Birthday Booze: Miltonduff 19 year old 1978 Signatory, cask 1683

Yes, it's been three weeks. Yes, I didn't finish my Mathilda Malts. But my birthday came and went without an opportunity to try my trio of special b-day bevvies, so I'll post about each of these first, then I'll finish the Mathilda Malts with a very special pour. Then I have my post schedule to return to!

Batting leadoff, the 1978 sample. This time it's from Chivas's Miltonduff, owned by Hiram Walker. in '78. The sample was pulled from one of ye olde Signatory dumpies filled with coffee-colored sherry cask whisky. Here's a Whiskybase screenshot:

The whisky in the glass indeed quite dark, with a reddish hue. That's my second least favorite color of contemporary whiskies (right behind DiageOrange™), but that chromaticity (sorry) in dusty bottles still thrills me. So how's the actual whisky?

Distillery: Miltonduff

Current owner: Pernod Ricard

Owner at time of distillation: Hiram Walker & Sons
Independent bottler: Signatory

Range: Vintage Collection

Age: 19 years (23 January 1978 - 14 February 1997)

Maturation: Sherry Cask
Cask #: 1683
Outturn: 180 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 59%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

The nose begins with a swirl of semisweet chocolate, walnuts, mothballs, and old wood. The latter two notes shift to dunnage after ~30 minutes, as wet stones, dried cherries, and coffee grounds appear. Nocino and tobacco rumble in as the palate's bass notes, with limes and dunnage entering as the treble and mid. With time, the whisky picks up hints of wood smoke and barrel char. It finishes with tobacco, sour cherry liqueur, and ash, more bitter than sweet.

DILUTED to ~50%abv, or 1 tsp of water per 30mL of whisky

Maple, dried apple, golden raisins, and wood spice fill the nose. The palate turns extremely woody: sawdust, pulp, resin, tannin. In fact, this is a 19yo bourbon now. Its mouth-drying finish is loaded with bitter oak and clove cigarettes.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Like other heavily-oaked old whiskies from around the world, this Miltonduff offers a vibrant, colorful nose as its best feature. The palate holds off any collapse from the wood's weight, until water is added. Bourbon geeks would probably adore this malt with or without dilution. I prefer it neat, where its dusty, fruity highlights bring curves and angles to the drink. At 15 years old, this might have been a hell of cask.

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - ???

Rating - 86 (neat only; drops 10-15 points w/water)

Single Movie Single Malt: The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972) + Glenlossie 33 year old 1984 Signatory, cask 2533

Gonna keep the Mathilda Malts and movie reviews going, though today's film is truly the wrong movie to be reviewing in this case, with the murderous siblings and all, but here it goes anyway.

The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972)

pic source

Because Emilio Miraglia's final film starred both Barbara Bouchet and Sybil Danning, I had to see it strictly for scientific purposes. In The Red Queen, as in many giallo films, psychiatry is shown in a negative light, but paranormal curses? Yeah, they're legit. For instance, two daughters kill each other every one hundred years in the Wildenbrück family. After one murders the other, the dead girl returns to the world of the living to kill seven randos before ending her sister's life. And of course, in 1972, it's that time again!

The plot runs on the guilt Bouchet's character feels for accidentally killing her sister. And then other people start dying. It's all very old school Christian-ish. Divorce/cheating = death. Drugs = death. Naked = death. Somehow, four of the women in the story have either slept with or want to sleep with the charmless leading man (courtesy of Ugo Pagliai). There's body count and then there's body count. And when the murders reach seven, the third act goes super twisty until the reveal answers whether the killer is from this world or the next one.

Most of the second act's questions are answered in the third; such as, "Death leaves voicemails?" and "Death drives a VW Bug?". So the script is pretty reliable for a giallo, except for the fact that everyone is so humorless throughout. Yes, people are being murdered, so knock knock jokes would be tacky. But there's no tonal depth, and few facial expressions are utilized. Sybil Danning appears to be the only one having a good time because her spicy character has spicy character. Though Bouchet plays the lead, she offers the same emotional key in nearly every scene, as does Pagliai in character.

The filmmaking is rather flat as well, except when a dream sequence late in the film offers a burst of energetic editing, framing, and in-camera effects. When the sleeper awakens we're back to the monotone style. Also, the main baddie reveals everything at the end for absolutely no reason, which essentially means the main characters couldn't figure out anything and were passive from beginning to end. Occasionally the music cues clash with the visuals, like when the soundtrack offers upbeat tunes during a murder and the final bleak ending.

The Red Queen Kills Seven Times ends up being a middling giallo. Nothing weird, clever, or unique sets it apart, but the twist isn't terrible, the tale is never boring, the action moves, and there are a lot of purdy people onscreen. A viewer could do better or worse.

Verdict - Middle of the road, being dragged by a car

---

Time for a drink.

