Whisky Online Blog

Last tuesday saw the second pre-sale tasting at Mulberry Bank auction house where I work as the whisky specialist. As you will see below it was a step up from the last tasting we did, this time featuring eight wonderful drams and a break for some delicious Scottish cheeses. Like last time it was a thoroughly enjoyable night and I should take a moment here to say a big thank you to everyone who came and supported us and helped make the evening truly memorable with their fine company and delicious ‘bonus drams’.

Bruichladdich 1971-2010 39yo. ‘Liquid Gold’. Private Cask. Bottle number 54 of 88. 39%. 70cl.

As you may or may not already be aware, I already wrote some notes for this particular bottling. However, my notes came from a miniature sample, so lets see if there is any change in scores and impressions with the full 70cl bottle sample.

Colour: Rich gold

Nose: A thick and almost pungent fruit quality at first. Layers of melons, gooseberries, guavas, greengages, apricots, wet grains, toasted cereals, oats and a fantastic, fleshy mineral quality. Superbly coastal as well with bags of wet pebbles, flints, crushed sea salt, seaweed, lime juice, oysters and sandalwood. Hints of briny preserved lemons, wax, hessian, coal dust and touches of menthol. Just wonderful. I remember loving the nose on this one last time and that hasn’t changed a bit. Absolutely exemplary early 70s Bruichladdich character with minimal wood interference. Obviously from the best kind of tired old cask.

Palate: Soft delivery but not without bite. Quite a resinous combination of honey, salt, camphor, hints of tcp, eucalyptus sweeties, olive oil, wood spices and green tea. The palate is not as light as I remember it being, there is quite a lavish and textured delivery. Goes on with notes of lemon grass, chamomile, fresh melons, grapefruits, toast and graphite. Delicate, beautiful but a little short.

Finish: Sadly a bit short but there are still some beautifully biting notes of salt, old wood, herbs, tea, lemon oils and green fruits.

Comments: It’s pretty much as I remember it. The nose would be 90+ material but the undeniable shortness of the palate brings it down a little. It’s still a fascinating old whisky though. That naturally low strength allows all these fragile but really beautiful old organic, oxidative characters to shine through. The coastal qualities are quite spellbinding.

Score: 86/100  That’s two points up from the last time I tasted it. Does that mean the full bottles tastes better than the miniatures or is it down to fluctuations in the mood of my palate?

Bruichladdich 1970-2002. OB. Bottle number 739. 44.2%. 70cl. 

Colour: Gold

Nose: This one is surprisingly similar to the 39yo but only much thicker, oilier and more focused on a big, crusty saltiness and layers of  dense green and slightly tropical fruits. Bags of melons, guavas, pineapple, grapefruit, banana, greengages and cider apples. The freshness is quite remarkable with these huge seashore and fresh air qualities. Hints of vanilla ice cream, ginger bread, dried herbs, sandalwood, touches of tar and eucalyptus oil. A definitive example of this beautiful late 60s/early 70s Bruichladdich style. Almost unmistakable in some ways, no other distillery seems to display such a concentration of coastal qualities and these almost hyper-fresh green aspects. The age is worn so lightly as well, it’s pretty gobsmacking stuff.

Palate: A perfect delivery. An intense, biting but never overpowering delivery of thick, syrupy fruits and coastal zing that is almost like a beautiful clean and salty acidity drenched in minerals. So reminiscent of an aged Riesling. The attack is warm and alive, very punchy, mouth-coating and complex with layers of texture and a perfect equilibrium between all the various fruit, coastal and mineral components. The wood is virtually invisible. The best qualities of youth and age seem to have been preserved perfectly without any of the negative aspects of either. These smoky, buttery notes of flints, wet pebbles, salted almonds and ripe pears continue with toasted brioche, fennel seed and hints of ripe mango and pineapple syrup. This is devastatingly drinkable stuff, it just seems to get bigger and fruitier as time goes on.

Finish: Super long and bursting a the seams with freshness and bite. Tons of citrus, saltiness, cereals, butter, herbs and more of these endless fruit notes. Beautiful.

Comments: Probably my favourite Bruichladdich ever (so far anyway). The level of perfection in the balance and the poise of the flavours and textures is quite mesmerising. Not to mention the way that the age is almost indefinable but in such a way that it seems not to matter at all. I could drink litres of this stuff quite merrily.

Score: 94/100

The unnaturally dark colour happened within within two days of the bottle being opened and was due to an oxidative effect and reaction to the spring cap seal.

Martell 3 Star. OB. Spring cap. Rotation 1930s. No strenght or capacity stated but almost certainly around 70 Proof and 26 2/3 fluid ounces. 

