Ok I’m not old but now that I’m 27 I feel dangerously close to 30, it looms over the horizon like a juggernaut of midlife sensibility with 40 trailing not so far in its wake. Today is my birthday, if you’re not too busy celebrating the anniversary of the moon landing then take a moment to wish me well while I spend the day at my desk attempting to count how many grey hairs are now nudging through the crows nest that festoons my head like laughing silver wires of slow demise.

Birthdays are interesting. Some people place far too much importance upon them, I don’t really care and there have been occasions in the past where I’ve barely noticed them whizzing by. This year though my birthday has landed on a friday and thusly provides an ideal excuse for a party so there will be slightly more celebration that usual. Birthdays also often provide fitting occasions for us to open and drink great whiskies, for others to pour us something special in order to mark the occasion and the moment to open that great bottle you’ve been saving all these years. It’s a fun excuse, not that you should ever really need one though, to open a bottle of something truly great is to (in a shameless rip off of that scene in the film Sidways) create a special occasion then and there. I don’t have any full bottles knocking about the flat anymore, I sold them all in order to fuel traveling last year and I don’t have enough money to nurture a new stash of special bottles int0 being. However, I do have a small abundance of interesting samples, so lets dip into this melee of drams and see if there’s anything particularly alluring in there. Something suitably old and yummy to make me forget my cares as I truly enter (shudder) my late twenties. (I am aware that those in their mid-40s plus will be snorting with condescending laughter right now and that’s fine but it’s my birthday and my blog so I’m allowed to be ridiculous.)

I can't find my picture of the bottle I took the sample from so I had to steal this one from the internet. If anyone has a better image of this particular bottle they would like to provide me with as a birthday present that would be lovely. Better still, just send the bottle.

John Jameson & Son (JJ&S) 12yo Liqueur Dublin Whiskey. 70 proof. Large cork. Circa 1930s. 

Thanks to Wayne for this baby.

Colour: Light gold

Nose: A big whiff of honeycomb, a touch of cardboard, old embrocations, bandages, wild flowers, sunflower seeds and a lot of olive oil. Quite interesting and very Irish but also very old school. These huge notes of oil and flowers and complimented by mint tea, green olives, dried sage, beeswax, coal fires and some very fragile mineral qualities. The cardboard note that was quite distinct at first hs vanished now, lost amongst the blossoming orchard of delicate fruits, dried herbs, motor oil and those faint, dusty medicinal touches in the background. A very pleasant nose but it hints at weakness, lets find out…

Palate: Nice delivery actually, quite biting and youngish with not too much OBE, quite surprising really, big notes of eucalyptus cough sweets, creme de menthe, tar, tcp, lemon wax, vanilla cream, nutmeg, rice pudding and water melon. These wonderfully silky notes of honeysuckle come through quite in keeping with the similar honied notes of the nose. The texture is quite light and deft, not unlike a modern Bushmills with its almost dancing silky quality, but the flavours are properly old school.

Finish: Long and oily but it gets a bit strange now with a very distinctive and quite large note of blue cheese right at the back that lingers and dominates the whole finish in a way that isn’t entirely pleasant.

Comments: A shame about the finish. Maybe that was the sample bottle or maybe that was OBE or maybe… who knows with such old bottles. Anyway, how often do you get to taste Whiskey from the original Bow Street Distillery? Globally it was a fascinating and delicious window into old style Irish Whiskey, something we rarely really discuss or taste.Without that dent in the finish we’d have been approaching 90, as it is it’ll have to be…

Score: 85/100 (fittingly I was born in 1985. I’m not sure how that is really relevant in any way but never mind).

I don't know which one of these the sample came from. All I can say is lucky Tomas who is the owner of this sensational stash. And heartfelt thanks to you Tomas for the sample.

Berry Bros Blend. Circa 1910. 

Colour: Gold

Nose: A wonderful blizzard of wax, wild flowers, hessian, old peat, dry phenols, dust, old boiler sheds, tar and all kinds of metallic notes. Hints of honey, caraway seed liqueur, chartreuse, aged demerara rum and touches of old medicine. A proper old school aroma here, powerful, biting and elegant. Surprisingly fresh despite almost 100 years in bottle. Goes on with eucalyptus, creosote, mead and wild citrus notes and something slightly heathery and oily with a dint of pine needles about in the distance.