Glenlossie, Mannochmore's sibling, offers a consistently decent Speyside malt. I'm not entirely sure what defines its "Distillery Character", but I really enjoyed the last 'Lossie I reviewed three years ago, a 24 year old single cask from Cadenhead. Today I'm trying another indie-bottler's single cask, a 33-year-old from Signatory. Only ten '84 Glenlossies have been bottled to date, and Symington's company is responsible for four of them. This one's the oldest.

Distillery: Glenlossie
Ownership: Diageo
Independent Bottler: Signatory

Range: 30th Anniversary

Age: 33 years (4 October 1984 - 27 July 2018)

Maturation: refill sherry butt
Cask #: 2533
Outturn: 530 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 56.7%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

The nose's ancient oak frames a host of fruits, like dried apricots, cherry juice, tinned peaches, honeydew, and fermenting watermelon rind. After ~45 minutes in the glass, the whisky releases a vivid baklava note. Like real baklava, with rosewater, honey syrup, and pistachios. The palate goes a different direction with mushroom-like umami, cucumber skins, and a whiff of wood smoke. With time it picks up a sharp, tangy Japanese citrus note. It finishes with raw almonds, smoked sea salt, umami, and a hint of the citrus.

DILUTED to ~50%abv, or ¾ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

The dusty old oak leans a little heavier in the nose, but now fresh apricots roll in, followed by honeydew, walnuts, maple, incense, and charred beef. Friendly old-fashioned sherry cask notes appear in the palate. It's salty, savory, and nutty, with a hint of leather. The smoke note remains, merging well with walnuts, dried apricots, and a touch of cracked black peppercorns. It finishes with salt and pepper, tangy citrus and a little bit of sweet stone fruit.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Here's my new favorite Glenlossie. I wonder how far back this refill sherry butt goes, 1960s? 1950s? It certainly isn't a dead cask, thriving in the nose while holding back its tannins in the palate. Though I haven't seen anyone else mention the smoky note, it's certainly present, adding a lovely little angle to the whisky's flavor. Maybe it's from the cask's previous passenger? Your guess is as good as, though probably better than, mine. But I'm also going to guess that Signatory's warehouses hold many (or most) of Scotland's remaining honey casks.

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - $650 to $800

Rating - 90

Single Movie Single Malt: Horror Express (1972) + Banff 17 year old 1976 Cadenhead

Since I missed running out my Mathilda Malt series back in May, now's a good time as any to review the whiskies that I'd selected to celebrate her 11th birthday. Also, I've been watching some grown-up movies. Time to lob all sorts of stuff your direction, like last year.

Horror Express (1972)

pic source

Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Telly Savalas fighting evil on a train? Yes. Please.

Though this wasn't a Hammer Horror production, Chris and Pete still deliver LOL-level dialogue with unmatched elegance in Horror Express. It's a period piece too, so the fellas can dress up, and Cushing even gets to handle a comically large shotgun.

Using a set borrowed from Nicholas and Alexandra, the production hides its low budget well whenever the baddie isn't on screen. The train cars look great, as do the costumes. The editing waffles between awkward, competent, and (unintentionally?) comic, while the direction is......present.

In 1906, scientician Sir Saxton (played by Lee) finds a two-million-year-old ape man frozen somewhere in China, then boxes it up and hauls it onto a Trans-Siberian train. Then the dumbest characters immediately start dying. Saxton's frenemy Dr. Wells (played by Cushing), tries to find out WHAT'S IN THE BOX and then teams up with the scientist and an inspector (Julio Peña) to solve the crime and stop the evilness. About an hour into the story, Telly Savalas appears, all dick-swanging and cigar-chomping, portraying a Cossack general without even attempting an accent. (He and his troops only serve to stretch the film out to its 88-minute length.) Will Dracula, Dr. Frankenstein, and Kojak outwit the evil not-just-an-ape-man on the train? Or will they all say screw it, hop off at Kharkiv, and do vodka shots until the snow melts?

Eyes are the key to the film. Violence happens through the eyes and to the eyes. And the mystery of the evil thing is solved via a disembodied eyeball in a scene that I had to watch thrice to ascertain it was intended to be funny. (Answer: Probably not.) And though brains are revealed, the zombies near the film's conclusion have nothing to do with said brains.

As much as I may jest about the film overall, most of the WTF questions I wrote down during the film were actually answered by the script. I would absolutely watch it again, though the tale itself would be even better as a sci-fi short story or novella, one with a skeptical tone and more trepanning.

Verdict - Who loves ya baby? Me, kinda.

---

Now the whisky part!

Distillery: Banff

Ownership: DCL (proto-Diageo)

Independent Bottler: Cadenhead

Range: Authentic Collection

Region: Speyside (Deveron)

Age: 17 years old (August 1976 - June 1994)

Maturation: ???

Outturn: ??? bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 60.5%

(sample from a bottle split)

Like the sibling cask I reviewed 10½(!) years ago, this Banff comes from Cadenhead's green glass era, which means nothing is really known about the maturation vessel and outturn. But I do love me some Banff, and this is my last Banff sample. Of course, four years ago I said I was on my last Banff sample then, so let's all make a wish on the morning star for another reasonable Banff bottle split to come my way. That's five Banffs (or six) in this paragraph, so I should be able to remember which distillery this whisky comes from.

