IN RETROSPECT
There is something about Speyside that has a magical air to it, an almost mystical quality – and no, it’s not just the whisky.
Known to many as the home of many world-famous distilleries, for me it’s more of a tranquil escape from the noise that is life. A glimpse at a yesteryear, a time before the all-consuming doom-scroll of social media, and when venturing outdoors was a more pleasant proposition than that of a. In retrospect, we didn’t know how good we had things. Now faced with an ever-meandering mindset the ability to switch off is at an all-time low — but not in Inverness it seems. Here minutes seem like hours, and hours like minutes as you can gaze through framed countryside views at the gradually changing clime and rolling green hills. I can see why the Gordon family chose to make this place their home for the past hundred years.
It was, in fact, them that invited me in the first instance. Well, not them exactly, but their lineage one entwined with the history of whisky and indeed Dufftown. An integral part of the Scotland’s whisky heritage, from time to time over the past 70 years the Gordon family have set aside special casks for personal consumption and unique occasions. Today these ‘hidden’ casks have been brought to life in a series of limited batch releases under the House of Hazelwood – their majestic home, now holiday home, located in the heart of Speyside.
The very nature of their holdings dictate the format of their release, with the collection comprising of first casks, last casks, grain, barley, hailing from all over Scotland and spanning seven decades. The second collection by House of Hazelwood this collection is comprised of eight extra-special whiskies, each as diverse in their respective compositions as they are similar in their rareness.
“The House of Hazelwood collection has grown to become the greatest inventory of aged Scotch whisky held anywhere in the world.”
Dubbed the House of Hazelwood Autumn Collection, these eight whiskies are essentially divided into two collections; The Charles Gordon Collection and The Legacy Collection. The Charles Gordon Collection comprises of whiskies aged for at least fifty years, and is an ode to their namesake, who spent many years of his youth at Hazelwood House and played a key role in acquiring some of the oldest whisky that the brand is now releasing today. The Legacy Collection has a different character highlighting unique whisky instances that occur within the inventory, whether it be a house first, or the last in their line.
One undoubted highlight of the Autumn collection is the 74 bottle 1963 Charles Gordon Collection release “A Singular Blend”. It’s a blend of both a grain and a malt whisky made at the same site in the highlands 58 years ago — unique in both concept and flavour.
“These are tremendous whiskies – greatly aged, complex, outstanding on the palate. However, what really sets them apart are the stories behind them. Every bottle is an invitation into the Gordon family’s ways of working – a very personal connection to a different era, a different mindset”
— Charles Maclean, Whisky Expert
As I spent the evening sampling the range at Hazelwood House surrounded by the warmth of laughter, storytelling and food, it took my mind back to the Gordon family and what it must have been like for them in times past. In retrospect, it’s as if the journey has gone full circle; in decades past Charles Gordon himself would have storing casks in the hope that they would be enjoyed on occasions — just like this one.
With prices ranging from £950 to £4900, the House of Hazelwood Autumn collection is available exclusively to pre-order throughout October from www.houseofhazelwood.com.
