Balblair 38 year old 1966

My brother and his wife just welcomed their second child, and first daughter, to this world. They're in a for a treat! Of course, my bias towards daughters began seven years and five months ago.

I tried to arrange the whisky schedule so that I could review this 38 year old sherry cask whisky as close as possible to my niece's birth. So here we are!

Balblair distillery's penchant for single malt vintages predates the recent squat bottles familiar to many of us. They released this 1966, a 1970 and 1979 in 2004-2005, but also offered up about a half dozen 1970s vintages at the millenium's turn. This 1966 whisky was distilled during Robert "Bertie" Cumming's ownership. Mothballed in 1911, the distillery remained silent (aside from military usage during World War Two) for 37 years until Cumming bought and reopened it. Cumming sold Balblair to Hiram Walker in 1970, and corporate mergers and acquisitions have taken place ever since.

But more importantly, it's time to drink some old whisky.

Distillery: Balblair

Ownership: Inver House (via Thai Beverages plc via International Beverage Holdings Ltd.)

Region: Northern Highlands

Age: 38 years old (1966 - September 2004)

Maturation: 2nd Fill Oloroso Sherry Casks

Outturn: 2,400 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 44%

(from a bottle split)

NOTES

Black walnuts start off in the nose's background, then slowly roll forward until they take top billing about 40 minutes in. Subtle coastal and dunnage notes frame marzipan, Luxardo cherries and fresh thyme. As the hour passes, toffee, grapefruits, and finally guavas appear.

Earth and herbs meet mango, dried cranberries and Cara Cara oranges in the early palate. It gets zestier with time, and a little sweeter. Two different leafy notes appear as well: first a chlorophyll/green character, then tobacco. The fruits recede to the edges.

Nectarines and dried apricots join the oranges in the finish. It evolves from fruity honey sweetness to a sharp tartness, then the wood starts to edge in.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Over the past few years I've become a sucker for the black walnut note. But black walnut + dunnage + guava?! This whisky's nose is, as I wrote down, "an all-timer". The palate's fruits are very good, and not surprising to this old Balblair fan. But the earthiness was a bit of a shock, a welcome shock at first. Perhaps that character came from the oak, because the beams started showing in the finish. And the finish is truth. Had everything matched the nose, my goodness...

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - $,$$$

Rating - 90 (but the nose tho)

Killing Whisky History, Episode 37: White Horse, bottled 1985-1989

White Horse blended scotch returns (see Episode 1), but this time it's in a bigger bottle from the '80s! The whisky was bottled way down at 40%abv, but I was willing to take a chance on it because......White Horse.

Was it a good idea? If so: There's so much whisky in the bottle! If not: There's so much whisky in the bottle!

Balblair 11 year old 2006 cask 711, hand-filled at the distillery

Monday brought a winey sherried 2006 Balbair. Today I have for the benefit of us all a Balblair from an unstated cask type. It has some color to it, but not the dark maroon of Monday's cask. This particular pour comes from a bottle filled by the hands behind My Annoying Opinions. There's a problematic joke hiding in that previous sentence, but I'm no Randy Brandy so I'll avoid it. I'll just drink the whisky.

Distillery: Balblair

Ownership: Inver House (via Thai Beverages plc via International Beverage Holdings Ltd.)

Region: Northern Highlands

Age: 11 years old (2006-2018)

Maturation: unknown....

Cask #: 711

Exclusive to: the distillery!

Alcohol by Volume: 58.2%

(thank you to My Annoying Opinions)

NOTES

Shortbread biscuits, oranges and apricots arrive first in the nose. Hints of roses and lemongrass stay in the background. The fruits get louder once the whisky is reduced to 46%abv, followed by new notes of cardamom, mint chewing gum and grassiness.

The palate starts with barley (imagine that), lemons and oats. There's something earthy about it as well, though not quite smoky. Mild sweetness and oak spice color the background. It gets at nice thick texture when diluted to 46%abv. There are pears, apricots and honey. Almost brandy-like. A touch of dill in the back.

It finishes with lemon juice and lime lollies, sweeter than the palate but not too desserty. Pears, mint and lemons highlight the conclusion at 46%abv.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Balblair rolled this one out just before the oak started throwing 'bows, which shows they're willing to demonstrate some cask management even for the visitors! I like this stuff, as the fruit and grain balance well with the wood notes. Sir Opinions and I found very similar characteristics in the nose, but he found a bit more oak in palate. He picked a good one.

Next week, some older Balblair...

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - ???

Rating - probably the definition of an 87 rating

Balblair 13 year old 2006, cask 76 for K&L Wine Merchants

I've long supported Balblair distillery, and look forward to cheering them on for years and decades to come. Aside from the bulky bottle and box design from before their recent reboot, the Balblair single malt brand comes with minimal flashiness and hubbub. And the whisky is great.