NEAT

Malt, toffee, and dark chocolate appear first in the nose, followed by apricots and brine. And it works! There's a little bit of toasted oak and soap somewhere in the middle. After 45 minutes, notes of baklava and dusty books sneak out. The palate is loud but approachable, and quite creamy in texture. Tart nectarines, salt, burlap, and white chocolate dominate, with the soapy hint staying far in the background. It finishes very salty, with milder notes of metal, nectarines, and coal smoke.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or nearly 2 tsp of water per 30mL whisky

The sunnier nose offers lemon peels, lime juice, moss, and barley grist, with musty oak and root beer hard candies in the back. The lightly sweet palate shows toasty oak with a hint of malt, Sugar Daddy candy and the tart stone fruit. It gets a bit minerally after a while. It finishes with salt and metal, tart fruit and bitter herbs, and the quiet coal smoke note.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Many of these green glass bottle Cadenhead releases can be nearly undrinkable at full strength, so I appreciate that this Banff isn't rocket fuel. The nose, neat and diluted, is a complete treat, with a great balance of oak and spirit. The palate might require extensive dilution experiments to find its best spot, though I'm not sure how that would play out on a whisky that's occupied a sealed bottle for 30+ years. At 46%abv, the soap notes completely vanish and the flavors may be more balanced. Had the coal smoke appeared in the palate itself, and if the finish were longer, I'd give this whisky a bigger rave. Still, if this is my last Banff, I feel very lucky to have had this opportunity to taste it.

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - ???

Rating - 87

Birthday Booze: Miltonduff 26 year old 1990 AD Rattray

After I paid for my part of a bottle split of this 26 year old Miltonduff, the honorable bottle owner reached out to me saying that he'd opened the bottle and tried the whisky, finding it to be "Just straight SOAP", and offered me a replacement pour of something else. As much as I appreciated the replacement whisky, I also requested a sample of The Soap anyway. I received it and (two years later) drank it along with Wednesday's '80s Bowmore to determine which of the two was the bubbliest, saponific single malt. Yes, I do these things to myself.

Distillery: Miltonduff
Ownership during distillation: Allied Lyons
Current Owner: Pernod Ricard
Region: Speyside (Moray)
Independent Bottler: A.D. Rattray
Age: 29 years (16 Sept 1990 - 23 February 2007)
Maturation: bourbon barrel
Alcohol by Volume: 49.1%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

The nose has so much vanilla, caramel, pound cake, and whipped cream that it reminds me more of a Canadian blend than single malt scotch. It takes at least 45 minutes before other notes, like orange peel, lemon juice, apricot jam, and baby powder, to appear.

The palate starts off like a mouthful of Werther's Originals. Beneath that caramel candy are tangy lemons, jasmine, and tree bark, with a little bit of soap in the background. With time, the soap note expands but never breaches the background, because the citrus character also grows, and silky sticky toffee appears.

Sweet caramel, lemons, sea salt, and that hint o' soap finish things off.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

I've sworn off AD Rattray on two previous blog occasions due to my experiences with too many of their wonky casks. Third time's the charm?

The good news: This is less soapy than Wednesday's Bowmore. The nose isn't bad, and it improves with time.

The bad news: Why does a 26-year-old scotch smell like an 8-year-old Canadian blend? Soap + tree bark on the palate? Not great, Bob. Soooooooo much caramel everywhere.

Though this whisky isn't broken, there was something unusual going on with the cask and not in a fun way. Again. So, yes, third time's the charm. No more AD Rattray casks for me.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - ???
Rating - 75

Birthday Booze: Peat's Beast 34 year old 1985 (Bowmore)

Yes, I am including one '80s Bowmore among my Birthday Booze, because what the hell. Though I am a bit startled by the new generation of whisky fans who unironically find perfumed soap and artificial violet notes as features, not bugs, of the whisky production process. (Yes, and Troll 2 is peak cinema.) Or are the newest moneyed whisky drinkers unable to discern when old and/or expensive whiskies are crapola?

I don't know. But indie bottler Fox Fitzgerald thought it wise to finish a half dozen or more '80s Bowmore casks in Cognac-seasoned vessels. Maybe this is just crazy enough to work. At some point in the past, I thought it was a good idea to engage in a bottle split of this whisky. For science.

Distillery: Bowmore
Owner: Beam Suntory
Region: Islay
Independent Bottler: Fox Fitzgerald

Range: Peat's Beast
Age: 34 years old (1985 - 2020)
Maturation: ?????, then Cognac casks
Outturn: 1800 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 47.1%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

The nose is unique and......kinda great. First, wrap flower kiss candy in maple candy, then smoke it. Then do the same with seaweed-wrapped sour apple candy. And how about a slice of cinnamon cake next to a blob of pine sap and a few band-aids, in a fish market.

On the other hand, the palate. Burnt hay, burnt moss, burnt Crème de Violette, burnt floral soap. Now I'm sipping shampoo with a flower kiss candy chaser. Some curiously clean peat smoke floats up from the background.