Palate: Huge luscious notes of medicine, camphor, resin, coal, metal, soft phenols and background hits of glazed and crystalised fruits. One of these old style seashore and farmyard combinations that works so brilliantly. The peat is ancient and almost glycerol in style with these fantastic nuances of metal, mineral notes, wet pebbles, polish, medicine and background fruits. Hits of old pipe tobacco and rancio follow in time with something quite leathery and meaty.

Finish: Long, warming, slightly drying, phenolic, metallic and peaty, almost like a concentrated hot toddy. A real slow burner.

Comments: Another of these ancient drams that it is such a privilege to taste and so emotional too, almost impossible to score because, well what’s the point really? Anyway, other bottles do exist and interestingly Tomas told me that none of the bottles from his cache tasted the same, they all had distinct variations, that’s to be expected after almost a century in glass but its also great fun if are ever lucky enough to find another bottle. Try one if you can, this is really spectacular whisky.

Score: 92/100

1912-1921 Old Liqueur Pre-War Whisky. Sample from The Dundee Supply Company Ltd. 14 Under Proof. Driven cork.

Huge thanks to Patrick for opening this ancient and unique bottle. No idea whether it is a malt or a blend but when we tried it first time round last November it certainly felt like an old malt. Who knows from what distillery though?

Colour: Light copper

Nose: Its not dissimilar to the Berry Bros with these big drying notes of earthy, burnt peat, brine, lemon wax, flints, game and wild mushrooms. Other more subtle notes of orange bitters, old liqueurs and rancio begin to emerge after a while with more soft aspects of milk chocolate, smoked tea, cocoa, boot polish and wood resins. Another spectacular and ancient example of this extinct style of pre-war whisky. Goes on with hints of fresh green fruits, marzipan and caramelised brown sugar, also something a little hotter like crushed black peppercorns. Quite spectacular really.

Palate: Big, biting, metallic, phenoic and hugely oily, reminiscent of the very best old White Horse bottlings from the 30s and 40s. The mix of old style peat, wax, medicine, salt and metal notes is quite majestic. Like drinking some sort of old rope cordial with these wonderfully industrial and coastal suggestions of boiler sheds, motor oil, kreel nets, tar and creosote. Remains steadfastly thick and syrupy with more drying notes of tobacco leaf, olive oil, something mineral and gravely, menthol toothpaste, cod liver oil and more of these spectacularly elegant metallic and phenolic notes. Beautiful.

Finish: Wonderfully long, resinous, drying, phenolic, peaty, metallic and mineral. A real heartbreaker.

Comments: Probably a single or vatter malt, or if not a blend with very high malt content. Whatever it is, it’s another of these miraculous windows into the lost production styles of over a century ago when whisky was so different to how it is now. I wonder if I’ll be holding up as well as this baby when I’m 100 years old? Come back and see in 73 years from today.

Score: 93/100

Ahh well, roll on 28 I suppose.

Many you will have seen the ‘Syndicate’ bottlings of Lagavulin that have been floating about over the past year or so. These are bottlings that came from stock laid down in 1979 and 1990 by James MacTaggart of Islay. They were bottled for him and his chums to have some serious private glugging whisky and, eventually, many made their way onto the open market via the Bruichladdich distillery visitor center through which they were sold. Now you can find them through specialist retailers and auction sites for ever increasing quantities of money. Today we’ll try four of them and see if they’re any good.

Lagavulin 14yo 1990. ‘Syndicate’. 46%. 70cl.

Colour: Chardonnay

Nose: It’s a pleasant and pristine modern Islay profile, all on wet rocks, mineral, glycerol green peat, ashes, brine, sea air and touches of coal tar soap. Actually this one really reminds me more of a Caol Ila than a Lagavulin. That super clean, coastal, lemony and ashy profile is very in keeping with Caol Ilas of a similar age. Goes on with notes of wet grains, parma ham, salted peanuts and touches of seaweed. Very pleasant and super clean but, dare I say it, maybe just a little too boring.

