Glenlossie 43 yo 1938/1981 Connoisseur’s Choice 40%
A very special post today, because of certain developments in the family space. My status has changed, and with it a seismic shift in responsibility. To those who are already parents, how weighty must be the invisible hopes and duties you balance on your back, like Atlas bearing the weight of the world. We must become little Atlas-es in due time, as our parents before us, but I wonder how does Atlas scratch an itch?
Glenlossie is not a distillery that pops up on my malt radar often, I mean why would it? Big blending malt, stills with purifiers, run in a way to get lighter blend fodder. Not that it’s bad whisky, just that it’s there if you want it. But a 1938? That’s as much a lineage on the level of Macallan, Strathisla or Glen Grant, and seems to suggest that no less than Gordon and Macphail believes in its intrinsic quality.
(whiskyforeveryone.blogspot.com)
Nose: Remarkable how seriously old sherried whiskies nose quite similarly? Meaning this deep integration between spirit and wood resulting in a broad palette of scents that is neither from the spirit or the wood alone but a wonderful sum of its parts. Similar old style like the Strathisla 1957 I have, so old cracking furniture varnish, something of fried banana and an old leather settee that has seen the terrors of spilled tobacco, mishandled black tea, carelessly polished brass plate, and finally soothed with too much mink oil. Rancio wrapped in spearmint. Touches of glass too. More dry richness compared to the Strathisla, which is greener and more metallic.
Palate: Thick rich aromatics but with a surprisingly dry leather shrivelled-fruit sweetness. Just a hint of esters even, pear menthol drops, at 43 years! Not quite mouth coating and a rather light body, but the fragrance hangs there in your nose, at the top of your mouth.
Finish: Dry but rich, a touch metallic, something stewed.
Checks all the old style boxes, just a little lacking on the body, but what a nose this has!
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