Lemons, black pepper, Crème de Violette, shampoo, and burnt hay finishes it off.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Yes, we all have our kinks. You like to pay $400+ to drink violet shampoo. I like Jess Franco films. I also love this whisky's nose, fashioned by the insane idea of bringing cognac into the mix, and it keeps me from failing the entire thing. This is it for my '80s Bowmore samples, but it's not the only possibly-soapy sample in the stash. For my next review...

Availability - Maybe the primary market, probably the secondary
Pricing - ???
Rating - 71

Birthday Booze: Speyburn 37 year old 1975 Clan Cask 3413

The Birthday Booze posts are going to go on for a while because that's the mood I'm in.

In 2012, Speyburn Distillery bottled a single cask for their official fan club, and it wasn't something like a 7 year old Virgin Oak creature, but rather a 37 year old PX cask! As far as I can tell, they never did such a thing again. Luckily for me my good friends, the Doctors Springbank, purchased a bottle back then. I didn't meet the Docs for another six or seven years, but apparently it was just in time for them to share a pour with me. Thank you, folks!

pic source

Distillery: Speyburn
Ownership: Inver House (via Thai Beverages plc via International Beverage Holdings Ltd.)
Region: Speyside (Rothes)
Age: 37 years old (1975 - 2012)
Maturation: Pedro Ximenez cask

Cask #: 3413
Exclusive to: Clan Speyburn
Alcohol by Volume: 55.4%
Chillfiltered? No
e150a? No

(courtesy of Doctors Springbank)

NEAT

The nose begins with a mix of dark chocolate, dried blueberries, dried currants, and brine. After ~40 minutes, Fig Newtons join in, as does a subtle farmy note. After an hour, there's cinnamon sprinkled on baked peaches and walnuts. A nice musty dunnage note hits the palate first, followed by limes, wet stones, and tannins. Nutmeg and an earthy molasses fill the background. Lime pith and pulp, honeydew, nutmeg, and baking chocolate finish it off.

DILUTED to 50%abv, or ⅔ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Due to the whisky's age, I'm being cautious with the dilution. Date rolls and old Calvados float up to meet the nose, followed by raw almonds, maple syrup, and a hint of anise. The palate gets mustier, tarter, sweeter, and figgier. The sweetness merges well with oak spice and bitter citrus in the finish.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

I don't know how many, if any, such gems remain in Speyburn's Rothes warehouses. In fact this may have been their oldest official release, with a 1973 single cask being the only one from an earlier vintage. The whisky feels its age, but in the best way, with a mustiness and earthiness which meld perfectly with figs and dates, so you know it won me over. The whisky carries a steep price on the secondary market, perhaps the highest of any Speyburns I've seen, so you should surreptitiously seek out Clan Speyburn members and drink their whisky.

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - ????
Rating - 90

Birthday Booze: Coleburn 17 year old 1978 Cadenhead Authentic Collection

My first Coleburn review! In fact, before today I'd only referenced the distillery once (11 years ago) in the history of this blog. This is the second Coleburn I've ever tried, the first being an AD Rattray cask that I don't remember.

Coleburn's production lasted 86 years, starting in 1899, mostly under the ownership of DCL→UD→Diageo, with DCL officially dropping the axe in 1985 as a reaction to a bumpy era of scotch sales. It had been one of the main malts in the Usher's blend, as well as making appearances in Johnnie Walker products, until it was deemed superfluous. The distillery still stands in the town of Longmorn, and bottler Murray McDavid currently uses its warehouses for their casks.

Today's Coleburn single malt is one of three '78s that Cadenhead bottled during their eh-fuck-the-cask green bottle era. A lot of their bottles from this range in the 1990s were raw rocket fuel with zany ABVs, which is a mixed blessing. The drinker gets a chance to try some nude spirit, but also some of the tired oak vessels were crap, resulting less than pleasurable experiences. I don't foresee an opportunity to review a second Coleburn, ever, so I'm just going to enjoy this experience.

actual bottle shot

Distillery: Coleburn

Cradle to Grave: 1899-1985
Executioner: Distillers Company Limited

Region: Speyside (Moray)

Bottler: Cadenhead

Range: Authentic Collection





Age: 17 years (March 1978 - December 1995)
Maturation: "Oak cask"

Alcohol by Volume: 59.9%

(from a bottle split)

NEAT

The nose begins very perfumy, but with patience and time one finds anise, burnt nuts, hay, and strawberry jam. It improves with time as it picks up clover honey, lemon peel, and shortbread biscuits. An OBE funk, reminiscent of '50s & '60s blends, lingers in the background throughout. It's surprisingly drinkable at full strength, never scorching the palate. No perfume. Yes unripened stone fruits and lemon pith. It slowly evolves into tart apricots and limoncello with a dash of cayenne pepper. Its intense finish is full of lemons and apricots, with a sprinkle of sea salt.

