Gordon & MacPhail Recollection Series #2: 1981 Port Ellen, 1973 Glen Mhor & 1976 Banff [Tasted #647 - 649]

It's been a few months since we tried an incredibly-aged release from Gordon & MacPhail (the Mr George Legacy 3rd Edition, if you're wondering) and thanks to the good folk at G&M, today we have not one, not two, but three more new releases - this time from "The Recollection Series #2".

As the name suggests, the annual Recollection series (first launched in 2022) celebrates closed distilleries, this time across both Private Collection and Conoisseurs Choice ranges. Consisting of 18 expressions from 15 distilleries, the full series includes:

• Port Ellen 1981 – RRP £10,000
• Glen Mhor 1973 – RRP £6,000
• Banff 1976 – RRP £4,300
• Caperdonich 1979 – RRP £3,500
• Dallas Dhu 1979 – RRP £3,500
• Glen Albyn 1979 – RRP £3,500
• Glenlochy 1979 – RRP £3,500
• Imperial 1979 – RRP £4,000
• Lochside 1981 – RRP £3,750
• Linlithgow 1982 – RRP £3,000
• Glen Esk 1984 – RRP £2,200
• Inverleven 1985 – RRP £2,000
• Littlemill 1991 – RRP £1,600
• Lochside 1991 – RRP £1,600
• Rosebank 1991 – RRP £2,000
• Pittyvaich 1992 – RRP £1,200
• Imperial 1997 – RRP £380
• Imperial 1998 – RRP £360

Tasting any of these would've been a treat, but luckily the first three (in bold) above are global releases, and it's those we're tasting today. It's not every day you get to try a 42 year old Port Ellen, so let's get into it...

Gordon & MacPhail "The Recollection Series #2" Port Ellen 1981 42yo (52.5% ABV, 42yo, Refill Sherry Butt #290, Islay, Scotland, One of 181 bottles, £10,000)
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Distilled on 28 Jan 1981 and bottled 6 Feb 2023, and hailing from arguably the most famous closed Scotch malt whisky distillery, the whisky was distilled just two years before Port Ellen shut its doors in 1983. They won't stay shut forever though, as the distillery is set to re-open this year.

Colour: Copper-brown mahogany

Nose: Subtle bonfire notes with rum & raisin, BBQ'd pork, cherry smoke and hints of cinnamon. Already a lot going on (all of it good), right from the outset.

Palate: Red cherries, cigar box, with the faintest whiff of residual smoke. There's some oak (not too much), baked apple pie crust, some pepper spice, and some sweeter rich Christmas cake notes. Very complex, very clean, very robust.

Finish: Long, with poached pears, dried cherries and a dusty residual smoke. 

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 93/100 (Martin). There's a LOT going on here and it's all very well-integrated. An impeccable dram.

Gordon & MacPhail "The Recollection Series #2" Glen Mhor 1973 49yo (57.2% ABV, 49yo, Refill Sherry Hogshead #85026801, Highland, Scotland, One of 170 bottles, £6,000)
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Distilled on 30 April 1973 and bottled 10 Jan 2023, this whisky hails from Glen Mhor which may not be well-known by the average whisky drinker, but certainly rewards those who come across it.

Colour: Golden copper-brown

Nose: Funky cola chews (I love finding this note in well-aged sherried whiskies, rare though it is), citrus zest, BBQ rub, then smoked paprika, za'atar, with an underlying juiciness. Very strong competitor for nose of 2023 so far. Just incredible.

Palate: Less zest and juiciness than the nose, more rounded and mature, with mature oak more noticeable. BBQ meat follows, with a slightly earthy / vegetal note (mint / Eucalyptus even?), some overripe oranges, pecan pie & rich toffee.

Finish: LONG, with a soft lingering oak spice and hints of chocolate mint slice.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 92/100 (Martin). Absolutely incredible nose (one of those drams I could happily nose for an hour), with a very strong palate and finish. Complex like few other drams - take your time with this one, you'll be rewarded.