Palate: It’s almost identical to the palate, like an ashtray full of lemon juice and pebbles. Some hints of antiseptic, mouthwash and eucalyptus with more of these typical coastal qualities like raw oysters, brine, sea water and bonfire smoke. It also becomes quite tarry with notes of creosote, kind of like licking a kreel net. A good, basic modern Islay whisky but it doesn’t seem to be doing anything particularly spectacular or noteworthy.

Finish: Long, drying and salty with a big fragrant smokiness.

Comments: Technically its pretty flawless but its just not very inspiring that’s the trouble. Oh well. Lets see if another six years of maturation will make a difference…

Score: 80/100

Lagavulin 20yo 1990. Syndicate. 48.1%. 70cl.

Colour: Gold

Nose: Much better, the peat is more defined, like chiseled leather (whatever that means) with a fatter, oilier quality to it. Still not very ‘Lagavulinesque’ but it certainly has a fair whack of character to it. Notes of smoked tea, minerals, hints of sea shore, wild flowers, mustard seed and something quite minty and herbal, like a throat sweet liqueur. With time notes of paprika, chili infused dark chocolate and turkish delight all start to emerge. This minty/coastal quality still persists very beautifully. With water it seems to revert back to a very similar profile to the 14yo, all on lemons, ashes and salt.

Palate: Oh dear, that’s a bit odd. Quite an astringent and vinous delivery at first, almost like its been is some really odd red wine cask. Notes of green wood, ground pepper, tar, goats cheese, smoked paprika, turmeric and touches of cardboard. This is really weird. Maybe some water is needed… nope. Water makes it cheesier, dryer and stranger with notes of boiled ham, sour mead and cod liver oil. This is so strange and becoming increasingly unpleasant.

Finsih: Quite long and actually improving, becoming greener again and cleaner with a nice oily peat and citrus quality.

Comments: This is a barmy whisky. Such a shame about the palate because the nose was initially very beautiful. I just can get over the odd texture and astringency of the palate, not to mention that weird cheesy note. Oh well… just goes to show that even giants of consistency like Lagavulin can’t be great every time.

Score: 68/100

The next couple should fair better (lets hope so)

Lagavulin 15yo 1979. Synidicate. 58.2%. 70cl. 

Colour: Straw

Nose: Now we’re a world apart. A blistering white hot desert of peat, ground pepper, cider vinegar, antiseptic, coal dust, lime zest and then lashings of pink grapefruit, gooseberries and finally touches of lychee and white chocolate. While the 1990s were both more akin to Caol Ila, this reminds me of some early 1970s high strength Port Ellens by G&M. It’s still quite approachable and alluring at full strength though with some spectacular notes of fresh mint toothpaste, frying bacon, clove rock and lemon oil. With water: now it just seems to become spectacularly farmy, oily and slightly industrial with notes of petrol, motor oil and WD40. It also becomes much more organic and herbal with notes of sorrel, fresh rosemary and aniseed liqueur. A truly compelling nose.

Palate: The farmyard and seashore battle it out immediately but the strength in no way overpowers anything. This is really reminiscent of the 30yo version I tasted on Islay back in May except being half the age it is double the intensity. Huge notes of smoked and green teas with preserved lemons, wax, salt, honeycomb, green fruits, more salivating grapefruit acidity and white pepper. Brilliant, slightly old style Islay peat water. Speaking of water… spectacular again, liquid smoke, mint choc chip ice cream, freshly baled hay, dried cereals, pear liqueur, old riesling and something like Castrol GTX motor oil (yes that specific brand, they’re all different you know!)

Finish: Super long, pristine, coastal and decked in minerals and lemon juice. Fat, oily and wonderful.

Comments: What a difference 11 years can make in terms of distillery character. This reminds me of the best, Diageo produced 1970s peated Islay malts, the greatest Caol Ilas, Port Ellens and Lagavulins all share something of this blistering white peat character. Glorious whisky.

Score: 93/100

Lets see if 59.2% can match it…

Lagavulin 15yo 1979. Syndicate. 59.2%. 70cl. 