It is worth noting that this bottle had obviously reacted with the spring cap seal as it turned quite a dark coca cola colour after it was opened and, as you will see from the notes, was not in the best condition.

Colour: Green cola (???)

Nose: A rich cocktail of metal polish, stewed raisins, aluminum filings, hints of butterscotch, quite a heavy old bottle effect in the shape of metallic notes, steel wool, blood and a sinewy kind of cured meat quality. There are also some very pleasant notes of jam, figs, blood oranges and rancio at the back but the metallic aspects really dominate. It seems that there really has been quite a reaction with the spring cap on this one (see photo). That metallic flavour and the resultant darkening of colour with a green tinge is something I’ve seen in old whiskies as well. Develops some more pleasant fruit syrups and spices like turmeric and stem ginger.

Palate: The strength is still quite vibrant but these metal notes of have become almost sour now with notes of cardboard, soot, oily rags, rotten fruits, over sweet candied peel and something slightly bitter and rancid at the back. It’s a shame because I’ve had other bottles from this batch which were quite spectacular but this one is really flawed. Not much point in going on.

Comments: It’s a shame because you can still get glimpses of how good it was without that odd infection from the spring cap. I suppose it goes to show that although spring caps were the best seal ever for maintaining a bottle’s level and remaining airtight they too had their flaws. You can see a picture of the broken inner seal below that shows how the metal decays and the card disc beneath reacts with the spirit. The solid tin spring caps they introduced in the late 1940s effectively eradicated this problem and were far superior.

Score: 58/100

The one on the left is from an old 1930s bottle of White Horse, the whisky inside was in top notch condition. The one on the right is from the Martell, as you can see the deterioration of the metal has allowed the materials beneath to affect the spirit over the decades. Thankfully this occurrence is not too common.

Cognac. Vintage 1870. Bottled sometime in the late 1890s/early 1900s. Unknown producer. Bottled by Cockburn & Co of Leith & London.

1870 was another spectacular vintage across the majority of wine regions in France and Cognac was no exception. Produced only a few years before the Phylloxera became a full scale, recognised epidemic, this should be a stunning piece of history.

Colour: Teak

Nose: A rich concentration of dark fruits, madeira cake, fruit conserves, old pipe tobacco, rancio and demerara sugar. Stunningly fresh after such along time in bottle, brandy seems to survive so much better than whisky over the course of a century in glass. Further notes of quince, raisins, toasted walnuts, all kinds of fruit jams and compotes, touches of wild strawberries, leather and furniture wax. Quite a bewildering array of aged aromas all intermingling perfectly with the fruit qualities. The aroma is drier and more complex than the majority of modern aged Cognacs you can taste. Supposedly that is a typical characteristic of pre-phylloxera vines such as Folle Blanche that were typically used at this time. Now very fragile hints of spice, different kinds of wood, like polished hardwoods, the aroma of ancient hardwoods being turned on a lathe and finally hints of minerals, wet soil, hessian and damp sack cloth. A stunning, vibrant, fresh and endlessly evolving nose.

Palate: The strength and structure is quite magnificent after so long in glass. Pin sharp notes of fruit on top of thick truffle flavours, walnut oil, marzipan, dark chocolate, vandage tardive wines, balsamico, rancio, ancient madeira, the list of flavours goes on. The concentration in the mouth and the way it engages every part of the palate is quite astounding. Becomes syrupy, herbal and earthy with an unusually pungent green quality arising in the shape of aloe vera and eucalyptus oil notes. It is almost gloopy on the palate. This is undoubtedly up there with the two pre-phylloxera cognacs we had in Alsace a couple of years ago. This is a masterpiece.

Finish: Treacle, dundee cake all kinds of fruits, nuts, chocolate, gently drying herbs, toffee, different brown sugars, honey, never sweet or cloying, never too tannic, just long, lingering, fresh and stunning.

Comments: What an incredible drink. It seems to have benefitted from the perfect combination of wood and glass maturation, this was probably barely 30 years old when it was bottled and after a century or so of mellowing in glass it has become a truly profound liquid. Perfectly balances, endlessly complex and utterly beautiful. Glorious stuff.

Score: 95/100

Glen Grant 30yo. G&M. White screw cap. Rotation 1960s. 70 proof. 26 2/3 fluid ounces. 

This one would have been distilled sometime around the mid 1930s.

