Strathmill Carn Mor 1990/2009 cask 2400 46%
Strathmill is another blending workhorse, supplying Diageo blends, including famously J&B, with it’s 1.7 million litres a year output.
from http://www.scotchwhisky.net
Trawling about the internet, one finds very little of this stuff goes to distillery bottlings. There is the Flora & Fauna bottling, a Manager’s Dram then Manager’s Choice. If you’ve been following the news, you should have heard about the 2014 Special Releases in which Strathmill will feature in the guise of a 25 yo with a surprisingly not unreasonable price of GBP275.
The history of the distillery is rather straighforward. Owned by the W. & A. Gilbey company from an unspecified beginning till 1962, when it merged to become IDV, and then on it has always been in the Diageo fold. It is worth noting that Strathmill had purifiers attached to its stills from 1968, which of course helps in removing some of the heavier components of the distillate, some say the effect is amount to an additional half distillation, but I’m still waiting for the proof.
This Carn Mor version then, matured in a hogshead for 19 years:
Nose: Phew. 19 years is NOT enough. Malty and cerealy with lots of new make notes. However it already has a structure that needs filling in. Grassy boiled root vegetables, some new wood and accompanying buttery sweetness and light woodspice. American oak then. Unripe pears – estery!
Palette: Spirity and estery. Pear skins, bitter and some white pepper. Some vanilla too. Shows firmess but needs a lot more time.
Finish: Short. Happily so. Estery.
Why did they bottle this when it’s clear it’s nowhere near ready. Would have been better off with a few more years in a fresh bourbon barrel. The whisky’s not at fault here.
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