Gordon & MacPhail "The Recollection Series #2" Banff 1976 46yo (50.4% ABV, 46yo, Refill Sherry Butt #2887, Highland, Scotland, One of 109 bottles, £4,300)
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Distilled on 26 Oct 1976 and bottled 3 Feb 2023. Banff is sometimes called "Scotland's unluckiest distillery", having been destroyed in a fire (twice), and bombed by the Luftwaffe during WWII. Like Port Ellen, Banff closed in 1983, but unlike Port Ellen there are no plans to re-open it.

Colour: Yellow golden sunset

Nose: Immediately, one of those "incredibly old and complex light style sherry" noses. Not dissimilar to this G&M 70yo Glen Grant from 2019. There's a yellow / stone fruitiness - pears, grapefruit, peach, followed by wafts of light smoke (earthy, not peated) & dunnage warehouse. After a decent airing, some slightly funky notes (the pleasant kind) emerge.

Palate: Follows the nose well, adding a touch of oak, more peach and strawberry, vanilla cream, baked peach pie & ginger. An elegant, well-aged, balanced palate.

Finish: Long, with ginger and hints of residual grapefruit.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 93/100 (Martin). I had high hopes for this and it exceeded even them. For me, on par with the Port Ellen, yet a very different style of dram.

Thanks as always to G&M for the samples.

Cheers,
Martin.

Tasted #597: Caol Ila Manager's Dram Aged 15 Years (TimeforWhisky 10 Year Anniversary Dram)

Number 7 in our 10th Anniversary line-up comes again from Islay, in the form of the legendary Caol Ila "The Manager's Dram" Aged 15 Years. Bottled in 1990 and never officially sold, this release was given to friends and family of the Distillery, but if you want one today, you may need to fork out around £8,500...

Yesterday I spoke about the Bowmore Aston Martin DB5 1964 Black Bowmore, and how I'd tried the original release 5 years earlier at a Japanese bar (Rogin's Tavern). What I didn't mention was that there was one single whisky at the bar more expensive than the Black Bowmore, by quite a margin. It was this Caol Ila Manager's Dram. I didn't taste it, and had wanted to ever since.

About a year ago I posted the above photo on Instagram asking "Name a legendary dram you haven’t yet tried, but really want to?". It was done purely to spark some conversation, but then about 6 months later at a tasting with friends, a small sample was slipped to me by a very generous friend, with the label reading "Caol Ila Manager's Dram". 

Mind. Blown. Finally, I was going to get to experience the whisky many refer to as the most sublime expression of sherry and peat ever bottled....

Caol Ila "The Manager's Dram" Aged 15 Years (63% ABV, 15yo, Islay, Scotland, £8,500)

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Colour: Intense coffee copper.

Nose: Huge, fruity sherry, followed immediately by smoky ham, salted plums, old leather, humdor. The notes just keep coming - it's hugely expressive, especially considering the 63% ABV. The salted plums become bonfire-smoked, with a side of salted chocolate, and some bacon.

Palate: Big, zesty sherry. Clean, but old school if that makes sense? Slightly dusty, but in no way sulphured. These are the casks you dream of!  Chocolate orange, leather, furniture polish, salted plums again, orange spices, oak, and salted nuts. With water, some maple bacon and a little more salinity.

Finish: Long oak tannins, BBQ meat brushed with a cherry glaze. It just goes on and on..with bacon through to the very end (with water, it's more of a smoked duck note).

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale):  94/100. Worthy of the hype? Dare I say it...yes.

Cheers,

Martin.

Gordon & MacPhail launches 7 new Glenlivet Expressions, including Private Collection 1976 [Tasted #537 - #539]

Ahead of the September release of the oldest single malt Scotch ever bottled, Gordon & MacPhail's Generations 80-Years-Old from Glenlivet Distillery, G&M is launching seven new Glenlivet expressions across both its "Private Collection" and "Connoisseurs Choice" ranges.