Colour: Amber

Nose: It’s one of these unmistakeable pre-war aromas that seems to combine a completely unique style of peat with camphor, resins, rancio, dried wild mushrooms, metal polish, raisins, ancient cognac, coal dust and a bewildering array of different fruits. Citrus, glazed, stewed and tropical fruits galore. It first seemed a bit tired when I poured it but now it’s just growing and growing with more of these rich fruit notes and all those glorious old style aromas of leather, old books, boiler sheds, farmyards and that stunning, fragile metallic peatiness. It’s hard to describe this style of whisky, I would just urge you to seek it out and try it before it disappears forever, it is one of the true joys of drinking to smell something like this.

Palate: All kinds of oils, fruits, herbs, resins, fruit oils, huge waxy notes, honeycomb, dark fruits, metal notes, it’s like all these characteristics have been condensed into liqueur form. The peat qualities are just so beautiful and completely unique to this pre-1940s style of distillation. How they achieved these flavours and aromas is probably something we’ll never know for certain but it is a style that you won’t find in any distillate from the last fifty years. The whole thing is not too potent perhaps, the palate is a tad weak but only a touch, this is very much nitpicking in what is otherwise a small masterpiece of whisky making. The wood influence and the sherry are both quite luscious and stunning as well giving a delicate bitterness on top of these elegant fruit cake and tropical fruits that balance it out perfectly. I think we should stop now.

Finish: Long, delicate, warming, drying and beautiful. More ancient tobacco, metal, peat, fruit, oil and pre-war wonder.

Comments: I’ve said a lot about this kind of whisky before, I’m not sure it will do much good to reiterate those points here. Suffice to say you’re a madman if you ever pass up the opportunity to taste this kind of whisky.

Score: 93/100

Caroni Navy Rum. 90 proof. Bottled 1930s/40s.  

Caroni was a Trinidad distillery that operated between 1918 and 1993. There are still bottlings of it to be found on the market todaay and, like many closed Scottish distilleries, there are still quite a few casks of it maturing. I’ve never seen an example this old before. This one was probably bottled sometime in the mid 1930s or early 1940s.

Colour: Copper

Nose: Elegant and soft at first approach, lots of those classic fresh brown bread aromas on top of bandages, antiseptic, ginger, fresh melon, lime juice and brown sugar. Heavy notes of mint, molasses, demerara sugar and treacle, very Mojito friendly. This was probably quite young when bottled at the time although with hot climate maturation it is hard to say. Given the style of the bottle this would almost certainly been considered a premium product at the time. the nose has a great richness but also feel quite gentle, probably due to the effects of such long bottle aging. Like the Cognac this seems to have weathered its time in glass exceptionally well. Goes on with hints of raw sugar cane, vanilla essence, wood spices and pot-pourri. Very sensual and aromatic, wonderful to nose.

Palate: The strength has survived on the palate exceptionally well but it is still remarkably silky and soft. Lots of geranium, cactus, bread, sunflower seeds, olive oil, all kinds of dark sugars, buttered toast, tcp, calpol medicine and brazil nuts. For all its history and age it is not so far away in character from many modern rums. Perhaps Rum, like Bourbon, is a drink that has remained relatively unchanged in it’s style over the decades. In comparison to Whisky at any rate, I may well be wrong, I’ll just have to drink more Rum from the 1930s, bugger! Becomes quite leafy with notes of tobacco, banana skin, raisins, cocoanut liqueur, toffee sauce and something oil and a bit industrial like camphor. The freshness and liveliness is quite impressive.

Finish: Quite long and very warming, full of delicate medicinal touches, spice, black pepper, oils, woody notes and more dark sugar notes.

Comments: A very pleasant Rum, not in the same league as some of the stunning single casks you can find nowadays but an excellent example of how bottle aging has almost certainly invisibly improved what was once probably quite a basic spirit. A wonderful time capsule piece.

Score: 85/100

Dalwhinnie 36yo. 1966-2002. OB. 15oo bottles. 47.2%. 70cl. 

Colour: Amber

Nose: A wonderful attack full of wax, toasted breads, green fruits, wood spices, hints of tar, lots of menthol and fruit liqueurs. The perfect balance of bite, freshness and concentration of aroma. The wood quite restrained and gives way to lots of waxy fruit notes, farmy qualities such as various oils, wet earth and stables. Notes of greengages, dandelions, apricots and kumquats. Gentle, aromatic and quite beautiful.

Palate: The attack is rich and biting, more wood now as expected but also wonderful notes of brioche, toasted cereals, butter, vanilla cream, garden fruits, wild flowers, mead, honeycomb and simmering espresso. Ancient peat, metal polish, some wonderful notes of sarsaparilla, root beer, medicine and engine oil. There is almost a distant hint of something Ardbeggy about it in fact. Quite a stunning palate, unusually well in keeping with the quality of the nose.  Develops along drying notes of wax, hessian, bonfires, wood lignins, pastis and wood resin.

