Since I’ve been going through heaps of samples over the last year to diminish that collection at home, I’ve encountered lots of stuff I forgot I had. There even was a sample of Brora and a Port Ellen in there.

This Mortlach is, I guess, one of those samples too. I wrote the review a long time ago and, again, I forgot to write down the origins of this sample, but since it’s a Cadenhead and I got it a few years ago, my guess it came from my English Bottle-Share Club.

Also interesting is the fact that Mortlach was quite available around 2015-ish, at reasonable prices (rough estimate is £ 150) while the ridiculous official bottlings were available (but didn’t sell) at four times that much for less whisky.

Luckily, Diageo came to their senses since, and have revamped the brand once again, with proper 70cl bottles at much more reasonable prices. One of the few moments the consumer has been able to win one against the big guys in the industry.

Anyway, on to the review:

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Very heavy, with straw and roast beef. Heavily oily, with barley and no freshness. Resin, a whiff of glue, soot and ash.

Sip:
Sharp, with lots of cask. Wood, straw, ash, roast beef, grape seeds. A bitter touch too.

Swallow:
A very old fashioned finish. Lots of barley, wood, and some old fashioned ‘patient aging’.

This feels like a very slow whisky. As in, it looks like they took their time, didn’t fuck around with the casks to rerack it into more active wood and made sure it tastes the way it should. Properly heavy with lots of Mortlach’s proprietary beefiness. Very good stuff!

88/100

Mortlach 26yo, 1988-2015, Butt, 56.1% – Cadenhead’s Authentic Collection, now available for € 175