This whisky might be the last ever Pittyvaich to be bottled. There never was much to go around and they didn’t close it because they liked the whisky all that much, I guess. Most of it went to blenders (which is why the distillery was built in the first place) and since it closed in 1993 after only 19 years of being in production almost everything is probably blended away.

I recently tasted this whisky again after it had been sitting on my shelf for almost four years at Maltstock, during Michael Lord’s masterclass of Dufftown. I decided not to take notes since I wanted to do that from my own bottle in a bit more quiet environment.

There’s not much else to say, so let’s get right to it!

Pittyvaich 20

Sniff:
Although it’s 20 years old, it still smells pretty young to me. There’s a lot of barley and spirit influence going on, very malty and even some wheat flavours. Old, corky apples and shaved oak planks. It’s a bit strange but actually a very interesting dram.

Sip:
Although it’s bottled at 57.5% ABV it feels more gentle than that, luckily. It’s pretty creamy and dry at the same time. Grains, straw, oak. Some vanilla and sawdust but in a syrupy way. Like golden syrup.

Swallow:
Although… It became a gimmick to start with that but there is no way I can build a logical sentence at this point. Some vanilla, but in a spicy way. A pretty long finish with sawdust, old oak shelves and a touch of furniture polish.

A dram that is more interesting that delicious. It’s nice, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think I would buy it again if I got the chance. Not even at the original price (about € 100 I think). It’s nice, but not more than that. The flavours are all fairly generic and for that money you would expect a bit more than nice, genericness.

It’s still available though. For example, Master of Malt has it at £ 138.21. I would have expected more after four years and being quite rare.

Pittyvaich 20, 1989-2009, 57.5%