Finish: Long but quite quiet and soft, all on herbs, wax, flecks of minerality, soft gummy peat notes, metal and green fruits.

Comments: I had tried this several years ago and though it was good but not spell-binding. I don’t know if something has changed in me or in the bottle during the intervening years but this is a spectacular dram in my book. Wonderful old whisky that walks a perfect tightrope and never lets the wood dominate all the other delicious, often very old school characteristics. Definitely the best Dalwhinnie I’ve ever tasted, well worth trying if you can.

Score: 93/100

Glendronach 1970. Cadenhead’s White Label series. Bottled mid 1990s. Cask number 25. Bottle number 263. 58.9%. 70cl. 

I’m particularly excited about this one as it’s from a legendary era of production at Glendronach but also from refill wood so we should get a rare glimpse at the distillate in a more naked form without the usual cloak of dark sherry around it.

Colour: Straw

Nose: Neat it is a warm confection of butter, cream, soft vanilla, wax, all kinds of mineral notes, clay, paint, cactus and white flowers. This could have easily been a Rare Malts bottling, in fact it is very reminiscent of the Glenlochy 1969 we had at the last tasting. It develops along lines of white fruits but also some much earthier and farmier aspects such as hay, silage, earth and manure (in a good way). Fresh grass, parley, coal dust, charcoal, flints, wet pebbles and a tiny touch of antiseptic. The very definition of old highlands style in my book. Lets see what happens with water: an almost acrid burnt note seems to come out of it now, like smoke from an ancient chimney or something. More camphor, lamp oil, hessain and dunnage aromas with white pepper, tar, coal, little flourishes of mint and more white flowers.  A truly uncompromising animal this one.

Palate: Up front it is very consistent with the nose, the alcohol is very quiet, in its place is a huge, thick fug of natural vanilla, drying minerals, wax, hessian, hay, stables, flashes of peat, motor oil, old boilers, herb liqueurs, cured meats and grass. Quite an astonishingly grumpy whisky, brimming with personality but, as was to be expected, very difficult too. With water:  it becomes drier still as the water cuts through some of that fat oiliness, but it also produces more savory notes of bread, pastry and something like a ripe goats cheese. There are further notes of lemon juice, a rich saltiness, green peat, more grass, sorrel, parsley again and more pepperiness. This is a huge whisky that takes no prisoners with these constantly big, bold and difficult flavours.

Finish: Long, waxy, thick, drying, mineral, tarry, meaty and at the same time floral and complex. Quite a show-stopper.

Comments: It is a joy to get closer to that bold and boisterous distillery character. It’s little wonder that whiskies from the same year are still maturing so well in big, potent sherry casks. This is a stunning but undeniably difficult and totally uncompromising dram, full of grumpy personality, completely unsexy and old school to the end. I love it, some won’t but for me it is up there with all these old Clynelishs, Glenlochys and Millburn style malts with its big waxy and mineral profile. A great and rare privilege. Technically not as high as it goes emotionally but then what is…

Score: 91/100

This was going to be the end of the tasting but because the Martell was out of condition I decided to have a bit of a dig around in my stash and find something to make amends.

Aberfeldy 19yo OB Manager’s Dram. Bottled 1991. Sherry cask. 61.3%. 75cl. 

Colour: Mahogany

Nose: A perfect sherry aroma! Bursting with figs, toffee, wet leaves, roast coffee, cocoa, dark chocolate, dried mushrooms, treacle sponge and guinness cake. The alcohol is there in the background but it is the wonderful sherry that does the talking up front. Super clean and fresh but with a big, heady scent of age about it as well. Wonderfully balanced in other words. Goes on with hints of old rum and molasses, cigar boxes, walnut oil, camphor and wet gravel. With water: it becomes earthier, direr and more rustic with more notes of dunnage, stables, motor oil, creosote, root beer, molasses, fig rolls and old tobacco. Endlessly rich and compelling.

Palate: Neat it is a powerhouse of strawberry jam, rich Americano coffee, brown sugar, cocoa, mead, rancio, chocolate, wet earth, balsamico, treacle, brioche, cinnamon and root beer. This is one of these perfect sherry profiles that balances the best of youth and age in one with immaculate cleanliness and complexity, it would give the best Macallans a good run for their money any day. With water: now it fleshes out even further and becomes spicier, more complex and softer on the tongue. Rose water, turkish delight, banana bread, walnut oil, strawberry liqueur, more earthiness and wood resins.

Finish: Looooong. Full of all of the above with bags of complexity, it hangs around forever.

