Today, a pair of old Springbanks. What thrilling words with which to start a day, it’s enough to make you leap out of bed at the crack of noon. My feelings on Springbank are well documented elsewhere on this blog and in certain recesses of the ‘real’ world and are probably quite similar to yours so there is little point in regurgitating them here. Suffice to say I bloody love the stuff. Right let’s drink taste!

Dunaverty 12yo (Springbank). Cadenhead’s. Latter 1970s. 43%. 75cl. 

This was a dram very kindly opened by Bram (‘Bram’s Drams’, possible business idea Bram?) at the Lindores Whisky Fest last week. Thanks Bram!

Colour: Amber

Nose: Well it definitely smells like Springbank, that unmistakeable mix of seashore, white fruits, hessian, light peats, minerals and more fruit. Classic old school Springbank in every way. Beautiful coastal aromas in this one, lemon juice, lemon grass, brine, seaweed, kelp, oysters, kreel nets, wet pebbles, sandalwood and a huge, bold freshness. White pepper, dunnage warehouses, lots of green fruits, apple peelings, creosote, camphor, lamp oil, light medicinal touches like gauze and tcp along with some very nice cereal and bready touches underneath. Fantastic nose!

Palate: Rich and intense delivery for a 43% malt, chewy malt notes, dusty cereals, minerals, more lemon juice and lemon sherbet, green peats, mashy notes, baked potatoes, metal polish, all kinds of oils, enuthymol toothpaste and a basket of fresh herbs. Gets then a little more buttery and spicy and a bit of vanilla, cloves, wood resins, brown bread, mustard seeds, paprika and moroccan hummus (the most radio 4 tasting note ever I think). Really pleasant to drink this one, it’s not a sexy or easy whisky by any measure, but if you enjoy this old style then you’ll adore this malt. It’s so quietly classy, like the cool guy at the back of the room that doesn’t need to do anything because he’s just cool.

Finish: Medium-long with more boiled cereals and coastal notes, peppered mackerel, kippers, bonfires, some grisly peaty notes and a drying saltyness.

Comments: A great Springbank and a fascinating insight into a legendary era of distillate at a more tender age. Remember it was from this stock that many incredible older casks were bottled in the coming decades. Clearly they were already damn good at this age.

Score: 90/100

Springbank 25yo. OB. Early 90s. Japanese Import possibly judging by the neck label. 46%. 75cl. 

I gave the 30yo version of this 93 points, lets see if the 25yo can stand up to that. Interesting to bear in mind that this bottling is composed of spirit distilled in the same era as that which made up the Dunaverty Bottling.

Colour: Immediately similar to the Dunaverty but only more intense and concentrated in every aspect. The fruit is bigger and more extravagant while the coastal qualities are sharper and more focused. Lots of grapefruit, cereals, bananas, wet pebbles, minerals, green apples, muesli, salted butter, camphor, soot and waxy brine notes. There’s nothing like as much peat in this one as there was in the Dunaverty, this one seems all concentrated on fruit and coastal notes, but that directness is very beautiful and quite arresting. Super-clean, precise and perfectly balanced with hints of eucalyptus beginning to emerge after a few minutes.

Palate: A big gripping salty delivery followed immediately by a rush of green and tropical fruits, all kinds of fruits in fact, quite a stunning delivery. Goes on with more green banana flavours, sultanas, demerara sugar, cocoa powder, seashore, minerals, lychee, bubblegum and wine gums. A great fruit driven profile here, very lush and intense, the complexity isn’t huge but the balance and control is masterly. The coastal aspects are refreshingly drying round the edges with some notes of cocoanut, aspirin and watercress. A wake up call of a whisky.

Finish: Long and endlessly fruity with plenty of lingering coastal bite.

Comments: Brilliant. Not quite as brilliant as the 30yo I think but still brilliant. Maybe the stuff they are making at the distillery these days will reach similar heights in 15-20 years time. I really hope so.

