Springbank 30 yo Milroy Selection 50% ~ early/mid 70s distillation
This is one to make you question your lack of Springbank. Monumental. Phenomenal. Huge yet perfectly round without no rough edges. Golden apricot danishes and stewed yellow fruit, salt air … Continue reading
Clynelish 38 yo 1972 / 2011 Single Malts of Scotland #430341 42.1%
Certain distilleries paired with certain vintages just have it, that little je ne sais quoi. A multifaceted gem of warm beeswax, runny honey, chamomile tea, quinine, sunshine, soft loam under … Continue reading
Port Ellen 24 yo 1975 Adelphi #1766 57.1%
Port Ellen 24 yo 1975 Adelphi #1766 57.1% I’ve had a bit of time out exploring wines but I conclude nothing beats whisky. Back to Port Ellen, where in 1975 … Continue reading
Caol Ila 1968 / 1990 Gordon & Macphail 58.6%
This one is a long time coming. Combine the deepest phenolics with the grimiest organic funk. Heavily ripe, almost animalic farmy, wet mud and cowpats. Yet the gods of whisky … Continue reading
Lagavulin 11 yo Manager’s Dram ~bottled 2013 57.1%
Huge Lagavulin that immediately brings to mind the style of the 12 yo special releases, though this one seems to lean cleaner, sharper and less brutal. To be sure we … Continue reading
Glen Grant 15 yo 57%/100 proof 75cl
This one is an example of sherry as a veneer. Its a tannic but rich layer with black tea and dried bark matched with chocolate boxes and tobacco leaf, all … Continue reading
Tomatin 13 yo 1976 / 1990 Cadenhead 60.4%
Brutal as they come, its grass juice and turpentine, metal cleaner with spent lubricant, and some kind of pepper and mustard personal defence spray. Harsh, raw and very much for … Continue reading
Longmorn 30 yo 1964 / 1995 Signatory #51 53.2%
Going a little further back into the 60s this one shows a clean earthiness, almost medicinal. A profile that brings to mind a whole era of old whisky rather than … Continue reading
Glen Grant 39 yo 1972 / 2011 Whisky-Doris #11395 48%
Oh beautiful, exactly what you wished for. A soft mélange of christmas spice, fig paste on warm buttery pastry, apple jam and a fields of citrus upwind. While this sounds … Continue reading
Dalwhinnie 37 yo 1965 / 2003 SMWS 102.14 58.1%
A real surprise. This is rather phenolic and all round excellent. Lots of soot and ink, new carbon paper, freshly turned black earth, a nose full of petrichor and a … Continue reading
Bruichladdich 18 1979 / 1997 Cadenhead 56.1%
Lots of sweet oaky lactones, brown sugar and a slew of dry tobacco and leather. Maillard reaction but also pitchers of fresh grass juice from the spirit. A distinct sweet-sour green … Continue reading
Glen Garioch 21 yo 2003 / 2024 Decadent Drams 55.1%
I like and admire this distillate but admit it can be challenging at younger ages. When mature it has a saline and mineralic character that could well be the poster … Continue reading
Caol Ila 12 yo Bulloch Lade 43%
Not to be slept on. Can I say fresh? Yes it’s old Caol Ila. Dripping with earthy phenols, dry roots, tar, black industrial greases and buckets of soot. But it’s … Continue reading
Aberlour A’bunadh Batch 45 issued 2013 60.2%
A familiar sort of profile, sherry over Speyside, but where you expect eloquence and richness, here the Aberlour feels rather firm and standoffish. Its a forced marriage it seems and … Continue reading
Highland Park Magnus label Gordon & Macphail 70 proof
Turns out to be one of the sherried ones. I find a sticky jam with wrinkled purple fruit covered with plenty of dark honey and cocoa. And glace persimmons. Also … Continue reading
Mortlach 23 yo 1972 / 1996 Rare Malts 59.4%
This one is from a time when Mortlach seemed to me to have less meatiness and more of this lovely dried wax polish on burnished dark wood, medicinal camphor, thin … Continue reading
Clynelish 20yo 1965 / 1985 Cadenhead 46%
Eye watering. A stunning whisky cut from the same cloth as the Giaconne 12s, only with less strength, less wildness but more svelte elegance. Cold air and tree moss, dried … Continue reading
