Birthday Booze: WhiskySponge Blended Scotch 46 year old 1969

Yep. It happened. I completed my 46th solar year. 46 sounds a lot older than 45, but I feel a bit creaky and cranky, so that tracks. Since the last birthday, I went to Paris, bought a house, my daughters continue to thrive, and my dating/seeing/relationshipish life continues to crash spectacularly. This house has found its way into my heart......because it's a really really small house! LOL, amirite? No, actually it's too big for a single fella, even when my daughters stay over. But it's the most stable thing in my life, partially because it's not a living breathing creature with a complex emotional past, and partially because I live here.

My daughters stayed with me for this past birthday weekend, so I was on my best behavior, thus not much alcohol was consumed. But the weekend is over, and it's time for Birthday Booze! Drinking on a work night!

First up is a 46 year old whisky bottled by a certain Sponge. It's the only blended scotch Angus & Co. will bottle under the WhiskySponge moniker, so they swung for the fences. Filled in 1969, this single cask was bottled in 2015, but was never labelled or distributed, so Spongie rebottled it around this past new year, using this excellent label:

Bottler: Decadent Drinks

Range: WhiskySponge

Type: Blended Scotch

Distilleries: ???????

Age: 46 years (1969 - 2015)

Maturation: ???????

Outturn: 208 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 46.6%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

Nectarines, mango, toasted coconut, and apricot jam greet are the first to greet the nose. Burlap, dunnage, and ocean brine float through the midground. French vanilla ice cream and orange oil await in the background. The apricot note expands with time.

The palate is......wild. Strong spices, like coriander, cumin, and green peppercorn arrive first. But there's also some baked peaches, coconut milk, and tapioca mixed in. Vegemite, toasty black tea, and unlit cigar wrappers slowly take over.

The coconut milk and tapioca mix sticks around through the finish, where they're joined by big tannins roaring in with a bitter leafiness, cigars, menthol, and a tangy peppery burn.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Apparently I never received the "this is a 90-point whisky" memo. The blend's nose is sublime, period. The palate SHOUTS, but not necessarily coherently. It's a hoot, because old casks can have a sense of humor, but the (possible) high grain content got steamrolled after 46 years, thus quirky oak is 90% of what remains. It's an oak beast, which shouldn't surprise anyone when considering its age. Though I much prefer Sponge's 30 year old blended malt, I could (and did) nose this 46 year old blend for hours.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - ???
Rating - 87