Comments: This has got to be one of the unloved gems of the great Manager’s Dram series and my favourite Aberfeldy ever by a mile. It’s a huge whisky but the balance and poise of the flavours and the quality of the sherry are masterful. If you’re looking for a perfect sherried whisky for any occasion that demands one then you could do a lot worse than this beauty.

Score: 92/100

That is the end of the official lien-up that night. Needless to say certain other phenomenal bottles were opened and tasted. These bottles may or may not have included some Lagavulin White Horse bottlings and some 1970s era Glenfarclas (Glenfarcli?)

There will be another of these tastings on the 25th of June. If you are interested or would like a ticket then please feel free to get in touch with me at angusm@mulberrybankauctions.com

Thanks again to everyone who helped make it such a roaring success of a night.

Now that I’ve just typed that title it occurs to me that it is exactly the sort of name that might be given to an official Bruichladdich bottling these days, perhaps someone will read this and be inspired (wishful thinking Angus). Anyway, today I have gathered together three very different indie Bruichladdichs that descend in age and ascend in strength (which is not as often the case as you may think). Like it’s alliterative neighbour Bowmore from across Loch Indaal, Bruichladdich is also a distillery with some distinctive eras of flavour separation. Although not as extreme as the Bowmore example the evidence is there in bottle for all to taste. Lush, green, coastal and elegant in the 60s and 70s, the style that built it’s reputation, difficult in the 80s and 90s, and now emerging, new, fascinating and better and better with each older bottling. So lets try something from each of those ‘eras’ if you will. First up, it’s something truly unusual…

Bruichladdich 1971-2010 39yo. Private Cask. 39%. 70 & 5cl. Sample from 5cl. 

If I am right (which it is entirely possible I’m not) then the last bottling done below the official bottling strength of 40% was a cask of 1949 Macallan bottled by Signatory in the late 80s which was at 37.9%. I’m not aware of any others since then. Obviously you can get around this wee law by simply removing the word ‘whisky’ from your label. But it is interesting that few people bother to do it, considerable numbers of casks do inevitably dip below this strength, many are simply vatted or, horrors, disgorged. It seems a shame as naturally low cask strength drams can often be fascinating and delicious. If anyone knows of other bottlings/bottlers that have done this then please let me know.

Colour: Rich Gold

Nose: Dense and lusciously fruity at first nosing, loads of melons, greengages, ripe bananas and grapefruit, typical early seventies Bruichladdich. There is also some dusty maltiness in there that hints at oxidisation which would undoubtedly start to happen to such a low strength spirit after so long. A crisp coastal salty note as well with underground notes of preserved lemon, oysters, camphor, pine resin and something like fresh butter. A very fresh and invigorating nose, quite reminiscent of the glorious 1970 OB. Fresh crab meat, pink grapefruit and more coastal zing. This nose positively sings. I think this is clearly from a very ‘tired’ cask but sometimes that is exactly what a distillate needs for a long maturation life and I think this is one of those drams that really proves the point. Lets see if the palate can hold up to the spectacular nose.

Palate: On the palate it is definitely a little weak but there are some wonderful notes of polished oak, cereals, green tea, wet rocks, minerals, wood resins, a touch of spice and seaweed. More green fruits as well, loads of apples, pears, kumquats and grapefruit. Quite liqueur like as well with some concentrated notes of fruit syrups and herbs. There are a few weakish notes of cardboard right at the back which suggest it has become a little too tired but the rest is remarkably fresh. It seems that the high age and low strength has helped it and hindered it in different ways.

Finish: Sadly it is very short and a little weakish but there are some very nice flavours of salt, oak and tea lingering around with some fading fruits.

Comments: This is a whisky that is full of extremes. On one hand it is quite clearly a little tired but on the other it has an absolutely beautiful nose and it’s highs are very high indeed. A difficult one but very fascinating to taste all the same.

Score: 84/100 (but the nose was worth 94)

This next one is a Douglas Laing sample of which I have box loads thanks to Wayne’s stashing abilities. However it also means that I have no photograph, you’ll just have to use your imaginations. (This will probably be a frequent recurrence in in the coming year due to the sheer quantity of DL samples I have accrued.)

Bruichladdich 15yo. Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask. ref: OMC 1610. 50%. 70cl.

This is from the very inconsistent era in the early 90s.

Colour: White wine

Nose: Obviously younger, rawer and more punchy but this one has some very nice citrus, saline and cereal notes, not immature at all. There is some nice fruit as well but it is different and more austere than the 71. Lots of white fruits, stone fruits, white flowers, seaspray and minerals. Very nice actually. A little more sweetness here as well which is to be expected but it is very gentle and nicely integrated with subtle notes of vanilla cream and candy floss. After time some greener notes of seaweed, grass and melon start to emerge. Quite a classic laddie profile this one, thus destroying my theory of the ‘dodgy’ middle years. Never mind.

