A 1940 Glenlivet Survived WWII and Is Now the Oldest Single Malt

In early 1940, the Scotch whisky industry had been pummeled by global upheaval for two decades. Prohibition in America was followed by a worldwide economic depression, and then the beginning of World War II. 

The bombs had already started falling on Scotland when, on the third day of February, a refill sherry cask — Cask No. 336, to be precise — was filled at the Glenlivet distillery. The cask had been selected, and the whisky purchased, by Gordon & MacPhail, which by then had been sourcing, aging, and bottling Scotch single malts for more than 40 years.

Distilleries in Scotland continued producing whisky during the war, albeit with severe restrictions on their capacity; they wouldn’t return to pre-war production levels until the early 1950s. Cask No. 336 survived both the war and, perhaps even more miraculously, the postwar impetus to satisfy demand by bottling whatever was available at a relatively young age. 

After being delivered from Glenlivet to Gordon & MacPhail’s warehouses in Elgin in the late 1960s, the cask remained there for nearly six more decades, until 2025. At 85 years old, it’s the longest-aged Scotch whisky ever released commercially. 125 bottles of this historic single malt are being made available worldwide, with a suggested retail price of £125,000 (about $168,000).

When Cask No. 336 was laid down, superannuated bottlings were not a concern among whisky drinkers. In fact, single malts in general were barely considered a niche market — nearly all whisky produced at the time wound up in blends, and the single malt category didn’t really start to make waves until the ’80s and ’90s. However, George Urquhart, who spent more than 65 years with Gordon & MacPhail, starting in 1933, was decades ahead of his time in recognizing the value of both single malts and long-term cask aging. 

“George [was] really beginning to connect the dots between type of spirit, type of cask, quality of whisky,” says Stephen Rankin, Urquhart’s grandson and currently director of prestige for Gordon & MacPhail. George Urquhart, along with his father, John Urquhart, who’d been with the company since its founding in 1895, selected the cask and the whisky.

According to Rankin, three factors explain the whisky’s remarkable longevity. First was its placement in an ideal part of Gordon & MacPhail’s warehouse: “Lower points in the warehouse near the middle of the building, which would be just a bit cooler, more stable. One location, absolutely key, and it remained there for a long time.” 

Second is the nature of the cask. The American oak refill sherry cask is made from wood that was approximately a century old when harvested — significantly older than a typical modern barrel — and the staves were much thicker than those used in today’s barrels. 

The third factor is the spirit itself, “the weight and character of the whisky,” as Rankin puts it. “We knew it had so much more depth than a modern style, because it had more robustness. It had a little bit more sootiness and sort of an industrial quality… a little bit heavier” than today’s Glenlivets.

Rankin describes the whisky as having tropical fruit notes on the nose. On the palate, he jokes, “This isn’t tasting old and crumbly! Have you given me an 85 year old or a 35 year old?” He adds, “It’s sweet, and it’s got that lovely balance to it … almost autumnal fruit. Ripe, rich pear, ripe apple, and gorgeous plums. And then the finish goes on and on, and it does that sort of herbal note.”

To design the whisky’s packaging, Gordon & MacPhail enlisted American architect Jeanne Gang, whose projects include the Aqua Tower in Chicago, Bill Clinton’s presidential library in Arkansas, and the Center for Science, Education, and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Evoking the Artistry In Oak theme, the hand-blown glass decanter is entwined and protected by four cast bronze “branches.” 

“American oak informed the branch design,” Rankin says, “and there’s such a nod to the wood that obviously is so important to Scotch whisky.”

Each of the 125 decanters is individually numbered. No. 1 will be auctioned through Christie’s, with bidding starting on November 7 and ending on the 21st. The proceeds from the auction, minus costs, will be donated to American Forests, the oldest national non-profit conservation organization in the United States and a leader in forest restoration. The winning bidder will also receive a bespoke whisky tasting with a fourth-generation family member, a framed and signed sketch by Jeanne Gang that inspired the decanter, and the framed head of Cask #336 itself.

Every cask of whisky is unique, especially in the extraordinary case of Cask No. 336. However, it was one of five refill sherry casks filled at Glenlivet on the same February day in 1940 for Gordon & MacPhail. One of them saw the light of day in 2021 as Generations 80 Year Old. As for the other three, are they still slumbering in Gordon & MacPhail’s Elgin warehouse? Will we see the world’s first 90-year-old whisky in a few years? Rankin will only say, “Timing is absolutely everything for us, and we’ll only release these sorts of whiskies when we know, ‘Right. This is it. It’s absolutely fantastic.’”