The bottles, which range from £104 to £1,750 include:

• Gordon & MacPhail Private Collection 1975 from Glenlivet Distillery, Refill Sherry hogshead
• Gordon & MacPhail Private Collection 1976 from Glenlivet Distillery, Refill American hogshead
• Gordon & MacPhail Private Collection 1976 from Glenlivet Distillery, First fill Sherry hogshead 
• Gordon & MacPhail Private Collection 1980 from Glenlivet Distillery, Refill American hogshead
• Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice 1993 from Glenlivet Distillery, Refill American hogshead
• Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice 2003 from Glenlivet Distillery, Refill bourbon barrel
• Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice 2004 from Glenlivet Distillery, Refill bourbon barrel

Keep an eye on the blog for more details on the Generations 80 Year Old soon, but ahead of that, G&M were kind enough to send through samples of the Private Collection 1976 (American Oak hogshead), Connoisseurs Choice 2003 & Connoisseurs Choice 2004 so we could share our thoughts.

Gordon & MacPhail Private Collection 1976 from Glenlivet Distillery (43.9% ABV, 45yo (30th Jan 1976 to 8th Feb 2021), refill American hogshead #1565, 1 of 124 bottles, Speyside, Scotland, £1,750)

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Colour: Yellow gold.

Nose: Subtle pears, green apples and vintage oak spice. A creaminess emerges, vanilla milkshake-like, then apple pie with cream.

Palate: Leather (new leather) at first, remaining throughout and quite dominant. Honey-drizzled apple slices and licorice follow, with some maple syrup after some time. There's a slight milk chocolate note too after a while, but the leather remains throughout. 

Finish: Honied apples, a lingering nutty slice, and lemon zest.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 90/100. Different notes to what I was expecting, based on the specs alone, but a very enjoyable and unusual dram, with a fantastic nose (an excellent candidate for the 1920s Blenders Glass, if you have one). The years have imparted some varied and interesting flavours, and it all works well together.

Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice 2003 from Glenlivet Distillery (46% ABV, 17yo (1st Jul 2003 to 14th Jun 2021), refill bourbon barrels #800356 & 800358, 1 of 510 bottles, Speyside, Scotland, £127)

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Colour: Light yellow gold (Riesling-like)

Nose: Green apple and paprika spice. There's a slight dustiness, and with time, some peaches and then apple crumble.

Palate: Follows the nose, with peaches and apple, but there's a creaminess to it - almost like a vanilla apple pie. After time a slight herbaceousness follows.

Finish: Herbaceous, with lingering vanilla cream.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 89/100.

Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice 2004 from Glenlivet Distillery (46% ABV, 16yo (10th Nov 2004 to 21st Jun 2021), refill bourbon barrels #800671 & 800672, 1 of 510 bottles, Speyside, Scotland, £104)

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Colour: Light yellow gold (Riesling-like)

Nose: Green apple and spice like the 2003, with a bit more meatiness - some tangy fruity BBQ sauce, with white pepper. After 20 minutes, vanilla cream emerges.

Palate: Banana, apple, pears, custard pie with vanilla cream. Slight hints of pineapple and pear.

Finish: Herbaceous, with a very slight meaty smoke.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 90/100.

All seven whiskies are available now, from the usual UK outlets including The Whisky Exchange (no word yet on Hong Kong or Australian availability or pricing). A big thanks to G&M and ANMComms for the samples.

Cheers,

Martin.

A bounty of single cask 1960s and 1970s Glenrothes from The Last Drop Distillers [Tasted #501 - 507]

As mentioned in my recent post on The Last Drop Distillers' 56yo Blended Whisky, there were a few more samples included in the package along with the blend...and by "a few" I mean 7 individual cask samples of 1968, 1969 and 1970 Glenrothes!

