Prometheus 1988 | 28 Year Old | Speyside Single Malt

Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Bottled by: The Glasgow Distillery Company 70cl / 53.0%

This is the third bottling in the Prometheus Series and it's a cracker. The liquid is 28-years-old and was distilled at a very famous undisclosed Speyside distillery whose reputation was built on maturing their stock in fantastic sherry casks.

Some 1970s and 1980s bottlings from this distillery now change hands for tens of thousands of pounds, and maturing sherry casks from the 1980s and early 1990s have reached hundreds of thousands of pounds at auction.

Like its two predecessors in the Prometheus range, this 28-year-old single malt whisky comes from the same Speyside distillery and is a marriage of two sherry butts that were laid down in 1988. A remarkable whisky, with faint notes of smoke amidst a phenomenally complex sherry oak palate.

Attributes

Tasting Notes

Whisky-Online Tasting Notes

Nose: Autumn leaves and wood glue at the start, but the initial waves are dominated by patisserie aromas – Belgian buns, cooked raisins, apple turnovers, Eccles cakes. A subsequent interlude of some old bookcase aromas then becomes more pruney. With a little time in the glass, some chocolate hints appear, then back to more traditional sherry aromas of fruitcake, a whiff of burnt raisins, dark gingerbread, then very faint pine resin, latex, desiccated coconut and apple syrup. The slightest suggestion of a faraway bonfire. This is a long-developing nose of highly complex, interlocking aromas, with an oak character showing real gravitas.
With Water: It releases a Highland Toffee aroma and some flapjack notes.

Palate: Fullish body, warm, spicy mouthfeel. Savoury oak initially, then muscovado sugar, apple fruit leather, the gingerbread from the nose – very dark, almost singed – plus rich fruitcake, stewed orange and some nutty, biscuity notes. Develops faint wood glue and latex hints, then rye bread, treacle tart and cinnamon biscuits. The integration is excellent, with the oak the bedrock of a really powerful, balanced presence on the palate.
With Water: It lifts the acetones slightly, with calvados and pear brandy notes appearing.

Finish: Good length, warm without getting too hot, spicy with a faint sootiness. Walnut cake and clove rock, lingering cooked raisins and dry oak spices.

Comment: A serious, brooding, intense whisky with a truly profound oak structure underpinning the more colourful, fruity touches. As you’d expect, this is not an aperitif whisky – it’s much more of an after-dinner dram ideal for late-night fireside contemplation. The marketing for Prometheus 28 makes much of the lightly peated malt used for this batch of malt from a distillery more traditionally associated (in the old days at least) with full-on sherry maturation, but the smoke is really just a suggestion here, a side-player in the epic presence of an old school sherry cask from the very top drawer. Marvellous stuff.