Score: 92/100

There aren’t that many old Bladnochs about, neither bottled years ago nor aged a long time. Maybe with the great work Raymond Armstrong is doing these days at the distillery that may change in the near future but for now we are sadly short of older examples. Fortunate then that I have succeeded in scavenging a pair of interesting 23yo examples from ‘ye olde days’. I love Bladnoch, I think many of the examples bottled in recent years have been fantastic, distinctive and rich in personality (not to mention incredibly fairly priced). So this will be an interesting glimpse into the distillate’s past…

Bladnoch 23yo. Cadenheads. Handwritten label. 46%. 75cl. Probably late 1980s. 

I know nothing more about this particular bottling, it is possible it wasn’t even official but the 46% suggests it was. If anyone has any more info I would be very grateful for it.

Colour: Gold

Nose: Light and leafy but with a very elegant and restrained waxiness, clearly a more old style spirit, there isn’t too much in common with the modern Bladnoch at first nosing. Some very nice floral notes of white flowers along with gentle background aromas of ripe peaches, apricot, green apples and light cereals. This certainly has the lightness of a lowlander but these more old school, waxy qualities are very beautiful and intriguing. Some little notes of coal soap and cognac develop, this one shows quite a few aged qualities but the freshness keeps them in perfect check. Finally some citrus rind starts to appear, Bladnoch at last? A beautiful nose anyway.

Palate: A little weakish on delivery with a touch of cardboard but also some very nice notes of green tea, preserved lemons, green peppercorns, an even bigger waxiness, quite fat really, almost highland in style. More oily drying notes like camphor and paraffin with a little hessian in the background. More aged notes of raisins and cognac, quite intense in this aspect actually. Some fresh herbs like chives and rosemary as well, green olives, hummus, quite organic in some ways despite those distinctive aged notes.

Finish: Medium, green, oily, quite fruity and with more waxy notes kicking about, seemingly just for a laugh.

Comments: A curious old lowlander, not very Bladnoch but then seeing as we rarely try anything distilled before the 1980s maybe the stuff we know is the un-Bladnoch. Perhaps this is how it tasted for decades, it’s very possible. Anyway, I think the nose was wonderful and the palate was great too but a little weak, which will dock it a few marks. Still a very delicious and fascinating dollop of history.

Score: 85/100

Thanks to Franco for that one.

Bladnoch 1966-1989 23yo. Dun Eideann. Sherry cask no 1636. 50.8%. 75cl.

Colour: Bronze

Nose: Again we’re far from Bladnoch’s contemporary profile but we do have is a stunning array of blood oranges, cystalised fruits, citrus rind, wax, lemon drops, hints of farmyard machinery, coal, camphor, wood resins, furniture polish and dried herbs. What a great nose so far. The sherry is perfectly in check and wonderfully expressive with the spirit having an equal voice. It even develops a surprisingly salty and coastal edge after some time. More notes of oranges and all kinds of fruit liqueurs as well. Brilliant. I suppose in the interests of science we should add a few drops of water to this, although it seems perfect at cask strength. With water: it’s still great but there are now more foresty notes of wet leaves and a slight earthiness which often seems to happen to sherried whisky when you add water. Greener, grassier, more notes of coal and oil, more industrial and overall more savoury.

Palate: Neat: what a brilliant delivery, maraschino cherries, simmering spices, biting but flavoursome attack, top quality marzipan, guinness cake, more crystalised fruits and lemon rind, fresh brown bread, muscovado sugar, cinnamon, marmalade and cloves. A hot toddie without all the other bits. You could drink litres of this stuff. With water: wow, still huge with some great metallic touches like iron and steel wool, quite bloody almost. Like on the nose it also became more savoury, more of these notes of brown bread and pastry. Orange bitters, mulling spices, mixed nuts, sultanas and stewed fruits. Why didn’t I steal a bigger sample when I had the chance?!

Finish: Long slightly drying and full of glazed fruits, cherries, breads, herbs, a little chocolate and… geraniums interestingly enough.

Comments: Well that’s easily my favourite Bladnoch ever. Brilliant and perilously drinkable stuff. It’s interesting how neither were particularly ‘Bladnochy’ in the way we expect the spirit to be nowadays. Further proof that perhaps the Bladnoch we know has only really existed since the mid-late seventies? Now if I could only find a sample of that 26yo Cadenhead’s dumpy… (hint hint anybody..?)