Colour: Straw (identical to the one above really)

Nose: This one is a little softer and maybe a bit more ‘classical’ but it certainly from the same family as the 58.2 with these plush notes of grapefruit, cider and gooseberries. All kinds of sharp and sour fruit notes with a hyper clean coastal edge and bags of chocolate limes, dried herbs, smoky bacon and background hints of fish and chips. These touches of white chocolate appear again but they are quickly overtaken by these big fishy notes of peppered and smoked mackerel, various fresh shellfish and minerals. It’s almost like a sea salt liqueur. With water: whereas the other one turned into some kind of psychotic farmyard with water this one seems content to explode with mint, smoked sausage, green peppercorns in brine and some wonderfully fatty notes of cured meat and frying bacon.

Palate: A big pile of white pepper, green peats, minerals, menthol chewing gum, ashtrays, antiseptic, herbal toothpaste, mouthwash and salt. Again, this is more typical than the 58.2 version but it is almost flawlessly constructed with bags of big personality to offer. Goes on with notes of bay leaves, a soft spiciness, camphor and treacle. With water: still a bulldozer with this massive arid saltiness and fug of sinewy phenols and green peat but otherwise it is quite straight forward and not quite as complex or beguiling as the 58.2 version.

Finish: My tongue feels like its coated in tar and salt so I’ll just write: long!

Comments: I prefer the 58.2% version but not by much, this is still a fantastic old Islay whisky. If you get the chance both these olf 15yo bottlings are well worth trying in my book.

Score: 91/100

I am fortunate enough to have gathered a fairly substantial shelf full of tasting stock in my office over the past few months. Time to wirte some notes for six of them before they get totally consumed.

Bell’s Royal Reserve 20yo. Rotation early 1950s. Missing front label. 

Colour: Straw

Nose: A burst of butter, linseed oil, wild flowers, minerals, flints, all kinds of gentle wax notes and beautifully metallic shades of peat. One of these delicate but complex old style whiskies that is completely unlike anything produced today. Goes on with fragile wood spices, tcp, more gentle metal notes, olive oil, furniture polish and something like green fruits and truffle shavings.

Palate: A big slurp of motor oil, canvas, hessian, dunnage, wet earth, wild mushrooms, tar and ancient, simmering peat. Something undeniably Ardbegish about this one with its concentration on all these old style phenols and peat notes without much in the way of over fruitiness. The fruit is there but its gentle and restrained like dried apricots, tinned pears in syrup and touches of rosewater and lychee. More floral notes of dandelion and fresh herbs with thick liqueur aspects becoming louder and thicker.

Finish: Long, tarry, honeyed and herbal with notes of old chartreuse, kummel, bitters, wood sap, phenols, metal and greengages.

Comments: There isn’t a shred of grain in this one, it’s just like drinking a great old style single malt. Of course this was bottled in the days when premium blends such as this one probably had upwards of 70% malt content, which over the years in glass would probably just completely assimilate, Borg style, any pesky grain floating about inside. A cracking dram, one that can still be found quite cheap if you’re careful.

Score: 91/100

Glen Grant 1936-1974 38yo. G&M. Screw cap. 70 proof. 26 2/3 fluid ounces. 

Part of a series from the same vintage that also includes an utterly incredible 42yo and the ‘as yet untasted’ (hint hint) 45 and 50yo versions. Big thanks to Wayne for this one.

Colour: Amber

Nose: Welcome to the 1930s! Where do we begin? In no particular order: leather, rancio, old pipe tobacco, metal polish, an ancient, extinct variety of peat and phenol aromas, every kind of fruit you can think of, enough shades of medicine to keep an old folks home going for a month and the kind of perfect, glistening, saline, fatty sherry aroma that most modern malts can only dream of. Honestly, if you’ve never tried one of these old pre-war malts then do whatever it takes because an aroma like this really demands to be experienced. It leaves almost all other malts in the dust in terms of elegance, subtlety, balance and depth.

Palate: Perfectly in keeping with the nose, massively oily, fatty, fruity and thick with a kind of jammy peat quality and all kinds of notes of metal, fruit, peats, smoke, tobacco and wood jumbling about the place. Goes on with softer notes of red fruits, balsamico, date liqueur, dried herbs, brown sugar, molasses and medicine. Masterly stuff.

Finish: Long, decadent, extravagant and unique to this pre-war style with all these aspects of fruit liqueur, tropical juice, peat, mead, metal and wax.