Ordinarily I'd be happy to dive into all of them myself, but I'd been treated to some particularly nice whiskies from Kam at Dram Good Stuff lately, including our 500th whisky tasted on TimeforWhisky.com, so I thought I'd share the love a bit.

Bottled in 2018 (1968), 2019 (1969) and 2020 (1970), the whiskies were all (give or take) 50 years old, and in the case of the 1969 and 1970, were from casks filled on the same day. It's not often you get to try whiskies filled on the same day and matured side-by-side for ~50 years!

Detailed tasting notes were included (some from Charlie Maclean, some from a bloke in a hat...), which made for interesting reading, but really, we were keen to taste for ourselves, so wasting no time, Kam and I got stuck in...

1968

The Last Drop 1968 Glenrothes (cask #13504) (51.2% ABV, 49yo, IB, 1968-2018, 1 of 168 bottles, Speyside, Scotland)
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Tasted by Martin
Colour: Golden amber.
Nose: Fruity and floral, after time, hints of paprika, pineapple and pot pourri. Old cigar box and interestingly, raspberry coulis!
Palate: Big and zesty - flamed orange peel, followed by an almost BBQ meatiness. Oak shows, but doesn't dominate.
Finish: Long oak tannins emerge, coated in orange wafts of smoke.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 93/100.

The Last Drop 1968 Glenrothes (cask #13508) (50.2% ABV, 49yo, IB, 1968-2018, 1 of 141 bottles, Speyside, Scotland)
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Tasted by Kam
Nose: Very complex, light sweet smoke infused herbs, lovely minerality .. more sweet smoke with faint floral notes, almond oil, hints of mint (beeswax in the glass when empty )
Palate: Full mouthfeel - spicy and grassy simultaneously, slight bitter tobacco towards the end
Finish: Medium length.
Rating: 92/100.


1969

The Last Drop 1969 Glenrothes (cask #16207) (47.1% ABV, IB, 1969-2019, 1 of 141 bottles, Speyside, Scotland)
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Tasted by Martin
Colour: Orange sunset.
Nose: Green apple, kiwifruit, banana leaves, rockmelon, overripe bananas, with a hint of sandalwood and honey after time.
Palate: More muted than 1968 #13504, but with more sherry and oak. Rich treacle, old wood, lacquer, cherry, with a chewier, oily, viscous mouthfeel. A hint of mint rounds things out.
Finish: Mint and basil, old oak, leather. Medium in length.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 92/100.

The Last Drop 1969 Glenrothes (cask #16203) (46.3% ABV, 49yo, IB, 1969-2019, 1 of 130 bottles, Speyside, Scotland)
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Tasted by Kam
Nose: Vibrant with lots of fruit; banana, honeydew melon … grassy herbaceousness, citrus (lime) and hints of raspberry… faint charred oak, cedar chips and almond oil
Palate: Gentle mouthfeel that instantly dries the cheeks, mild spices, nuttiness and honey
Finish: Long but muted.


1970

The Last Drop 1970 Glenrothes (cask #10586) (45.3% ABV, IB, 1970-2020, 1 of 103 bottles, Speyside, Scotland)
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Tasted by Martin
Colour: Yellow gold.
Nose: Spiced fruit - spiced apple tart, kiwifruit with lemon drizzle. A little heat.
Palate: Banana chews, menthol drops, toffee chews. Slightly "thinner" than the others, with notes of apple, pear and kiwifruit.
Finish: Medium to long length, retaining the previous fruitiness - kiwifruit and nectarines. Old oak cask notes towards the end.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 92/100.

The Last Drop 1970 Glenrothes (cask #10588) (44.1% ABV, IB, 1970-2020, 1 of 87 bottles, Speyside, Scotland)
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Tasted by Martin
Colour: Yellow gold
Nose: Furniture polish, cigar box, sweet vanilla, then rich, creamy chocolate ice cream.
Palate: Spicy, slightly earthy smoke, grassy, with caramel fudge richness coming through after time. Oily, sandalwood hints and chocolate-coated caramel (Fantails). Residual oak notes.
Finish: Medium to long, with sweet toffee fudge, tobacco, mint and grass.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 92/100. Complex - quite a mixed bag, but it works, well.