Palate: Quite concise at first with some fresh notes of herbs, a little lavender, salt, citrus juices, chamomile tea, quite herbal on the palate really. Cereals, mashed potatoes, lots of mashy vegetal qualities in general. Again this is classic refill cask characteristics, this is exactly the sort of cask that the distillery would have felt compelled to ‘ACE’ in some godawful wine cask, kudos to Douglas Laing for giving us the lovely naked spirit. Goes on with a little honey, sweet white wine, water crackers, quite an odd balance between sweet and savoury here.

Finish: Medium and very herbaceous with notes of milk, wet pebbles, minerals, white fruits and hessian.

Comments: Good mid aged Bruichladdich. Plenty of distillery character and quite coastal. A little lack of personality overall perhaps but still very decent stuff.

Score: 83/100

Bruichladdich 2001-2011, 10yo. Queen Of The Moorlands/Whisky Online. Sherry Hoggie no: 312. 200 bottles. 62.5%. 70cl.

This is a new bottling that we did in conjunction with David Wood and his excellent Queen Of The Moorlands label. As far as I know this is the first independent bottling of the new Bruichladdich spirit distilled since 2001 (please let me know if that’s wrong). Everyone is saying deservedly great things about the new 10yo bottling (notes coming here very soon) so it will be interesting to try this full sherried indi variant.

Colour: Old Mahogany

Nose: If you were to have a boiling smoothie of sticky toffee pudding, treacle and melted fudge squirted up your nostrils it might be of a similar sensation to nosing this whisky. After a little rest time in the glass it calms down and we get a whole churn of fresh butter along with more notes of fudge sauce, massive notes of farmyard, hay, horse stables, cured meats, this is meatier than the meatiest Mortlach. Then we get herbs, wet earth, leather, soil and lots of spice. There is a slight dirtiness to it but the kind that works more in a rustic and earthy way. It also gets quieter and cleaner with some breathing time. This really is a huge whisky, after more time a lovely coastal edge starts to develop as well, water is obligatory here so lets see what happens… Now it becomes saltier and unusually quite mentholated for such a young whisky, then more meaty notes like cold roast beef and horseradish. There are also more leafy notes and more fruits, then medicine, a little grass and something like seawed. This is actually a very beautiful nose now. With a little water it became much easier and quite Bruichladdie-esque.

Palate: Neat the delivery is understandably a bit hot, volcanic even, with notes of wet leaves, mulch, hummus, pebbles, stewed fruits, baked apples, brown sugar, caramel, more fudge and slightly larger dirty note, this time manifested as earth, mushrooms and a touch of matchsticks. Some will find this level of dirtiness too much but I actually really enjoy it, although this whisky is not necessarily an easy one. Lets add water and stave off any further tongue erosion… With water, still quite strong and intense, really oily and almost kippery with some distinctive medicinal notes like bandage and ointment. Was Bruichladdich still doing lightly peated malt at this point? It’s only the 312th cask. This is a monster of a whisky. With further water reduction it gets finally a bit lighter and much more medicinal, fruity and nutty with some big chunks of chocolate floating about in there. Still a touch of dirtiness but water really calms that down a fair bit.

Finish: Long, fat, sweet, rich and quite blustery with coastal, nutty, sweet and medical notes all vying for attention.

Comments: When I first tried this, and I did several times before sitting down to write these notes, I was never too sure about it, it is clearly a monstrous whisky, massively powerful and alive with flavour, but I thought it was maybe too dirty in places or too extreme in others, or sometimes a little one-dimensional. It just goes to show how some whiskies really need time and attention to show their best, this is definitely one of those malts that has many of its complexities cloaked by the high alcohol. It really needs time and patience (as well as plenty water) to let it come out of its shell and show to its full potential. I also noticed that when I opened the bottle it was more closed than it is now that there are a few inches out of it and the liquid inside has had more of a chance to ‘freshen up’ as it were. Perhaps the answer is to decant this one? It’s definitely one of those bottles that, with a few decades of ageing in glass, should easily go past 90 points. My advice, don’t rush this whisky and don’t have too many other drams around it, just pour a large one, pull up the water jug and sit down with it for a good hour or so. It should suit storms, hurricanes, long winters, rainy afternoons, bar room brawls, scout camping trips, zombie apocalypses and nights by the fire. Hats off to David and Wayne for bottling this one, but the real glory must go to the team at Bruichladdich for making such a brilliant spirit.