Comments: These old pre-war masterpieces are getting scarcer and scarcer, until someone starts making whisky like this again I’d recommend making the effort to taste these masterpieces. It really is a totally extinct kind of whisky, each one is a true privilege to taste.

Score: 93/100

Bowmore 30yo OB ‘Sea Dragon’ ceramic bottle. 1990s. 43%. 70cl. 

Colour: Amber

Nose: A sumptuous platter of tropical fruit, smoky bacon, seashore and peat oils. Very soft on the nose, quite wide and lazy with a tropical swagger to its gait. Feels like a few more degrees of alcohol would have focused it a bit more but as it is it’s still beautiful. These fragile notes of smoke, seaweed, mineral and marzipan start to come through now with soft touches of hessian, marmalade, orange bitters and apricots.

Palate: A lovely, even, drying delivery all on salt, toasted cereals, fresh tropical fruits, peat smoke and fragile hints of medicine. The fruit is quite loud with some wonderful drying qualities and a really appetising bitter edge full of salt, dark chocolate, cocoa powder, touches of lavender and sandalwood. Quite a fragrant smokiness hangs about the whole thing as well, like a small beach bonfire.

Finish: Not overly long but full of blustery peat, tropical fruits, boiled sweeties, manure (the good kind), minerals and camphor.

Comments: A wonderfully drinkable and rather broad example of old style Bowmore, it effortlessly encompasses the lushness of the early 1960s distillates with the more pristine smoke and coastal qualities of the 1969/1970 style. A little lazy at times but super delicious and effortlessly charming.

Score: 92/100

Bruichladdich 10yo ceramic flagon. OB for USA. Rotation 1980s. 86 US Proof. 75cl.

I’d never seen this bottling before I found it in a collection on Islay.

Colour: Yellow

Nose:  A whole meadow and a seashore at first. Lots of oils, fresh butter, chopped parsley, seaweed, grass, wild flowers, chamomile, touches of sweat (in a good way), turmeric and some lively green fruits. A really big and impressive nose full of character and hugely invigorating with its freshness. Hints of crushed nettles, lavender, natural sea salt, preserved lemons in brine, coal fires, tarragon and buttered toast. A real live wire of a nose. There is even something kind of farmy and slightly dirty in quite a sexy way, a few greasy phenols hanging around in the background there. Great stuff.

Palate: It’s big for the strength, full of butter, herbs, spices and minerals with bags of salt, coastal freshness lemon skins, lime juice, white fish and crab meat. It goes on with a wonderfully direct and lively white pepper note on top of hints of quince, salted dark chocolate, lemon curd and more toast notes. A lot of flavour and character in this, it’s a really big whisky.

Finish: Super-long, coastal, green, zesty and becoming increasingly tropical as well with notes of papaya and mango. These slightly salty, farmy, sweaty notes keep coming back.

Comments: A wild Bruichladdich, full of distillery character, charm and personality. That rarest of whisky that is both old style and still quite sexy, it seems Bruichladdich is one of the few distilleries that can (or could) do that. A wonderful smorgasboard of character.

Score: 91/100

Glenfarclas 1970-2001 30yo. Cadenhead’s Chairman’s Stock. Bourbon Hogshead. 132 Bottles. 70cl. 53%. 

Colour: Copper. This must have been quite an active bourbon hoggie to give it such a colour. Either that or they made a mistake on the label.

Nose: Pin sharp wood polish, wax, super lush fruit and a wonderful mix of berries, fruit compote, citrus peel, stewed dark fruits and background notes of creme brulee and fresh vanilla cream. Really classy, lively old whisky that displays a great balance between fruit and wood characters. It also seems that the label was right as there doesn’t appear to be much in the way of ‘sherry’ character. It’s obviously just taken quite a bit from the wood in terms of its colour. Goes on with notes of wet hay, buttercups, fir trees, toasted walnuts and coriander marmalade. With water: quite typically its all wild mushrooms, wet leaves, forest flora and wet earth now. Hints of soy sauce, figs, root beer and cocoa all come through as well.