DILUTED to ~50%abv, or 1¼ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Went easy with water here. The perfume note remains in the nose, but actual maltiness appears, along with wet stones, brown sugar, orange oil, and those shortbread biscuits. The palate is pepperier, sweeter, and with a touch of the OBE. A mix of tinned yellow peaches and fresh white peaches highlight the background. It finishes peppery and sweet with a hint of those peaches.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

This is one of the better green-glass-era Cadenhead whiskies that I've tried, accomplishing the bottler's intentions, if they had any. It's VERY spirit forward, but never raw. I could do without the perfume, but I cannot do without the fruit! So I like the palate better than the nose, in fact the palate is excellent. At 40%-46%abv the whisky might start to resemble many of its neighbors, not a bad thing for '70s Speysides and their fans, but thusly viewed as redundant to the planet's largest scotch blender. I have a several more samples from this green glass series, and I hope they're as good this one. Maybe one for the next birthday?

Availability - Maybe secondary? Are there Coleburn bottles on that market?
Pricing - ???
Rating - 88

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

Birthday Booze: Speyside 45 year old 1973 TWE, Magic of the Cask

I'm 10 years old!

When attempting to source whiskies that match my actual age, I'm mostly limited to these 1970s teaspooned Glenfarclas, er, "Blended Malts". (See a 41yo here and a 43yo here.) That's what the market offers. The majority of 40+ year old whiskies ain't getting split. Hell, I don't think they're even being opened anymore. Today's "Speyside" will be the penultimate not-Glenfarclas I will review. I'll just have to get more creative as the birthday number increases.

Today's Glenfarclas Speyside is from The Whisky Exchange's Magic of the Cask range bottled for their 2019 Whisky Show. Its 549-bottle outturn and 45.1%abv has me thinking it was recasked into a sherry butt at some point towards the end of its life. Maybe from a pair of casks? Anyway, it has a good drinking strength, so I'm going to drink it.

Distillery: Glenfahrvergnügen

Region: Speyside, perhaps?

Independent Bottler: The Whisky Exchange

Range: Magic of the Cask, for The Whisky Show 2019

Age: 45 years old (1973 - 2019)

Maturation: sherry butt

Cask #: 6
Outturn: 549 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 45.1%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

The nose shows off the old pretty cask, starting with dried apricots, almond extract, and old furniture. Candied ginger + baked apples, then peaches + clover honey with a metallic hint in the background. Old stamp glue and potpourri. The old wood note expands with time.

The palate begins with a blast of oak spices and toasted coconut. The subsequent sips bring tart oranges, macrons, very sweet lemon candy, and just a little bit of hot cocoa mix around the edges. It gets tarter and more tannic with every sip.

The finish sheds the tartness and goes all in on the sweets and oak. Baked apples, lemon candy, and plain ol' sugar meets eucalyptus + big peppery tannin.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

I'm going to be the party pooper here. Whiskybase has it at nearly 90 and WhiskyFun has it at 89 (twice). Those scores are very generous. And I get it. Old whisky critters inspire compassion and wistfulness. Hell, my score might be on the optimistic side as well.

This is oak juice, very good oak juice, but still oak juice. Sometimes oak juice can be lovely and moderately complex, but it frequently isn't. I'm not saying this is one dimensional 45yo stuff — a lot of bright fruity bits break through — but it's the simplest of this week's three whiskies. At times it seems like an old single grain, though it has the silky mouthfeel and texture that seem to come from only 100% malt. To end on a more positive note, this does seem to be a lot better than the 41yo Speyside from four years back. Perhaps Year 45 will be better than Year 41 for yours truly; I certainly hope so!

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - ???
Rating - 85 (probably too charitable)

Birthday Booze: Glen Ord 25 year old 1978

I reviewed Glen Ord 30 in 2015, then the 28 year old in 2018, and now the 25 year old...

This Glen Ord Thrillogy was released as part of Diageo's annual once-actually-special Special Releases: the 28yo in 2003, the 25yo in 2004, and the 30 in 2005. It's a darned shame they stopped there. Or rather they didn't. Teenage Glen Ord Special Releases arrived in 2019 and 2022, but were aged in recharred hoggies and wine casks because......?

Enough of dwelling in the recent past! Rather, it's time to indulge in ancient times with one of the last 1978 samples in my whisky closet.

Distillery: Glen Ord

Owner: Diageo

Region: Northern Highlands
Range: Special Release

Age: 25 years (1978-2004)

Maturation: ????????????

Outturn: 3600 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 58.3%

(from a bottle split)

NEAT

Yep, fruits in the nose! These apricots, kiwis, and mangoes get riper and muskier with time. Mineral/stone notes provide support in the midground, while toffee pudding, almonds, and toasted oak fill the background. Similar to its sparring partner, the 43yo Cadenhead blend, this Glen Ord offers quite the musty dusty palate, focusing on old books and dunnage at the start. Tart guavas and lemons give it a big zing, and there's plenty of earth in the background. It finishes herbal and musty with a touch of lemon and a lllllllllot of length.

It's a bit monolithic at this strength. Time to add water...