Score: 89/100 (I know this is technically and ‘in house’ bottling of sorts but I really do think this is classy stuff.

On a personal level 2010 has been a year of extreme ups and downs, thankfully whisky was always part of the ups so I look back on the last twelve months and am happy to see them filled with many great and glorious drams, memories and friends. Probably the biggest whisky development for me was starting this blog which I have enjoyed very much so far and will continue to develop it through 2011. The tastings aspect of it will change quite dramatically in the new year as I am about to go traveling and I suspect there are not quite as many samples of rare and interesting malt whisky to be found in South America (although you never know). In the coming months you can expect to find more scribbling about such spirits as Pisco, Cachaca, Rum, Tequila, Mezcal and various American Whiskeys. However in the meantime I have decided to save the best of 2010 till last. Many writers/commentators/bloggers like to do a top drams of the year thing at this time and while I would like to do that I’m really not up to speed with current releases enough and I’d much rather just do some notes on the one dram that stands out above all others, not necessarily in terms of sheer quality but for its wonderful history and gobsmacking emotional power. It’s this old baby right here…

Mackie's Ancient Brand

Malt Mill!!! Well sort of, actually its not Malt Mill but rather a blend that used Malt Mill as a base malt. This was opened by Serge at his 50th Birthday party much to everyone’s delight. It was bottled for the American market sometime around the early forties and bears a spring cap. There was also a UK version called ‘Mackie’s Ancient Scotch’ and even a version that stated ‘Malt Mill’ on the label although Nick Morgan from Diageo assures us that Malt Mill was never bottled as a single malt (a huge bummer for the legions of whisky loons that would invert their own grandmother to taste the stuff) so this is probably as close as we’ll ever get to trying Malt Mill. But what is Malt Mill and who is this Mackie character? Well…

The site of the old Malt Mill distillery as it appears today at Lagavulin.

In the early 1900s there was a famous whisky man named Peter Mackie, a resourceful, forceful and notorious whisky maker and seller who was fortunate enough to be the agent for both Lagavulin (a distillery he owned) and the neighboring Laphroaig. However in 1907 he lost the agency for Laphroaig and out of spite and frustration decided to make his own Laphroaig up the road at Lagavulin. However as we all know by now it is, for various mystical and scientific reasons, pretty much impossible to completely replicate another distillery’s make at a different site. So Mr Mackie did not make Laphroaig but he did end up making Malt Mill and he must have found a use for it because it was made as a single malt until 1960. It was said to be one of the most heavily peated spirits ever produced, with floor malted barley dried with exceptionally old, deep dug peat. Direct fired stills, worm tubs and long ferments would all have contributed to an exceptionally dense and old style make. The stills used in the latter days of production were modeled on Lagavulin and in fact when the two distilleries were merged into one in 1960 the stills from Malt Mill were used to make Lagavulin until 1969 when the distillery was modernised. So if you can get your hands on any of the old official Lagavulin white label 12yo bottlings from between 1972-79 then there’s a good chance that all the liquid inside was distilled through Malt Mill’s stills. We tasted a 1979 rotation 12yo on Islay a couple of years ago and it was, like most old OB Lagavulins, stunning, about 95/100 if I remember correctly. So who knows, Malt Mill was probably stunning as a single malt. I asked Nick Morgan from Diageo about the possibility of any Malt Mill existing in sample bottles anywhere in the archives. I thought this might be a real possibility as blenders and excisemen were always taking samples for the labs and several could still exist. The answer was a not too encouraging ‘probably not’ but not a definite no so that’s something at least. There is one known sample in existence, a tiny bottle of new make spirit from the last distillation in 1960, a clear glass bottle sealed with red wax that is occasionally displayed at the distillery. Needless to say, persuading Diageo to open this bottle would be like trying to get the Queen to make a cameo in a porn film.

If you tinker with the Google-tron it will inevitably regurgitate this image for you, apparently an old bottle of Malt Mill, if Diageo are correct this must either be a blend or, far more likely, a great, big, dirty, stinking FAKE! So it seems that the only thing we can do (obviously when I say ‘we’ I mean me, sorry about that) is taste this Mackie’s stuff.

Unfortunately reading the back label reveals it is undoubtedly a blend. Every repetition of the word 'blended' reads like a stab in the palate

Mackie’s Ancient Brand. US Import. Rotation early 1940s. Spring Cap. 4/5 Quarts. 86.8 proof. (Malt Mill blended probably with Lagavulin and, sadly, some grain whisky also, impossible to know for sure though what the mix is.)

