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.

Tasting The Last Drop Distillers 56 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky [Tasted #494]

The Last Drop is not a bottler who could be accused of rushing bottles to market. Since their inception, they've only released 18 spirits (and two Ports...including this one at a spritely 148 years old), all of them seriously old. I've been lucky enough to taste a few of their previous releases, including a 50yo Blend and 70yo Cognac, and they've all been fantastic.

That theme continued recently, when a sample of their latest Blended Scotch Whisky, a 56 Year Old (release XVI) landed on the doorstep at TimeforWhisky HQ - along with 7(!) samples of 1960s Glenrothes casks, to be covered in a future post.

Only four barrels make up the blend, containing over 60% malt content. After nearly 20 years in sherry butts, the casks saw a long "finish" in ex-Bourbon casks. Talk about doing things in reverse - a Bourbon "finish" which goes for longer than the initial maturation?!

It works, though. 

732 bottles were released (along with the customary 50mL sample bottles that accompany most Last Drop releases), at £3,750.

The Last Drop 56 Year Old Blended Scotch (47.2% ABV, 56yo, Scotch Blend, £3,750) 

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Colour: Golden amber.

Nose: An initial fruity, floral bouquet (oranges, pears, raspberry, followed by pot pourri) gives way to hints of paprika, pineapple, and ultimately rich, deep cigar / cedar notes from an old cigar box. Fantastic.

Palate: Big and zesty, flamed orange peel first, then a slight meatiness followed by a vanilla sweetness. There's oak throughout, but it's muted. Honey-drizzled oat cakes round things out nicely.

Finish: Oak tannins start to emerge (but again, well-balanced) along with orange blossom water and a slightly spiced vanilla note at the end.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 93/100. Not quite reaching the dizzying heights of the brand's 50 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky (tasted here, rated 95) which, still to this day, is the best blended Scotch I've tried, but excellent nonetheless. We're talking about blends that count few others as peers, here. Top stuff indeed.

That makes 3 blends we've tried from The Last Drop now - all of them absolutely stunning. With Colin Scott recently joining the company as Master Blender, we can't wait to see what the future holds...

...but actually, we know what the immediate future holds, as The Last Drop have just announced threw new limited editions:

• Release no 19: The 1980 Buffalo Trace Bourbon Whiskey. 240 bottles worldwide, £3,500 ex-VAT
• Release no 20: The 1976 “Overproof” Jamaica Rum. 183 bottles worldwide, £2,600 ex-VAT
• Release no 21: The 1959 Vintage Grande Champagne Cognac. 21(!) bottles worldwide, POA.

Rebecca Jago, Managing Director of The Last Drop Distillers notes: “This is a very special autumn for us: it is an opportunity to showcase a trilogy of superb releases that demonstrate our unique cross category approach. We are particularly excited to present our first ever Rum: this is a spirit we have long hoped to find, but we have been disappointed until now. Each of these spirits is a small marvel of its kind, just waiting to be savoured by those seeking the truly remarkable."

An exciting time for the brand, and a no-doubt even more exciting future with Colin on-board.

Cheers,

Martin.

Tasted #386: The Last Drop 1971 45 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky (45yo)

Back in 2016 I spent an evening at Angel's Share, meeting the lovely Rebecca and Beanie from The Last Drop Distillers, learning of their family's incredible links to the drinks business and tasting their latest release at the time, the 50 Year Old 'Double Matured' Blended Scotch (full article here). It was an absolutely fantastic whisky (easily one of the best blends I've ever had), as was the 48year old I'd tried a bit earlier.

Fast forward just over two years, and I found myself back at the same spot, catching up with the team (Rebecca and Cecily) and trying their latest release...which I'd expected to consist solely of whisky, but was pleasantly surprised to see comprised not only the whisky (1971 Blended Scotch Whisky, a 45yo blend), but also...

• A 70 year old Cognac from 1947 (bottled in January 2018); and
• A 148 year old port, from 1870!

Fair to say I didn't expect to be trying my oldest ever distilled spirit (70yo), and oldest ever wine (148yo) on that random Tuesday evening, but I wasn't about to complain!

The 70 year old, 1947 Cognac was incredibly fresh and vibrant, without any overbearing oak (and with many complex notes, including fresh vegetation, lemon pie, cloves, spicy grapefruit peel, apricot preserve and mince pies), whilst the 1870 port was quite different to the 100 Year old Australian Tawny tasted a few years back, particularly in colour, being a bright red copper, and showing notes of toffee, spice and red berries. Not overly sweet or cloying at all, and just really, really drinkable (as was the 48 year old 1970 port that accompanied it).

