Introducing the new short film from Gentleman’s Journal x The Last Drop Distillers

Above the fresh folds of the Scottish Highlands, a drone skims low over heather and rock. A small, single-engine plane cuts across a cloudless sky. Somewhere below, in a stone warehouse heavy with the scent of oak and aged spirits, a single barrel waits. This is where the new short film from The Last Drop Distillers begins — not with bombast, pomp or ceremony, but with the search. It’s a journey to the ends of the earth to seek out (and sip) the remarkable.

Created in collaboration with Gentleman’s Journal, the short places model and actor Simon Clark at its centre — not so much a protagonist as a personification. Tailored, assured and slightly inscrutable, his adventurer moves through landscapes and cellars with a collector’s eye and an explorer’s resolve. He embodies the central Last Drop philosophy: that great spirits come only to those willing to find them.

The film unfolds like an atlas. From Scotland’s rain-darkened rivers to the long, sun-struck roads of Kentucky’s bourbon country; from the manicured vines of northern French fields to the vast, spiky geometry of Mexican agave plantations. A vintage Chevrolet rumbles down a rural road. A sailboat heels gently in the Firth of Clyde. Palm trees blow against a hot horizon. The message is clear: The Last Drop Distillers will go anywhere — and wait for as long as necessary — in its hunt for greatness.

Because, for almost two decades, the brand has built its reputation on unearthing the world’s rarest spirits — finite parcels of scotch, bourbon, cognac, rum and tequila discovered in forgotten corners of distilleries and ageing warehouses. Occasionally, under the guidance of master blenders, it creates its own. But the quantities are always vanishingly small. Each release is numbered (they’re up to #40). And each bottle is a quiet testament to time, patience and discernment. A fleeting experience, never to be repeated.

In the new film’s quieter sequences, we’re invited to witness this ritual of curation. Clark moves through shadowy barrel rooms, seeking out casks and sampling whiskies. A ‘whiskey thief’ — the long tool used to extract small measures from barrels — helps narrow the search. For this is not acquisition; it is selection. Not volume, but vision. Among hundreds — even thousands — of barrels, there is often only one that matters.

We see tastings and discussions, until Clark’s adventurer is finally handed a bottle. In question, it’s The Last Drop Distillers’ 38th release: a 55-year-old single malt from Tomintoul Distillery, laid down in 1969 in three ex-sherry butts and refill sherry hogsheads. It bears the hallmarks of the brand’s bottlings — gold foiling catching the light, a heavy, deliberate wax seal, and clear glass to proudly showcase the liquid within.

And then, the denouement. A close-up. Suddenly, we’re in a drawing room, Clark having traded his rugged jeans and field jacket for a Savile Row suit. He carefully pours a measure into a waiting glass. For while these spirits are sourced from every corner of the world, The Last Drop Distillers ensures they can be collected and appreciated wherever they are fortunate enough to end up.

It’s all about the journey — the ageing, the craft and character, time and place. And the film makes clear that the effort is distilled not simply into liquid, but into legacy.

To learn more about The Last Drop Distillers, discover the brand here.

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