The Last Drop 1970 Glenrothes (cask #10589) (45.0% ABV, IB, 1970-2020, 1 of 96 bottles, Speyside, Scotland)
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Tasted by Kam
Nose: Open freshness with summer fruits; guava, peaches .. lots of coconut, shea butter hand cream, hint of sea air.
Palate: Explosive with tastes matching up perfectly with the aromatic notes… warming and full mouthfeel, hints of peaches, almond oil.. mild bitterness at the very end…
Finish: Long and luxurious.

It's not easy to try whiskies this old and rare these days, but to taste so many casks (in some cases filled on the same day) side by side was a real treat - a huge thanks to The Last Drop Distillers!

Cheers,

Martin.

Tasted #500: Port Ellen 40yo 1979 "Prima & Ultima"

When I started this blog over 8 years ago, I didn't really know where it would lead, but it's fair to say I didn't expect that after all this time it would still be running with regular updates, spanning two countries and with two writers. I also didn't expect we'd ever see a 500th tasting post either, and yet here we are!

Over the years I've tried to keep the "100s" posts for special drams. #200 was a 60yo Glenfarclas, #300 was a 65yo Macallan, #400 was a 50yo OB Balvenie...and for this 500th post, I was fortunate enough to try a 40 Year Old Port Ellen from Diageo's recent "Prima & Ultima" range, which in some ways seems to have picked up the mantle from the Special Releases (themselves becoming a bit more accessible - no bad thing, mind you). 

 

You don't say no to a Port Ellen, and whilst they're not all deserving of the hype, this one bottled from a single refill European Oak Butt, and matured for 40 years from 1979-2019, certainly filled me with a lot of hope. Thankfully, my hope was justified.

Port Ellen 40yo 1979 "Prima & Ultima" (51.2% ABV, 40yo, OB, 1979-2019, Cask #6422, Islay)

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Colour: Rich deep amber gold.

Nose: Lemons at first, then a grassy herbaceousness. A hint of mint? Subtle salty smoke, leading to seaweed and finally hints of an old cigar box.

Palate: The smoke comes through stronger on the palate - BBQ smoke, followed by orange wheels and an explosion of meatiness. Quite different to the much more subdued nose, this was chewy, viscous and "big". Dried fruits, chocolate, smoked seaweed all feature too.

Finish: Long, with sea salted peanuts, followed by charcuterie and a residual longing BBQ smoke at the end.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 93/100. What an experience.

A humungous thanks to Kam of Dram Good Stuff for the taste of this. Whilst they don't currently have this bottle listed, they do have another OB 1979 40yo Port Ellen available if this one has whetted your appetite!

Cheers,

Martin.

Tasted #302: Ardbeg 1973 15yo bottled by Sestante Imports (#101drams)

It's been far too long since I posted tasting notes for a #101drams charitable challenge, and while the tally currently sits at 69 whiskies, the actual number sits about 15 or so higher. The backlog of posts continues to grow unfortunately...

Helping me tick off #99 on the list, "A Scotch bottled in the 80s", is this stunning independently bottled Ardbeg, distilled in 1973, and bottled 15 years later (at a cask-strength 53.4%) by Sestante.

"Big deal", you might think - "an Indie Ardbeg from a Bourbon cask with a boring label..."

Ahh...but you see, this is no ordinary Indie. Whiskies from the Italian independent bottler Sestante are legendary, and even more so since they stopped releasing whiskies in the 1990s. This cask-strength bottling in particular seems to have caught the eye of whisky lovers over the years, as can be evidenced by its price tag whenever it does pop up (it was £995 on Master of Malt, when it was available, still sells for £1,500 at TWE, and in March Platinum Wines in Hong Kong were selling 3 bottles at $13,000HKD each). That's more than Sestante's 21yo Ardbeg from 1974, on the rare occasion it pops up for sale.