Johnnie Walker Blue ‘The Casks Edition’ 55.8%
This is the first issue of the 1L duty free special from some years ago. Yes a blend, but there are blends and there are blends, this one was an … Continue reading
A Speyside Distillery 1990 Archives 50.9%
So, likely Glenrothes, here au naturel and with good age, offering a clean look at the heart of the spirit. A solid whisky, with a dusty spiciness not unlike rye … Continue reading
Lochside 23 yo 1981 / 2004 Blackadder #616 55.4%
The nose opens like a basket of warm ripe tropical fruit, marking what we are after in these Lochsides, and rather oily, with hints of soot on cold glass and … Continue reading
Smögen 11 yo 2014 / 2025 Whisky Blues #12/2014 60%
Intensely peaty as expected, Concerto 50+ ppm it says, but also – surprise – oily crayons, dried leaf litter, unlit cigars and an earthy farminess. But even together it all … Continue reading
Caol Ila 1981 / 1997 Gordon #2087-2093 62.7%
One of those mad little bottles. Were they simply not reducing new make or what diabolical machinations of the microclimate gods led to these monsters. Even slightly reduced this one … Continue reading
Talisker 1955 / 1992 Gordon & Macphail #1315 50.4%
Phenomenal whisky, a perfect meeting of wood, wine and spirit. Rich as only these old sherried casks can be, with dried fruit and sweet spice overtones but also hints of … Continue reading
Springbank 21 yo 1967 / 1989 Signatory #3137 46%
I admit sometimes I, like many others, view 46% with suspicion. The zeitgeist worships cask strength but when you have examples like this at hand, it makes you wonder. Nosing … Continue reading
Tomatin 19 yo 1977 / 1996 Glenhaven 46%
A real surprise – bursting fruit, the sort you’d think to expect from 1976 so juicy yellow and red hues, round and glistening in fruit baskets in the sun, begging … Continue reading
Irish 28 yo 1989 / 2017 Antique Lions Of Spirits 49.3%
I will never stop carrying the flag for these Irish malts 1987 – 1991, And this one gives no reason to reconsider. Again a wondrously fruity malt, with overtones of … Continue reading
Ardbeg 1977 / 1993 SMWS 33 108.5 proof 62%
You might recall the single vintage 1975 and 1977 put out as regular bottles next to the plain 10s many years ago which introduced many of us to that great … Continue reading
Black Bowmore 30 yo 1964 / 1994 2nd Edition 50%
This and other highly esteemed Black Bowmores have built such a corpus of commentary that it is hard to find any whisky aficionado who hasn’t heard of it. To me … Continue reading
Littlemill 1988 / 2013 Malts of Scotland #13035 52.1%
Yes, perfect marriage of a gentle sherry and fruity spirit. So sticky drops of molasses, dates, caramelized walnut candy and chocolate meet the vibrant yellow and orange buzz of ripe … Continue reading
Longmorn 36 yo 1976 / 2013 Malts of Scotland #13029 53.7%
The nose is immediately complex and expressive with thick chutney, orange blossom water, honey, apricot jam and thick with oils and sweet pastries. Stewed and sweet. Hints of spearmint, bay … Continue reading
Bruichladdich 16 yo 1968 / 1968 for Intertrade 55.5%
The 21 and 15 by Intertrade were excellent, lets see about this one. Well there is depth but not a particularly easy one. Thin resins and brittle old waxes, old … Continue reading
Highland Park 21 yo 1986 / 2007 Duncan Taylor #2252 55.7%
I love 80s and 90s Highland Park for its uncanny weave of salinity, fruit, peat, minerals and luminescence, accomplished with characteristic verve, that blends together all I love in a … Continue reading
Clynelish 18 yo 1997 for Kinko Japan 52.6%
Can we say classic? 1997 Clynelish means hot minerals, paraffin, thick honey, lime zest, oh its plenty citrus-y citric now. Comes back to clean chalk, unripe white peach, The vegetal … Continue reading
Glen Elgin 19 yo 1971 / 1990 Cadenhead 50.4%
This one surprised me in a way I haven’t been in years. Cut green fruit and dusty spice cabinet. Cleaned iron tools with smidges of salt but also medicinal powder, … Continue reading