Palate: It’s a big jammy delivery full of mint juleps, coal dust, rancio, old tobacco, shoe leather, wax, mead, fresh parsley and mulling spices. A great big concentration of flavour that engages every part of the mouth really well, very thick and mouth-coating. With water: quite a bit dryer and more savory with these wonderful notes of brown bread, touches of Gueze beer and then tropical fruits like dried mango and papya. Brilliant with water, great development, it even acquires a slightly salty and lemony edge. It really dances all over the place this one. Like a cocaine fueled kitten in a box full of mice.

Finish: Long, earthy, leafy and drying with a wonderful streak of pipe smoke, brown sugar, nutmeg, cereal and coal dust. It just seems to get younger as you go this one.

Comments: With water it’s almost like it reverted back ten years but in a good way. Super fresh, lively, nervous, complex and full of surprises, both on the nose and the palate. A really fun Glenfarclas, great cask selection by Cadenheads (as usual). My mouth feels like I just smoked a cigar.

Score: 92/100

Random Cask Sample. Bottled early 1960s. About 8-12 years old. Somewhere near Elgin. 

There is a great story to this bottle. I was visiting an elderly lady in Elgin who had quite a substantial stash of utterly incredibly old Macallans that I was attempting to persuade her to sell in our auction. Thankfully she did. When I asked her how she came to acquire such spectacular old bottles she told me they had belonged to her father. He had worked in the off trade in Elgin during the 1940s and 1950s. You can only imagine the whiskies he must have tasted at the time. After this we were (when I say we I mean me) rooting around in her drinks cabinet to see what other ‘old bottles’ she had squirreled away. That’s when I saw this one poking out at me. It was black, almost completely full, had no ring seal on the screw cap and was almost identical to the old Campbell, Hope and King bottles. When I asked her what it was she told me it had been given to her as a gift by a friend of her fathers when she worked in the bank in Elgin during the early 1960s. She said I could have it seeing as she was never going to drink it (I know, jammy doesn’t even cover it). She had no idea what was in it but the bottle is exactly the same one that was used frequently by Campbell, Hope & King to bottle their Macallans. Does that make it Macallan inside, who knows or cares. What’s for sure is that it is, as you’ll see, a spectacular dram, probably about 8-12 years old at the time it was drawn from cask and a complete, beautiful, unrepeatable oddity that I’m eternally grateful to have encountered. Thanks Mrs S!

Colour: Soy Sauce

Nose: This is one of those old sherry casks that just don’t exist any more. The cleanest, most vibrant, abundant and spectacular array of dark fruits, balsamico, tobacco, rancio, wood spices, hints of wild mushrooms, tar, leather polish, old books, raisins stewed in cognac, wet earth and just a hint of farmyard in the form of cow sheds. Goes on with roast, ground coffee beans, hints of old medicine, eucalyptus and green peppercorns in brine. It’s a kind of concentration that you just don’t really find on modern young whiskies. With water: it gets earthier and a tad more floral with water with some wonderful notes of heather, wet bracken, leather, violets, camphor, rice pudding and touches of dark chocolate with sea salt. Just epic.

Palate: Yowee. This is definitely at cask strength. Hot, thick and super rich, a melee of dark fruits, dates, prune juice, all kinds of jam and fruit compote, soy sauce, ancient balsamico, espresso, dark chocolate, old green chartreuse, molasses, ancient dark rum, XO cognac, ,more notes of stewed raisins and sultanas and herbal toothpaste. An utterly old school sherry monster that just keeps slugging away at your palate with layer upon layer of flavour. With water: wild strawberry liqueur, roasted chestnuts, chocolate raisins, banana bread, walnut oil, more notes of rum and cognac and then something like chocolate sauce coated marzipan. Utter joy!

Finish: Endless and bristling with all of the above.

Comments: For me this is the definition of the perfect sherried whisky. Powerful, rich, decadent, fresh and overflowing with flavour but at no point tiring, hard work, over powering, overtly chalky, tannic or imbalanced. Just a small, unrepeatable masterpiece from the kind of cask that must make the current directors at Macallan weep nightly into their pillows (or it bloody well should at any rate). What a shame its finished, but what a privilege to have acquired and shared it with friends. It’s because of bottles like this that I’m into whisky.

Score: 94/100