Of course, this is a whisky blog, so my main focus was on the whisky, which was first blended in 1983 as an ex-Bourbon 12yo for the US. After bottling, the remaining blend was refilled into 11 ex-Oloroso butts, and after 9 years some more was siphoned off to be bottled as a 21yo.

What remained was refilled again, into nine ex-American Oak barrels, where they lay in a dunnage warehouse for another 24 years, until they'd reached 45yo.

So in summary: ex-Bourbon (for 12 years), ex-Oloroso (for 9 years), then ex-Bourbon (for 24 years), bottled in 2017, with 1,352 bottles available.

The Last Drop "1971 Blended Scotch Whisky" (47.2% ABV, 45yo, Blend, Scotland, One of 1,352 bottles, £2,500ex-VAT)

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Colour: Burnished copper-orange.

Nose: Sweet and fruity initially - almost Cognac-like. Quite nutty too, then some baked pear and pecan pie emerges, but the nuttiness remains at the forefront.

Palate: Just as fruity as the nose - green apples at first, then a slightly citrus (orange) note, then lots of spice. Treacle / toffee sweetness follows, with some banana bread and stewed apricots too.

Finish: Long length, with lots of spice and some oak. Almost rye-like on the finish! 

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 90/100. A very enjoyable whisky and one that's obviously taken on a lot of different and interesting notes from it's "triple maturation" over the years!

Cheers,

Martin.

Many thanks to Rebecca and Cecily for visiting HK and sharing their wonderful products with us again.

Tasted #256: The Last Drop Distillers 50 Year Old ‘Double Matured’ Blended Scotch

It was only a few months ago that we tried the 48yo blended Scotch whisky from The Last Drop Distillers and found it to be one of the best blends we'd tasted in a long time.

Fast forward to January and, as promised, we've now tried the next blended whisky release from The Last Drop - a 50 year old "Double Matured" blended Scotch, released this month in Hong Kong.

As we mentioned back in January, this whisky is particularly interesting as it was initially released as a 30yo blended whisky (in Taiwan in the mid 1990s), then re-racked into a sherry hogshead for a further 20 years, matured in the Scottish lowlands. After all those years, it's still managed to retain a strength of 51.8% ABV.

To introduce us to the whisky, and explain a little bit more about The Last Drop philosophy, Beanie Espey and Rebecca Jago (daughters of founders James Espey and Tom Jago) held an intimate tasting at Hong Kong's Angel's Share bar (which we reviewed back in 2014 here). The pair, who now have significant roles in running The Last Drop, talked us through a brief history of the company and their family's roles in the whisky and broader spirits industry. Collectively, their fathers were responsible for Johnnie Walker Blue (nee Oldest), Chivas Regal 18, the Diageo Classic Malts range, Malibu, Baileys Irish Cream (it was invented in Rebecca's family kitchen) and the Keepers of the Quaich program.

Impressive.

Beanie and Rebecca also gave us an interesting insight into the whisky we were about to taste. It turns out those 20 additional years, which were spent in first fill Oloroso casks, weren't initially intended - the casks was, like so many, simply forgotten when the blender left the company. Whilst coy on some of the details, we were told that the blend contains 82 whiskies from all regions (including whisky from closed distilleries like Dallas Dhu), and was aged for 30 years in a Bourbon barrel before the aforementioned 20 years of "finishing" in Oloroso casks.

I'd been nosing the glass throughout the presentation, but it was at this point I decided it was time to dive in....

The Last Drop 50 Year Old "Double Matured" Blended Scotch Whisky (51.8% ABV, 50yo, Blend, Scotland, $36,888HKD, £3000)

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Colour: Deep dark copper (distinctly different to the vibrant bright gold of the 48yo!)

Nose: Fresh tropical fruit initially - papaya, guava, passionfruit. Then Leather. There's oak, for sure, but it's in perfect balance. Cola, sugary coke bottle lollies, sweet confectionary. 

Palate: Spice. Passionfruit and pineapple. Coke bottle lollies again (hmm is there some Glenfarclas in this?). The oak is still in perfect balance, and the whisky feels like it could have many years still to go. A few drops of water amps up the sherry (adding mocha / milk chocolate notes, and some leather), and tones down the fruitier notes. There's the tiniest hint of smoke too.

Finish: Long, with milk chocolate, coffee and leather. 