So not your average ex-Bourbon Ardbeg then...

The opportunity to taste this (from a recently-opened bottle) came up at Malt Masters Hong Kong 2016 recently, and it was an opportunity I wasn't about to miss...

Ardbeg 1973 15 Year Old, bottled by Sestante (54.3% ABV, 15yo, Islay, Scotland, £1,500 / $13,000HKD)

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Colour: Yellow gold.

Nose: Wow...such tropical fruitness. Loads of pineapple, some rockmelon. Some oat cakes, and minimal, minimal peat. A little creamy honey. Some sweet stewed apples. Such incredible balance..all notes working well together and in perfect harmony. Time to dive in....

Palate: There's peat, but it's subtle. It's more about the fruitiness (still tropical - peaches, nectarines, and the pineapple and rockmelon from the nose), but drizzled with honey and a light dusting of icing sugar. It's sweet, but not cloying in any way. In its relatively short 15 years, this whisky has taken on some incredible characteristics from its (no doubt) bourbon cask maturation, and presented them all in perfect harmony. Stunning.

Finish: Medium to long. BBQ pork with grilled pineapple on top. Brilliant.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 94/100. The phrase "they don't make 'em like they used to" gets thrown around a lot, so I won't use it here, but suffice to say I've never tasted an Ardbeg like this before...

Cheers,
Martin.

"Now & Then" tasting with Charlie MacLean at the Hong Kong Whisky Festival 2016 (Tasted #288 - 293)

At the Hong Kong Whisky Festival back in February, we were incredibly fortunate to share a Balvenie lunch with Scotch whisky writer and industry legend Charlie MacLean. That wasn't our only whisky experience with Charlie, though. Straight after the lunch, we headed upstairs to one of the InterContinental Grand Stanford's function rooms (with sweeping views of Hong Kong Island across the harbour), for one of Charlie's famous "Now & Then" tastings.

"Now & Then" style tastings come in many forms, but usually involve examining whiskies of today against their counterparts from an era gone by. This tasting was no exception, with the focus on Speyside single malts, namely Glenlivet, Glen Grant and Cardhu. Specifically, these gems:

• Cardhu 12 year old of today
• Cardhu "Highland Malt Scotch Whisky" 12 year old (1970s bottling)

• Glen Grant 10 year old of today
• Glen Grant 10 year old (1970s bottling)

• The Glenlivet 12 year old "Excellence" (a more Sherried 12yo bottles for only four countries in Asia)
• The Glenlivet 12 year old from the early 1970s (exact year unknown)

It's not often we get a chance to do such direct comparisons, but we've always found the opportunity to do so hugely enjoyable. This was no exception.

Charlie opened proceedings by explaining some of the background and history of each distillery, as well as some interesting insights that few would know (what Charlie doesn't know about Scotch whisky basically isn't worth knowing). Starting with Cardhu, Charlie talked of its "promotion" to a single malt product in 1968 (based on the success of William Grant & Son's Glenfiddich and others), and its subsequent yoyo-ing between being sold as a single malt and being reserved for blenders, before finally, its return as a single malt in 2006.

At that point we were all eager to dive into the first pair:

Cardhu 12 year old Highland Malt Scotch Whisky - 1970's (40% ABV, 12yo, Speyside, Scotland, £399)
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Colour: Pale yellow gold
Nose: Hugely tropical (passionfruit, papaya, pineapple), with a hint of mustiness but also plenty of freshly cut grass. Sweaty socks. After 20 minutes, loads of creamy caramel.
Palate: Soft, musty, with a slight meatiness and sweet tropical vanilla notes.
Finish: Medium length, with vanilla sweetness to the very end.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 90/100. I suspect age may have slightly impacted the nose and palate, but there was enough going on to give an idea of what it would have been like ~40 years ago.