DILUTED to 50%abv, or 1 tsp of water per 30mL of full strength whisky

The nose starts off......the same? Ah, but then blood oranges and lemonade powder appear with a hint of dunnage in the background. Much of the palate's mustiness is replaced with gentle wood smoke. The blood oranges show up here too, with some bitterer citrus in the back. The finish grows sweeter and tangier, keeping the good length.

More?

DILUTED to ~43%abv, or >2 tsp of water per 30mL of full strength whisky

A simpler nose now, with butterscotch candies, blood oranges, roses, and dunnage. The palate's elements come together well here, with citrus + nuttiness + dunnage. Toasted nuts and sharp citrus fill the finish, with a little bit of dustiness in the distance.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

I did not anticipate diluting this whisky, but I'm so glad I did. It wallops at full strength, shines at 50%abv, and balances at 43%. The grand blood oranges mix with the mustiness perfectly, and it never gets too sweet. The 30yo reigns supreme, and the 28yo is probably more complex, but this one may be the most flexible. And it's just damned good stuff, often seeming even older than its stated age. Like me!

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - I can't look
Rating - 90 (diluted)

Birthday Booze: William Cadenhead 43 year old Blended Whisky

This may be the first time my birthday has approached much too quickly for my liking. Can't I have a few more months??? 

As happens during Earth's solar years, things occurred since the last birthday. My daughters are now both in public school, not too far from my apartment. I jumped onto The Dating Train, then nine months later, I emphatically threw myself from it. It was not a soft landing. In other news, an increasingly gray beard grew on my face for several months before being removed. Travel continued: I enjoyed another two beautiful weeks in Japan in the spring, then Mathilda and I took our first long distance father-and-daughter trip in the summer. My last grandparent, my maternal grandfather, passed away at the age of 95. Ninety-five years. Three decades of cigarette smoking, nearly eight decades of beer drinking, and never a vegetable to be found on his plate. I'm doing it wrong. Happy 45th to me!

The older I get, the more challenging it is to select "Birthday Booze" that's relevant to my age. This appears to be a forever thing. Thankfully, I found a 1970s trio for this week.

In honor of the passing of Mr. Hedley Wright, the chairman of J&A Mitchell (owners of Springbank, Glengyle, and Cadenhead) for sixty years, I'm finishing up my big bottle split of Cadenhead's own 43-year-old blended whisky today. (No, I'm not 43, but I don't have a 44yo spirit other than my own!) The rumored ingredients are: 55% Invergordon and a 45% mix of Glenfarclas and Glenlivet...

pic source

Distilleries: Invergordon, Glenfarclas, and Glenlivet (allegedly)

Bottler: Cadenhead

Type: Blended Scotch

Age: 43 years (197? - 201?)

Maturation: ?????

Outturn: 624 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 44.2%

(from a bottle split)

NOTES

Nuts and sugars unite in the nose: walnuts, almonds, and candied pecans meet toffee and caramel sauce. Softer notes of orange oil, mushrooms, and band-aids appear after 30 minutes, then dried apricots and nutty whole grain bread at the 50-minute mark. 

Dusty things, like old books, mild wood smoke, and cigar ash start the comfy palate, followed by sweet oranges and raw almonds. Layers of oak spices and bitterness build in the background.

The finish lingers awhile thanks to all the old oak. It's also dusty and mildly smoky like the palate, with a hint of tangy limes. Despite a big caramel note in the finale, it's not too sweet.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

It wouldn't shock any of us if at least one of the two malt elements had entered "spirit drink" territory below 40%abv, judging just by the blend's ABV. Then the whisky itself proves it. Though the casks feel exhausted, they shan't be shamed, since they've trod a 43-year marathon, at minimum. That old creaky wood produced a very good nose and an easy palate with some charming earthy hints in both. It's older and better than JW Blue Label, so good on Cadenhead for this blend's original reasonable price.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - around €200 in 2019
Rating - 85

Birthday Booze: Blended Scotch Whisky 44 year old 1976 The Maltman, cask #8140

Normally I try to provide a little bit of background regarding fancier whiskies, but I don't know the full story on this one. Whiskybase says this blend is a mix of Ben Nevis, Clynelish, Teaninich, Macduff, Dailuaine and Invergordon, and that it was sherry cask matured with an outturn of 327 bottles. So, were this whiskies hanging out in the same cask for 44 years? Or were they pulled from other casks, blended, then finished in a sherry hoggie (considering bottle count)? I dunno. Feel free to inform me in the comment section below. Huzzah to 44!

Blender: Meadowside Blending
Range: The Maltman

Type: Scotch Blended Whisky

Age: at least 44 years (1976 - 2021)
Malt Ingredients: Ben Nevis, Clynelish, Teaninich, Macduff, Dailuaine

Grain Ingredient: Invergordon
Maturation: "sherry cask"
Outturn: 327 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 46.4%

(from a bottle split)

NOTES

The nose begins with a big note of old funky paxarette-style sherry cask. Lots of dunnage too. Those notes gradually lift, revealing mocha ice cream and Kinder Bueno minis. Cassis and dulce de leche. Hints of root beer barrel candy and new leather float in the background.

