Mortlach releases the Mortlach 50-Year-Old and the L’Evolution collection

“To make whisky like this today doesn’t make any sense whatsoever,” Millsopp stresses during his opening speech. “It’s the most bizarre way of doing it, and yet it results in unusual but unique flavour profiles.” As the final offering from the coveted Singing Stills series—a collection of Mortlach’s rarest single cask expressions, this limited-edition Mortlach 50-Year-Old isn’t just an old dram promising mere indulgence; it’s a piece of liquid history, with only 67 bottles available worldwide.

Unlike most conventional whisky distilleries, the distillation process in Mortlach involves six different stills, each varying in size and shape. In the private dining room lies a setup of the distillation process, depicted by tiny copper still miniatures, for guests to better understand the complexities. Millsopp then expounds on their atypical approach: “Every still is completely different,” leading to what he describes as “almost twelve different possibilities” in terms of liquid produced. The process includes a combination of double, triple and even quadruple distillation, contributing to the complexity of flavours found in all Mortlach whiskies.

For the uninitiated, this often results in a Mortlach signature: a balance of sweetness and opulence with surprising vibrancy, enveloped in a protective shroud of spice. Each sip promises complex layers, revealing the depth of flavour that has been meticulously refined over decades. Sequestered away within Mortlach’s original warehouse, these precious casks lay undisturbed for half a century. When Mortlach’s master blender Dr Craig Wilson first found the last remaining casks, he was even intrigued by the potential impact of an extended maturation process on Mortlach’s umami essence.

Upon tasting, we understand why Wilson described the Mortlach 50-Year-Old as “the best example of the distillery’s wild character, tamed by nature over time.” The appearance reveals a clear golden amber hue with slow legs that hint at its opulence. On the nose, it presents a mellow yet dense profile, redolent of summer-ripe hedgerow fruit, subtle spice and wood. The palate offers a smooth texture that is lightly sweet and bursting with fruity notes of dark berries, while the finish is long and rounded, leaving behind a warm drying sensation and lingering nutty spice.

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But Mortlach isn’t resting on its laurels with just the release of the half-centennial marvel. It also recently appointed renowned French designer Philippe Starck as the brand’s first-ever creative director. Shaped by Starck’s vision, the Mortlach L’Evolution was born, teasing a highly imaginative collaboration featuring three distinctive spirits, each embodying different stages of Mortlach’s evolution and celebrating its rich heritage.

Begin is the embodiment of Mortlach’s character with its vibrant new make barley spirit, offering an intimate look at its origins; Become is the daring showcase of Mortlach’s unconventional approach to cask selection, using virgin oak, red wine and refill casks that results in a Scotch whisky that is rebellious yet refined; and Beyond is a marriage of casks aged across five transformative decades to represent velvet fortitude and evolution.

Starck’s artistic touch extends beyond the spirits themselves; each bottle is encased in a striking 3D-printed cage designed to protect and reveal the whisky’s identity. This innovative approach reflects both the modernity and tradition that Mortlach embodies. As Starck explained: “The form of the cage comes from the gyrus, the circumvolution of the brain. It is human intelligence creating human intelligence, to reveal the subconscious of the whisky. Yet, this is not an additional decorative element. This is pure semantics: we created the most beautiful whisky, and put it in a cage to protect it.”

As these two extraordinary offerings launch into the world, they promise to elevate Mortlach’s status as a must-visit destination for whisky lovers and collectors alike. And it certainly makes for a fitting tribute to the Mortlach way of doing things differently by charting its own path.

Click here to learn more about Mortlach and its collections of whiskies, and here to purchase.
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