In May 1895 Gordon & MacPhail started as a tea, wine and brandy grocery and specialty shop in Elgin, Scotland. The founders James Gordon and John Alexander MacPhail carefully selected the range and pursued the idea of ​​delivering an outstanding product to the customer at a good price in order to achieve the highest level of customer satisfaction. This initial thought was retained when John Urquhart, the first employee, later took over the business after J.A. MacPhail went out of business and J. Gordon passed away unexpectedly two weeks later. At the same time as the grocery trade, J. Urquhart revolutionized the whiskey business by purchasing single malt whiskey from the large and well-known distilleries (Macallan, Glenlivet, Glen Grant, Linkwood and Mortlach) and bottling them under their license. As part of this business, he also began to choose his own casks, mostly Spanish ex-sherry oak casks, and to have these filled at the aforementioned and other distilleries and to mature there for a much longer time than was customary at the time. Later, J. Urquhart’s children, George, Betty and Gordon, joined the business. In the 1950s, Gordon & MacPhail had the largest selection of malt whiskies in the world and many of them had bottlings from some distilleries that were not available anywhere else. Today, the fourth generation continues the family business to offer a wide range of unique bottlings to whisky fans around the world.