Though there's plenty of oak in the palate, it reads less tannic than bourbon one-third of this whisky's age. It's gingery and chocolatey, with figs and grapefruits as well. There's also a mix of Underberg and Cynar pepping up the affair. It gets sweeter, tangier and dustier with time, while gaining some wood spice.

It finishes with figs, dark chocolate, molasses, Cynar, tangy oranges and lots of tannins.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

The nose says that this really was a very long single maturation, but the palate and finish are a little less clear. An overactive cask could have been engaged for a secondary maturation. This is mostly oak juice, as the age and the whisky's moderately-steeped black tea color warned me, but it's very nice oak juice. It smells wonderful and I don't have splinters in my mouth. Also figs.

Next week I'll try another trio of oldies, but "oldies" of a different sort.

Availability - ???
Pricing - ???
Rating - 88 (powered by the nose)

Birthday Booze: Caol Ila 25 year old 1978, Special Release 2004

Much to my surprise, samples of vintage 1978 whisky still exist in the stash! Happy birthday to me! This year, I'm pouring an official Caol Ila '78, aged in refill casks and bottled at full strength.

Sometimes my palate registers Caol Ila as Ardmore's slightly brawnier cousin, which is a good thing, in fact I'd like to meet their entire family. Anyway, CI is the lone peated Islay malt I enjoy drinking in the late summer. The rest of those heaters don't taste as good until November. So there are my zillion reasons for drinking cask strength peated whisky on a humid evening. Sláinte!

Distillery: Caol Ila
Ownership: Diageo

Region: Port Askaig, Islay
Age: at least 25 years old (1978-2004)
Maturation: refill casks 💚

Outturn: 6000 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 59.4%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

The nose brings fruit first, peat second. Pineapples and citrons. Kelp and beach bonfire. Ah, there's the mango juice! Candied yuzu peels and a pretty floral note arise after 30 minutes. The palate starts off full of salty seaweed, with lemon bars and a hint of mango in the background. It stays quite lemony while gaining more smoke and baking spice with time. It finishes with salty savory smoke up front and touches of tart and bitter citrus in the back.

Pretty good, but what if I hydrate it to my favorite ABV?

DILUTED to 48%abv, or 1½ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Smoke stacks and toasted seaweed mingle with peach pie and pineapple cake in the nose, with some citrons and roses in the background. The palate gets a little more savory while picking up all sorts of new notes like wasabi, grapefruit, pineapple and toasted sunflower seeds. The finish keeps its good length, while gaining sweet fruit and reducing the smoke.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Yep, that little bit of water did what it needed to, pushing this into 90-point territory. And if my opinion ain't enough for you, there's a certain other person's opinion you may want to review. Part of me wishes Diageo dropped a cask strength 25yo Caol Ila each year, mirroring Talisker's old approach, but the other part of me knows how peckish the ravenous secondary market would have become for each bottle. So I'm just going to enjoy what I have here and finish off the rest of this fruity creature after I click "Publish". On to 44!

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - It was £150 in 2004, it is not £150 now
Rating - 90 (with water)

Birthday Booze: Longmorn 43 year old 1968 Gordon & MacPhail, cask 909 for Van Wees

Allow me to recap age 43: I got divorced, caught Covid-19, was booted from one company to another, injured one rotator cuff just as the other was completing 18 months of healing, was told my left ankle has nearly no tendon left, got back to my pre-parenting weight for like 1 month, and obtained a cat whom I swear is trying to kill me in my sleep. To celebrate the close of this uneventful year, I am relieving my 1968 Longmorn sample bottle of its contents.

For those not in the know, G&M dropped a clench of outrageous Longmorn casks for Van Wees seemingly all at once, about a decade ago. Today's whisky is one of that clench. I didn't buy any of those bottles because the €500-€700 price range was out of my reach. Casks like this would go for 5x that amount nowadays and still sell out. I am not the target demographic for this delicious whisky.

pic gently lifted
from whiskybase 

Distillery: Longmorn

Ownership at time of distillation: Longmorn-Glenlivet Distillery Co

Region: Speyside (Lossie)
Bottler: Gordon & MacPhail
Range: Reserve
Age: ~43 years old (15 February 1968 - June 2011)
Maturation: first fill sherry butt

Cask #: 909
Outturn: 523 bottles

Exclusively for: van Wees
Alcohol by Volume: 55.4%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

Nose - It reads like neither 55+%abv, nor a 1st fill sherry butt, or perhaps contemporary bottlings have conditioned my senses the wrong direction. First, fresh black plums and floral white peaches. Damp earth and toasted almonds. Lychee syrup. And then the guava, oh the guava! Madeira? Hints of dry gravel and Walker's shortbread in the background.

Palate - Oh. Oh dear. All the citrus. All the stone fruits. All the tropical fruits. I dunno, I'll try to list the things. Lots of oranges (cara caras, mandarins, bloods), figs, yellow peaches, guava, mango, dunnage, a soft earthy peat. It's tart and righteous. Massive, but never hot.