I'm glad they started releasing official single casks, and it's fun to see them plopping sherry butts and ex-Islay casks into the marketplace. And whenever (if ever) international shipping gets easier, I'll get a bottle from their current age-stated range.

With only four Balblair pours to share, I will spare you another cluster. I'll start the quartet with a pair of vintage 2006 single casks this week...

Distillery: Balblair

Ownership: Inver House (via Thai Beverages plc via International Beverage Holdings Ltd.)

Region: Northern Highlands

Age: 13 years old (2006-2019)

Maturation: Spanish Oak Oloroso Butt

Cask #: 76

Exclusive to: K&L Wine Merchants

Alcohol by Volume: 56.2%

(from a bottle split)

NOTES

Marzipan, raspberries, earth and roses start the nose. It picks up more cask with time, gaining buttery caramel, prunes and toasted oak. The nose stays pretty similar once the whisky is diluted to 46%abv, though there are fewer prunes and more marzipan and caramel.

The palate is very winey, like the sweet Upstate New York reds (Thirsty Owl's Red Moon!) I used to drink almost two decades ago. Grape juice and caramel meet with raspberry syrup. It much mellower at 46%abv, feeling more like PX than Oloroso (or red wine, for that matter). It's jammy but not winey, specifically on blackberry preserves and dried currants.

It finishes sweet and warm, with grape juice and prunes. At 46%abv, one may find more blackberry jam and baking spices.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

As per the above notes, this reads like a wine cask or one of McEwan's Black Farts. So, I guess one could say it's a contemporary sherry cask, complete with a dark reddish hue. It's not my jam — how often am I allowed to make that quip? — but it's not bad. I recommend diluting it, especially if, like me, you could do without all the prunes. Plus it feels more pulled together at 46%abv. I'd like to see this stuff with less fortified wine involved...

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - it was $110

Rating - 83 (diluted)

Glenrothes 1972-2005

I began this week essentially nominating Glenrothes for the The Great Meh Distillery title. Since then, I've had three very good Glenrothee. But surely a 30-something year old single malt distilled in 1972 will be bog water. Right?

Distillery: Glenrothes

Ownership: The Edrington Group
Region: Speyside (Rothes!)
Age: 32-33 years (1972 - 2005)
Maturation: ???

Outturn: ???
Alcohol by Volume: 43%

(thank you to the man who pilfered this dusty from The 213)

NOTES

The nose begins almost like an old Calvados, with baked apples and pears. Then there's the honey cake we had at kiddush in the synagogue when I was a kid. My notes then say "macrons"; did I mean macarons? Or does the whisky smell like France's first family? You decide. After that: hints of maple sugar, iodine and seaweed. Finally, again quoting my notes, "Sticky Icky in the BG". I can't imagine what that's supposed to mean.

Musty oak, sandalwood incense and a hint of cigarettes start off the palate. Tiny notes of dried herbs, dried apricots and dried leaves. But it's mostly a series of old oak tones, though not as far down the path as liquid furniture (see Pappy 23).

A little bit of sherry cask appears in the finish, along side cracked peppercorns, dried leaves and the palate's bitterness.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

This is unlike any Glenrothes I've had before. But then again, I don't think I'd tried too many older than 20yo. Having completed three decades in a cask, and starting a fourth, the whisky has gradually taken on plenty of oak; the key word being "gradually." The result is a remarkably expressive nose. Though I liked the palate's aged tobacco-like style, the oak's dominance didn't leave room for much else. Again I wonder what this was like at cask strength, and what was lost in the dilution.

Availability - ???
Pricing - ???

Rating - 86

Glenrothes 16 year old 1979

I've never had Glenrothes from the 1970s, so this will be a first — and a second, since I have another sample from the Malaise Decade. Both whiskies are official bottlings weighing in at an overwhelming 43%abv. The first one was distilled in 1979, the year Pops Stargell and the Pirates knocked out the Orioles in the Series.

Distillery: Glenrothes

Ownership: The Edrington Group
Region: Speyside (Rothes!)
Age: 16 years (3 August 1979 - 1995)
Maturation: ???

Outturn: ???
Alcohol by Volume: 43%
(sample from a bottle split)

NOTES

At first sniff, the whisky noses of roasted meat and roasted nuts with a side of paint VOCs. Then things get interesting. Mothballs and olive juice. Then caramel applies. Yuzu. Vanilla Bean. And finally, guava.

The palate begins very dusty, but by the third sip it takes off. First toffee, salt, lemons and Sugar Daddies (the candy). Then hints of tobacco ash and horseradish.

