It’s not often anymore that whiskies as old as this one pass my palate nowadays. So, sometimes you just have to indulge when they do. Last weekend I decided to empty this one because the level was getting quite low. Of course, I underestimated how much there was still in the bottle and I ‘borrowed a little bit of happiness from the next morning’.

It was a good night though!

This blended whisky is 40 years old. At the time I purchased it, it was slightly older than I was. Not anymore though. There is no information on what is in the blend, but I don’t think that is too much of an issue.

Sniff:
This is not your typical blended whisky. There’s so much happening, even though it’s mostly cask. There’s a lot of woodiness, but it’s not fierce. It’s subtle. Apart from that there’s lots of fruits. Dried mango, apricot, cherries. A clafoutis like sweetness. There are other notes for even more complexity to push this up to ridiculous levels. Some salinity, some heather, some spices. It’s all there.

Sip:
Again, this is subtle and complex, with lots of things going on and even some intensity. However, it’s not sharp at all. There is quite some oak at first, with white pepper behind it. Then there’s dry fruits with some slightly acidic bite. Green apples and star fruit and such. Dry oak, dry barley. Lots of dry notes, and that is right in my wheelhouse.

Swallow:
The finish is rather gentle, but leaves the intensity behind on your tongue. Lots of barley and oak and clafoutis like pastry notes again. The fruit is slightly less pronounced than it was on the palate, but the pastry is a bit more prevalent.

Holy shit. I remembered this being good, but it had been a while since I gave it a spin. I think this is a ridiculous whisky. There’s so much happening and none of it gets lost in the blended, which sometimes is the case. Yet, it’s mostly cask but not entirely. Which makes it even more interesting.

Some really great blending happened here, and now I wish there was more of it.

92/100