Cardhu 12 year old - modern bottling (40% ABV, 12yo, Speyside, Scotland, $74.99AUD / $768HKD / £34.08)
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Colour: Pale orange gold
Nose: Sweeter and with more caramel than the 70's bottling. There's still fruitiness, but berries and bananas this time.
Palate: Lighter, thinner, still very sweet, with a slight floral acidity and a touch of earthiness.
Finish: Longer than the 70's bottling, but a little less polished, with a little more alcohol burn.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 88/100. There were similarities between the two, but clear differences too (as you'd expect).

Next up was Glen Grant - a distillery whose standard OB releases of late I have to be honest, I haven't been hugely fond of. Charlie talked us through the distillery's strong Italian connection (which stretches further back than 2005's Gruppo Campari acquisition), it's position as number 1 single malt in the Italian market, and displayed his incredibly detailed knowledge with tidbits like the fact that in 1916 Glen Grant didn't add the alcohol proof to their labels.


Glen Grant 10 year old - 1970's (40% ABV, 10yo, Speyside, Scotland, £175)
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Colour: Light yellow straw
Nose: Big tropical fruit bouquet - whole oranges, apricots, pears, peaches. A touch of candle wax too.
Palate: Waxy, meaty, with a slightly earthy smoke and hints of wet grass.
Finish: Medium, rich, smoky with a rich toffee finish at the very end.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 90/100.


Glen Grant 10 year old - current bottling (40% ABV, 10yo, Speyside, Scotland, $61.99AUD / £29.89)
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Colour: Pale straw
Nose: Strawberry cream and Iced Vovos. Hints of tropical fruit. Then some berries - Monte Carlo biscuits?
Palate: Thin, grainy and sugary-sweet. Not a whole lot to be impressed by.
Finish: Short, thin and bitter.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 86/100. Nice nose (initially), but a fairly disappointing palate and finish when compared to the 70's bottling.

With time running out and the small crowd eager to hear more about the whiskies in front of us, and their heritage, it was onto the final distillery of the day - The Glenlivet. Charlie being Charlie of course had a connection to the distillery - his first malt whisky tasting experience with with a school friend, whose dad just happened to own The Glenlivet Distillery at the time...


The Glenlivet 12 years old - 1970's (40% ABV, 12yo, Speyside, Scotland, £168)
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Colour: Orange gold
Nose: Subtle ashy smoke (that was unexpected). BBQ-grilled pineapple, with a very slight mustiness.
Palate: A big robust oily mouthfeel gives way to smouldering smoke and BBQ'd meats. The nose implied this would be sweet, but it wasn't at all - instead rich smoked meats dominate.
Finish: Long, toasted oak, with as light earthiness.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 91/100. Not quite what I'd expected, but enjoyable.


The Glenlivet 12 years old "Excellence" - current bottling (40% ABV, 12yo, Speyside, Scotland, $498HKD)
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A more heavily sherried 12 year old release from The Glenlivet only available in four markets in Asia.
Colour: Yellow-orange gold.
Nose: Light, floral, fruity - peaches and pear slices.
Palate: Smooth but a little thin. The floral and fruity notes continue, with honey-drizzled pears and a touch of Brazil nuts.
Finish: Medium to long, with a sweet nuttiness - think sugar-coated almonds.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 90/100.

To experience a masterclass like this, and compare 3 of today's single malts with their 40+ year old (and yet same-aged) counterparts was truly a fantastic experience. To do so with one of the absolute legends of the Scotch whisky industry was just incredible. To then have Charlie sit down and provide detailed notes on my own little single malt small cask maturation experiment was amazing, but more on that later....

Cheers,
Martin.

TimeforWhisky.com would like to thank InterContinental Grand Stanford for the media ticket and invitation to the lunch and masterclass with Charlie MacLean. A round of applause needs to go to John and James too (they know who they are), for putting on such a fantastic show - a first-year effort, no less.