The finish comes in sweeter than the palate, but it also has the tobacco ash and hints of chile oil and tannin.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

I've found my new favorite Glenrothes! Had it been bottled stronger (yes this song again), it may have been pretty fabulous. But at 43%abv, we're left with just pretty darned good. Though it has touches of tannin, vanilla and caramel, it doesn't feel like a contemporary woody thing because those elements take a backseat to much more interesting stuff. The nose itself is delightful.

Three high quality Glenrothes in a row? This is the strangest life I've ever known.

Availability - ???
Pricing - ???

Rating - 87

Two Glenrothes single malts distilled in 2001

You're screaming at your screen, "You stopped reviewing Highland Parks for THIS?"

And I'm like, "Yes?"

I recently marked ten years of Diving for Pearls whisky reviews with a re-review of the first Single Malt Report, Balvenie DoubleWood 12 year old. Ten years ago today, I started a streak of Glenrothes single malt reviews. That streak ended on 9/28/2011. There hasn't been a single Glenrothes post on this site since.

Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I have found Glenrothes to be one of the least inspiring single malts. It's a consistent C grade whisky that can hit B- range when it's hitting on all cylinders. And that's only when it's from a bourbon cask. Otherwise, it serves a blank canvas for other cask types. I tend to see it as malt filler for the sometimes-preferable Famous Grouse.

But then again, I haven't had a Glenrothes for more than six years, so I'm willing to give this Speysider another chance. My palate has gone through many changes, and I have four samples that aren't going to drink themselves. So here I go with the first two, both about 14 years old, both distilled in 2001, both bottled by indies, and both from fortified wine casks.

FROM SMWS...

Distillery: Glenrothes

Ownership: The Edrington Group
Region: Speyside (Rothes!)
Independent Bottler: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 14 years (27 March 2001 - 2015)
Maturation: refill port pipe

Cask #: 30.87

Cask "name": A skinny dipping dram
Outturn: 738 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 55.6%
(Thank you to St. Brett for the sample!)

The nose leads with a surprising stinky aged cheese note (which alters one's view of the name SMWS bestowed upon the cask). Sugary things follow, like Luxardo cherries, gummy worms and black Twizzlers. Ginger ale and roses in the background. But that aged cheese note keeps everything from going overboard. The nose picks up a coastal note once the whisky is reduced to 46%abv. There's more salt and raw almonds, less candy.

Grapes and berries appear early in the palate, but so do salt and savory notes, thus it never gets too sweet. Lemons and minerals fill out the background. It shifts around a bit at 46%abv, with almonds, salt and hay up front; honey, pepper and bitterness in the back.

No sweetness in the finish, as the fruits (berries and citrus) are quite tart. A little bit of tannin, a few roses as well. At 46%abv it finishes with honey, oranges and black pepper.

I like this? I like this. The port pipe is certainly refill, but not dead. The spirit isn't particularly unique nor complex but it's solid and slightly spartan. I'd drink this any day. The nose works better without dilution, in my opinion, while the palate and finish do well with a little water. This was unexpected.

Rating - 86

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AND ONE FROM MALTS OF SCOTLAND

Distillery: Glenrothes

Ownership: The Edrington Group
Region: Speyside (Rothes!)
Independent Bottler: Malts of Scotland
Age: 14-ish years (2001 - 2015)
Maturation: sherry hogshead

Cask #: MoS 15029

Outturn: 182 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 52.8%
(sample from a bottle split)

The nose says clean cask. Loud cask. Rolos and Three Musketeers meet root beer and cherry popsicles. A little of bit of orange peel in the background. There are more nuts and berries at 46%abv, and less chocolate. Strawberry jam and roses fill the background.

Lotsa cask in the palate too. Bags of dried fruit, nearly overwhelm everything else. One may find candied lemon peel, sharp ginger beer and a hint bitterness way in the back. Reducing the whisky to 46%abv seems to thicken the palate's texture, and maybe brings out a touch of malt. Otherwise it's all almonds, dried sweet potato, caramel and a hint of chiles.

The finish mostly matches the palate with dried fruits, ginger and sugar leading the way. The sweetness nearly vanishes at 46%abv, and some tannins jump in. Then there are nuts, black peppercorns and dried sweet potatoes.

With its style and dark coloring, this is the sort of whisky that would have certain whisky fans vigorously stroking......the refresh button on their auction bids. It's not really my style, as it's one of those blank canvas 'Rotheses. But the cask is pretty good. It's a dessert thing at full power, nearly a liqueur, though I prefer it diluted.

Rating - 84

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Those were the two best Glenrothes I've ever reviewed, and I would certainly sip both again, something I've never said about a Glenrothes single malt. Perhaps I should stop fooling around and get to the 1970s stuff...