Connoisseurs Choice is the oldest continuously running independent bottling range in Scotch whisky. Gordon & MacPhail launched it in 1966, at George Urquhart's urging, as a way of putting single malts from distilleries that did not then sell under their own names onto merchants' shelves. For much of its existence it was the only route by which drinkers could try single-cask Caol Ila, Clynelish or Mortlach; the label's cream-and-brown livery became one of the most recognisable sights in a specialist shop.
Caol Ila — Gaelic for the Sound of Islay — was founded in 1846 by Hector Henderson on a narrow shelf of rock overlooking the Paps of Jura. Rebuilt in 1974 and now by some distance the largest distillery on Islay, it supplies the bulk of its make to the Johnnie Walker blends, which is why official single-malt bottlings remained scarce until 2002. Independent releases from G&M and others kept the spirit's reputation alive among enthusiasts.
This Connoisseurs Choice carries the post-2020 livery, bottled at 46% and non-chill-filtered in the style G&M adopted for the modernised range. Caol Ila's peat is lighter and more citric than its southern Islay neighbours, and refill wood lets that character show: lemon, ash and the faint salted-fish note that old hands associate with the distillery. It is classic merchant bottling — a dram with lineage on the label.
