries, 3 are owned by William Grant and Sons, including what are probably two of the town’s most widely known and celebrated, Glenfiddich and Balvenie. Diageo also owns 3 distilleries in the town, with Mortlach–the original employer of Glenfiddich founder William Grant–being the oldest of all the town’s operations.

It was founded in 1823, making it one of the earlier legal operations anywhere in the Highlands. It takes its name from the original name of the town, and its early history was somewhat checkered. By the later 19th century it had found success under the ownership of the Cowie family, and in the early 20th, it had found its current home as part of a precursor firm to today’s Diageo.

Mortlach is highly prized by blenders. It is a weird, heavy spirit, the result of a truly bizarre distillation regimen that uses six differently shaped stills to distill the new make an average of 2.78 times (essentially, most of the spirit gets distilled three times, with a smaller portion being distilled twice), and is condensed in traditional worm tubs rather than in modern shell and tube condensers. Because of the resulting weight and character of the new make, it copes better with full sherry maturation than a lighter whisky would, and maturation in first-fill sherry enhances Mortlach’s richness. Both the body and flavor of an unusual and hard to replicate whisky like Mortlach do a lot to make a blend more complex, and the extent to which blenders demand Mortlach has meant that it has tended to be a little tricky to come by as a single malt.

For many years, the only regularly available official bottling of Mortlach was the Flora and Fauna bottling, at sixteen years of age, reviewed here. Along with a more readily available 15 year old from Gordon & MacPhail’s distillery labels range, the Flora and Fauna bottling did much to shape Mortlach’s reputation among the enthusiast community. Both versions showed a rich, heavy, meaty, sulphurous quality that is quite unusual, and rather fascinating. The Flora and Fauna edition is, if anything, even wilder, meatier, and heavier than its slightly younger sibling. 

Alas, Mortlach has become something of a victim of its own success: the legendary Flora and Fauna edition was discontinued, and Mortlach was promoted into Diageo’s mainline malts portfolio, first in a range spearheaded by a no-age statement bottling dubbed “Rare Old,” and more recently by an age-statement range. Although the current range is a marked improvement over the first, even its heavily sherried 16 year old expression fails to capture the lightning in a bottle of the old Flora and Fauna edition.

If a whisky’s greatness is closely correlated with its uniqueness, the F&F Mortlach 16 year old is surely a great whisky–no, it’s not perfectly balanced, and if you fall into the Jim Murray camp of people who can’t stand sulphur, it’s not something you’ll enjoy. But it’s a big, heavy, powerful, strange whisky that will leave an impression. You can still find old bottles kicking around the various auctions, and at specialty retailers like The Whisky Exchange. Unfortunately, the increasing rarity of this now defunct bottling means you’ll pay a premium price of at least $250-300, pretty steep for a 16 year old, 43% abv whisky that has likely been chillfiltered and possibly colored.

Mortlach 16 Y.O. (Flora and Fauna) 43% abv

Nose: Warm, rich and sherried. Meaty.

Body: Full, creamy, heavy.

Palate: Chocolate, sherry, beef stock. Molé. Rich and appetizing, balanced, complex and characterful. A touch of sweetness is overlaid by a meaty saltiness.

Finish: Roast beef; traces of wood and earth.

Score: 94/100

Who should buy it?: People who love sherry and tolerate sulphur. Mortlach completionists. People with plenty of money who don’t mind dropping $300 on a teenaged bottle of whisky.

Overall thoughts: It’s hard for me to imagine anyone finding this whisky boring. Some might not like it, some (like me) might love it. Definitely worth trying if you get the chance, which isn’t especially likely now. I haven’t rushed out to replace my long-empty bottle at auction prices, so I can’t really tell anyone else to do so, either.

Bottling Information:

Expression: Mortlach 16 Y.O. (Flora and Fauna) 43% abv

Bottler: Proprietor

Range: Flora and Fauna

Bottle Code: L8296CM000 05462336

Presentation: Unspecified

Details: Matured in sherry casks

Price: $250-350

Availability: Auction or specialty retail only.

Distillery Information:

Region: Speyside

Location: Dufftown, Central Speyside

Geography: Inland

Date Founded: 1823

Owner: Diageo

Website: https://www.malts.com/en-us/

Capacity: 3,800,000

Plant Summary: MASH TUN: Lauter; WASHBACKS: 6 Wood; STILLS: 6; HEAT SOURCE: Steam; CONDENSER: Worm tub

Total expressions sampled: 5

Overall distillery score: A

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