Ben Nevis 22 yo 1996 / 2019 Single Malts of Scotland #891 50.8%
So this one has that Mortlach-esque sulphur that isn’t really sulphur, but good lord it comes rather close sometimes, at least to someone who doesn’t particularly care for it, like … Continue reading
Clynelish 27 yo 1974 / 2001 Adelphi #2565 56.3%
Another wondrously mineral Clynelish! Sitting somewhere comfortably between those earthy-mineral 1973s and those waxy lush 1972s. This one colours in the edged minerals in paler, more inviting shades and brings … Continue reading
Springbank 34 yo 1966 / 2000 #1966 511 55%
The sharp eyed might say 511 had no neck label, and you are right, my original photo was too poor to use here. Anyway this has to be one of … Continue reading
Lagavulin 23 yo 1995 / 2018 #9001 Select Cask for Ginger 48.7%
A nuanced one perhaps softer, less growling peat, more verdant. Moist fennel, sour green berries overlaying peat and salt. To be sure, classic Lagavulin is present but mellowed by age … Continue reading
Mortlach 26 yo 1993 / 2019 The Whisky Trail by Elixir #85 56.2%
Big boned malt as expected, this one bearing its typical meatiness and that ‘non-sulphurous’ Mortlach sulphur buzzing away on the tongue, but its all precisely calibrated and here the added … Continue reading
Glenburgie 10 yo 1984 / 1994 Gordon & Macphail #2255,2256,2260 59.2%
Whistle clean malt whisky, full of youthful vigor yet to be reined in but showing good development with warm butter, toast, white sugar caramelizing in a pot, ginger and … Continue reading
Glendronach 8 yo WM Teacher’s 40% 75cl
Remarkably vivid notwithstanding the long years and bottle strength. Branchy and resinous with conifers and fresh as spring air, crunchy dried leaves underfoot. A sense of the highlands perhaps. Wisp … Continue reading
Laphroaig 12 yo 1984 / 1996 Cadenhead 60.3%
Things were a bit peatier in the 80s than the decade prior weren’t they. This is full on coastal Laphroaig, funnily enough not far from Caol Ila the decade before. … Continue reading
Glenfarclas 1974 / 2014 Family Casks #8579 57.2%
Big, bold and rich. Prime example of how Glenfarclas character and good sherry is together more than a sum of its parts. Lots of bark, a spoonful of medicine over … Continue reading
Caol Ila 36 yo 1965 / 2002 Gordon & Macphail #4211 45.6%
A delicious churn of tarry, oily, phenolic tones. Emphatic and evocative. The old Caol Ila stood comfortably next to the big four, and right now I have Port Ellen in … Continue reading
Glen Scotia 30 yo 1969 / 1999 Old Malt Cask 50% 94 bottles
94 bottles! A slightly suspicious teaspoon of honey and anise amaro with a lick of soot on salty dough. But on the tongue a very pleasing engine oil, salt water … Continue reading
Springbank 20 yo 1967 Prestonfield #1472 46%
Rich sort of Springbank, close to the sherry and full of the expected chocolate and figs, thick jammy notes, aniseed candy, dusted licorice sticks and the like. But its not … Continue reading
Glentauchers 30 yo 1981 / 2011 Signatory #1049 56.8%
Honestly, a challenging whisky. Yes elements of a sherry overlay are evident, however cursory, but the malt is powerful and strident to the point that sweet cinnamon and red jam … Continue reading
Loch Lomond (Inchmurrin) 29 yo 1974 / 2003 Cadenhead 54.4%
Certainly some little metallic and lubricant touches, like an old sewing machine complete with old piece of white chalk in a corner, makes this whisky a reminder of older but … Continue reading
Fettercairn 30 yo 1988 / 2019 Jack Wiebers Whisky World #2030 47.9%
Whilst Fettercairn can be admired, this particular example is better left admired on a shelf, and far from a glass. Every virtuous quality a malt might be blessed with has … Continue reading
Clynelish 27 yo 1982 / 2010 Nectar of the Daily Drams 59.8%
Might be one of the best 1982s around. This one is honeyed and waxy in a warm but deeply resinous manner, and it’s relative simplicity belies it’s true depth. Little … Continue reading
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