Score: 92/100

There isn’t much that needs to be said about this tasting. Two Macallan, both distilled and bottled in the distillery’s glory days. I’ll not vent spleen, nor waste our time by going on about fine oak, cask deterioration, fibbing, fakes, modernisation or marketing bollocks. I’m sure you already have plenty of your own opinions on such matters (and quite right too).

Macallan 25yo OB. 1957-1983 ‘Anniversary Malt’. 43%. 75cl.

Colour: Polished Mahogany

Nose: It’s at that perfect age where you get equally huge aromas of old furniture shops and intense fruits. This one has both in spades, many notes of beeswax, wood polish and then layers and layers of soft, fresh fruits. Greengages, pomegranates, ripe bananas, peaches, apricots, mangoes, mirabelle, pineapple, the list goes on. There is a sticky raisiny sweetness underneath as well, flickers of PX sherry, rancio, old leather bound books and treacle sponge. It’s one of those aroma profiles that really doesn’t exist anymore and can only come from the combination of old style distillate and perfect sherry casks. Develops more down the lines of bitter chocoalte, cocoa, espresso and tarmac after a short while. Brilliant.

Palate: Big, chewy and mouth-coating delivery, tons of figs, dates, prunes and all kinds of concentrated dark fruit flavours, more espresso, roast coffee, super dark chocoalte, cocoa leaves and hessian. After that some luxurious notes of old armagnacs, demerara rums, menthol, dundee cake, glazed fruits and maraschino. You could drink litres of this stuff quite easily despite the potency of the sherry aspects. Develops notes of game and aged burgundy, more huge clean and very polished sherry notes as well. What a dazzling whisky.

Finish: Long and full of cured meaty notes, wood spice, touches of smoke, more pleasing bitter edges and a fruity finale.

Comments: It’s hard to say much of anything about these old bottlings. They’re just brilliant and that’s that.

Score: 93/100

Macallan 10yo ‘full proof’ OB. Rotation 1980 for Giovinette & Figli Milano. 57%. 75cl. 

It’s often quite interesting to jump from aged old style to younger high strength old style malts so this should be fun.

Colour: Dark Rosewood

Nose: Obviously younger and more potent than the 25yo but it’s the same quality of sherry in terms of pin-sharp cleanliness and aromatic intensity as far as I’m concerned. A wonderful invigorating fruitiness at first that suggests the best of youth and maturity simultaneously, then we get more notes of simmering spice, clean wood, resin, coal dust, chimneys, wax, a little eucalyptus and orange cough drops. This is a big whisky but it is surprisingly open and gentle even at full strength. Develops little notes of offal and herbs with putty and fruit conserves. Very interesting and very subtle developments, not suffering from comparison to the 25 at all which I think is very impressive. With water: loads of wood spice now, cinnamon, cloves, orange bitters and dried herbs. Still quite lively but also pretty composed and complex.

Palate: Ahh, so that’s where all the alcohol was hiding, strawberry liqueur, gunpowder, woodsmoke, pipe tobacco, dried mushrooms and earth at first sipping but then it gets fresher with notes of crushed mint, eucalyptus oil, cherries, cashew nuts, a little coriander and prune juice. A big whisky but not overpowering by any means, lets add water now… It got somehow oilier and wider with more notes of oil, coal, green olives, damp earth, stewed fruits, molasses and soda bread. A nice savoury note running through it with more very pleasant mushroom and game qualities, notes of aged madeira and dark brown sugar.

Finish: Long and full of sweet notes like icing sugar, baked rhubarb, natural caramel and more lingering woody and spicy notes.

Comments: It’s not quite up there with the 25yo but it is a fantastic youthful Macallan that could also be twice it’s age in parts. It has moments where you think there is a slight dirty quality beginning to emerge but then it goes somewhere else entirely, becoming instead more vegetal, sweeter or richer. Excellent cask selection and very entertaining whisky.

Score: 91/100

A vatting of the two… is that what you’re thinking?

Lets just say it was pretty breathtaking and leave it at that.