"For those of us with a passion for whisky, certain landmarks are seductively evocative of the world’s greatest spirit, "

When it comes to single malt Scotch you must list among them, surely, the distant twin pagodas of the Ardbeg distillery, jutting proud and aloof on the most craggy of shorelines; Thomas Telford’s majestic bridge spanning the Spey at Craigellachie; fields of golden barley swaying in a late summer breeze.

But for me, no picture is complete without a neat and tidy corner shop on South Street, Elgin. This is, and has been since 1895, the home of Gordon and MacPhail, grocers and purveyors of some of the world’s most extraordinary whisky. And it is, in essence, the very epicentre of Speyside.

Twenty five years ago Gordon and MacPhail was my only lifeline to the then closed world of single malt whisky.

Their Connoisseurs Choice range offered a mind-blowing array of almost exotic expectancy when faced with a barrage of blends.

Even today, in the most prized cabinet in my office, sit distinctive chocolate and cream labels offering the likes of a 12-year-old Mosstowie distilled in 1979, a 16-year-old Caol Ila from the old stills of ’69 and a Port Ellen of the same vintage, but a year earlier in bottle.

Today there are countless independent bottlers, many offering excellent whiskies. But for as long as I can remember a search for a missing malt would start in Elgin and rarely would you be disappointed.

The company’s current standing in the whisky world would doubtless bring smiles to John MacPhail and his business partner James Gordon in particular. He took a meticulous interest in the wine and spirit side of the new grocers and operated his own whisky broking business. This meant Gordon and MacPhail were able to supply for local consumption choice casks of Speyside single malt whisky at a time when blended Scotch was gripping not so much a nation but an entire Empire. Within a generation, the name Gordon and MacPhail was forging a worldwide reputation for its malts and blends.

By then the company was in the hands of the Urquhart family, and still is today. Within weeks of opening for the first time their “New, Centrical and Commodious Premises” and promising to “endeavour to give the utmost satisfaction” to customers who could “depend on getting a superior article at a popular price”, they employed as understudy young John Urquhart. After 20 years of learning every aspect of the business - including the selection and blending of fine whisky - he took the reins of Gordon and MacPhail following James Gordon’s sudden death in 1915 to steer them on their set, solid course.

Eighteen years later his son, George, also joined the firm and it is his children and grandchildren who run Gordon and MacPhail today.

It may be a surprise to some that such massive names as Johnnie Walker and Chivas also started life from the relatively humble beginnings of a Scottish grocery shop. But while development of Gordon and MacPhail has been less spectacular, its influence on the whisky world remains tangible and telling. Because the year before John Urquhart moved into the largest office in South Street, Gordon and MacPhail had just forged its way into the export market. Today their products are located in over 30 countries.

This expansion has seen the offices move from above the grocery store to a purpose built headquarters, George House. Set opposite Elgin City football ground, it includes a bottling complex and a vast warehouse where thousands of casks - some dating back to before the Second World War - offer a breathtaking and sometimes astonishing window into Scotland’s distilling past.

And Gordon and MacPhail also have a say in its future, too. In 1993 the business became complete with the purchase of Benromach distillery, naturally located in the heart of Speyside at nearby Forres. Smaller stills were installed at the late Victorian distillery, built while Gordon and MacPhail was in only its third year. It is no great surprise that the style of malt being made there was of a type that would have been well known to James Gordon, John MacPhail and John Urquhart. A century ago Speyside made a slightly heavier malt than that produced today. Benromach is now one of only two Speyside distilleries making traditional lightly peated malt whisky.

Perhaps that is why Gordon and MacPhail is a name that still makes the heart of us whisky veterans skip a beat. Because while much in the industry changes there seems to be somewhere where old values are practised and not so much preserved but are actually cherished.