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 95/100. Just incredible. I love a well-aged ex-Bourbon whisky, for the big tropical fruit notes, and I love a well-aged, heavily sherried whisky for the "Christmas cake" notes. This has both. In spades. A stunning achievement and yet still such a vibrant whisky. It's only February but I suspect this will be one of the highlight tastings of the year for us.

Approximately 40-50 bottles of the 50 year old "Double Matured" blended Scotch will be making their way to Hong Kong, priced at $36,888HKD. Pricing outside HK isn't yet known, but Master of Malt have been known to stock previous releases (and still stock the 48 year old). Update: It's now available from Master of Malt for £3,000.

TimeforWhisky would like to thank Beanie, Rebecca, The Last Drop Distillers  and Quintessentially & Co for inviting us to taste this amazing whisky.

Cheers,
Martin.

Tasted #232: The Last Drop 48 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky

In May this year we brought word of The Last Drop Distillers' 1967 Glen Garioch single malt and 48 year old blended Scotch whisky being released in Hong Kong. In November we mentioned that those same whiskies were being released in Australia, in extremely limited numbers exclusively through Dan Murphys.

We've now been fortunate enough to try the 48 year old blended Scotch whisky, and have detailed our thoughts below. First though, a little more on the philosophy behind The Last Drop Distillers. Founded by three veterans of the spirits industry, who amongst them were responsible for whiskies such as Johnnie Walker Blue Label and Chivas 18 year old (clearly no strangers to a decent blend then...), The Last Drop Distillers are an independent bottler who, since 2008, have focused exclusively on extremely rare, well-aged spirits. In fact, seven years on, they've only produced five releases - the two aforementioned whiskies, a 1960 blended Scotch whisky, a 1950 Cognac and a 50 year old blended whisky.

Now, there are plenty of old casks out there, and plenty of them end up in the hands of independent bottlers (on this blog alone we've tried five 40 year olds, a 50 year old and a 60 year old - mostly indie bottlings). They're not always good, though. Sometimes, they're just a little too old, a little too past their prime.

When an independent bottler only bottles five such whiskies in 7 years though, and no other releases, you know they're only bottling whisky of a certain (extremely high) level of quality, as is the case with The Last Drop Distillers.

This 48 year old blended Scotch whisky, of which only 592 bottles were produced, proudly boasts that the youngest whisky within was laid down in 1965, and that some of the whiskies it contains came from distilleries which have since closed (the specific distilleries aren't named, however). It also boasts an impressive 48.6% ABV, and was awarded "Scotch Whisky of the Year" and "Blended Scotch Whisky of the Year" by a certain Mr Murray (my opinion of whom I'll leave out of this article...)

So....thoughts?

The Last Drop 48 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky (48.6% ABV, 48yo, Blend, Scotland, $5,500AUD / $33,888HKD / £2,600)

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Colour: Golden sunset

Nose: A big, rich creaminess hits you first. Then you notice just how polished, or rounded this whisky is. Not a single harsh note, nor a note out of place....but it's also not subtle or dull either. There's a slight earthiness (upon further nosing - some oak too, reminiscent of our recent trip through some of Scotland's distilleries), some Irish Cream, some passionfruit too. Then some almond fingers, chestnuts, a little furniture polish and a little cinnamon. I even got some notes of mum's Christmas compote - specifically apricots soaked in brandy. There's a LOT going on here, and it's all fantastic. I came back to the empty glass an hour later - still amazing.

Palate: Wow, this is not your average blended whisky. Still some oak, but it's subtle and in perfect harmony with everything else, which includes some whole oranges, apricots, and some old Eau de Vie.

Finish: Quite long, smooth, and continuing the fruit theme with apricots and glacé cherries. Bitter dark chocolate enters the mix, as do some (again, subtle) oak notes. Everything is in perfect balance.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 93/100. Simply a fantastic blend - one that has not only been crafted incredibly well, but has also aged just as well. We don't know the whiskies that make up the blend, but whatever they are, grain and malt, they (and the ex-Bourbon American oak casks they aged in) were all working in perfect harmony.
Note: I didn't add water to this, primarily because the sample was only 10mL, but also because I didn't feel it needed any. Some higher ABV whiskies can feel a little closed up without a few drops of water. This doesn't, at all.

TimeforWhisky.com would like to say a huge thanks to a sample generously sent by The Last Drop Distillers Ltd and DEC PR.

Cheers,
Martin.

PS: To read an excellent write-up on the 1967 Glen Garioch Single Malt, see The Whisky Ledger's thoughts here.