Colour: Dark, dirty gold with a real greenish tinge. (This is probably from the corruption of the metal and paper underside of the spring cap seal.)

Nose: Well this is the most peaty blend I’ve ever encountered, it jumps out of the glass and across the room before you even stick your nose in there. In fact it is a good deal peatier than many ‘heavily peated’ malts, that intense aroma of raw, root, earthy, dark peat is more pronounced and intense than anything you’ll find current bottlings of Octomore or Supernova, they appear positively limp wristed by comparison to this thing. Massive notes of seashore, boiled seaweed, wet dogs, thick, simmering, crusty peat, tincture, engine oil, peat oil, grist, malt barns, green olives in brine and some fruity notes of fig rolls and dried apricots as well. Sultanas, menthol, steel wool and other beautiful old style metallic notes of rusty iron, graphite and pencil shavings. Camphor, seashore, hessian, minerals, soot, various spices, a little soap and iodine. Very old school, like an old OB Lagavulin 12yo but with more oomph.

Palate: Soft delivery but again the peat flavours are massive and concentrated, very coastal, oily and now a little waxy as well with even more naked minerality. Green notes and more metallic characters with some raisins, creosote, tar, fishnets, kreels, cordite, eucalyptus, aloe vera, white spirit, muesli and old workshops and farmyard flavours. Very immense and very old school, quite incredible after so long in bottle, something to be said for spring caps. Further notes of earth and medicine with salt and pepper and more simmering spiciness. Green fruity flourishes in the background and becomes eventually quite elegant with some notes of varnish and beeswax.

Finish: Long, oily and, yes, very peaty. Beautiful metallic notes, menthol, medicine and seawater notes.

Comments: I am reliably informed that this is very similar to an old 1950′s rotation bottle of Lagavulin, if this is so it would probably mean that Malt Mill was quite a bit heavier than Lagavulin, if you can imagine such a thing. Anyway there is no way to know for sure what the make up of this blend is but it definitely contains a high proportion of Malt Mill and in terms of taste, you’d be forgiven for saying it was 100% malt. It’s a beast.

Score: I’m reluctant to score this because it’s such a pointless thing to score really. In purely olfactory analytical terms I think it’s worth 93/100 but on an emotional level and considering I’m probably never going to taste such a thing again, then it’s more like 100/100. Huge thanks to Serge for opening this quaffable little time capsule.

There is always one last dram to be had for the patient ones among us...

Now, there is one last thing to be done. It is around this time each year that people hand out awards, best dram, best distillery, that kind of fluff. Anyway I have a wee award to be given out, not your average one though, as someone who sells a lot of bottles of whisky I get the opportunity to read many labels and marketing bumpf. So it is with great honor that I announce the first winner of the ‘Whisky Online Whisky Bull Shit Of The Year Award’

There have been many valiant attempts this year, the marketing droids just seem to push themselves further and further each year, Glengoyne, Laphroaig and Jura all made valiant efforts, as did repeat offenders and old favourites Bruichladdich but lets celebrate a newcomer instead, the winner by a mile is Tobermory! Their vomit inducing effort on the booklet enclosed with this year’s 15yo expression was whisky bullshit of the highest order. In case you missed it I’ll recreate it here in all its bowel-knotting glory.

“There are only a small number of bottles available around the world of this jewel-like 15 year old dram, but its exceptional provenance and the craftsmanship it is imbued with, are perceptible in every rare drop.

Perhaps inspired by being in the world-famous Tobermory distillery (founded 1798 and still the island’s only distillery), our Master Blender Ian MacMillan, a man of 35 years’ experience, is an obsessively dedicated artisan and perfectionist. Not content with the standard 15 year period of aging, he developed a rare dual-location-maturation; first transferring the spirit into gloriously refined Gonzales Byass Oloroso Sherry casks and then painstakingly moving each cask from the mainland, where the whisky develops, back to the island for its final year. Here they look out on to the Sound Of Mull allowing the delicate liquids within to absorb the Inner Hebrides’ life-giving ocean mists.”

What a piece of work I think you’ll agree, as soon as you’ve finished with the sick bucket I invite you to enjoy one last time that most breathtaking of closing phrases “the inner hebrides’ life giving ocean mists.” What a money shot that was, think of the marketing offices the length and breadth of the whisky world full of young executives tentatively placing an old service revolver to their temples as they see in one line the ultimate potential of whisky bullshit laid out in Godlike glory before them. Unattainable, unbeatable and suitably incomprehensible, how could anyone top that? Tune in next year to find out.

From all of us at whisky online, have a fantastic hogmanay and all the best for the new year. I hope you all start 2011 as you mean to continue, I know I will.

Slante!