Finish - Glowingly tart. It's a citrus freakout, with Rainier cherries, mead, incense, pound cake, and a lovely bitterness also arriving in endless waves.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

As complex as the nose was, the palate was my favorite part. What a lovely thing. This fruity-fruit-fruit Longmorn era produced some of the most delicious single malts I've ever tried. If you get an opportunity to try Longmorn distilled in the 1960s, or early 1970s, seize it! There are some Longmorns even better than this specific one, but I'm perfectly happy to settle. Good bye, 43!

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - ????
Rating - 92

Birthday Booze: Highland Park 33 year old 1978

(Highland Park cluster homepage)

Alas, I conclude the hybrid birthday/cluster situation with an official 1978, with an unknown outturn, created for Travel Retail back in 2011. The cask type was not disclosed, but I'll tell you right here: it's sherry. Monday's 1978 was good, but a little weak. I have higher hopes for this one.

Distillery: Highland Park

Ownership: The Edrington Group

Region: Islands (Orkney)

Age: 33 years old (1978-2011)

Maturation: probably sherry cask(s)
Outturn: ????

Exclusive to: Travel Retail

Alcohol by Volume: 47.8%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

Black walnuts, incense, nutmeg and ancient oak fill the nose at the start. Hints of honey and candied pecans float at the periphery. After 30+ minutes, vibrant notes of charred orange peel, kelp and maple sugar arrive. It's reminiscent of old woody (think L'Encantada) Armagnac.

On the palate, it's a black walnut liqueur aged in a bold sherry butt. Layers of wood spice, toasted bitter nuts and sandalwood fill the mid- and foreground. Pipe smoke, grapefruit and Cointreau appear here and there at the edges.

Musty oak, cigars, salt and a hint of grapefruit finish it up.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

This is 90% cask, but I like it, especially the nose, which treads close to old sherry cask Yamazaki. Had the palate's background notes of citrus and pipe smoke been louder and the wood quieter, then I'd be trying to figure out how many points higher than 90 the whisky would score. But an old whisky's palate, and especially the finish, often reveal the naked truth about the cask. This whisky's conclusion was good, but limited, a bit shorter than I'd expected. There's still something grand about the whisky, as one can feel its age throughout. But it's starting to get creaky around the joints, as if it were 43 years old.

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - over €1000

Rating - 89

Birthday Booze: Highland Park 18 year old 1978 Hart Brothers

(Highland Park cluster homepage)

Look at that: Birthday Booze + Highland Park Cluster all in one. I wish I could say that I'd planned it just like this many months ago, but......yeah let's just pretend.

I've tried a number of whiskies from the Hart Brothers, but for some reason I have never reviewed one here. [Update: This is not true. I reviewed a Hart Brothers whisky, an HP no less, in 2018.] So I'll start (and end?) my Hart Bros reviews with a tough one to top, an 18yo HP from 1978. Though Hart currently focuses on cask strength bottlings, with some 46%abv releases mixed in, the bottlers used to offer up 43%abv whiskies in previous decades, back when Gordon & MacPhail was doing the same.

Because this was (probably) a bourbon cask release, I didn't pair it up with an official 18yo. Instead it was matched up with my newly beloved 21yo G&M single cask bottling reduced to 43%abv. How would the 1978 fare in comparison?

Distillery: Highland Park

Ownership: The Edrington Group

Region: Islands (Orkney)

Independent Bottler: Gordon & MacPhail

Range: Finest Collection

Distillation year: 1978

Age: minimum 18 years old

Maturation: ??
Outturn: ????

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

NOTES

This is the citronella-est whisky I've ever nosed. There's also plenty of lemon zest and whole wheat bread up front. Fresh herbs and light smoke merge in the middle. Anise and a slight grassiness fill the background.

Orange zest fills the palate, with fresh herbs just underneath. Toasted grains and mild sweetness appear next. Cigar smoke and dusty leather show up after 20+ minutes.

Lemon candy, lemon juice, sea salt and cigar smoke form the simple but decent length finish.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

This would be a very good everyday drinker. There are no missteps and each element works together with moderate depth. It's all very friendly and the whisky disappears quickly. But as always, this drinker wonders what this whisky would have been like at 46%abv or higher. Still, the diluted 21yo has much more complexity and character at 43%abv, so water isn't the only thing to blame for this 1978's muted shine.

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - ???

Rating - 86

Birthday Booze: Speyside Region 43 year old 1973 The Whisky Agency

I don't know why I chose a pair of 43 year old whiskies, because I'm only turning 23 this week. Heh heh. Heh. Ugh.

Monday's 43yo was a strange lovely thing, a Cognac cask-matured Glenfarclas. Today's whisky is a "Speyside Region". Whiskybase lists it as a "blended malt", while the bottle label just says "Malt" (neither single nor blended). It may or may not be from Glenfarclas, it may or may not be from a fino cask. I'll drink the thing no matter what, but these games aren't very fun.

This whisky is quite beloved by many of those who have consumed it, including Ruben and Serge, who both gave it a 93-point score. I tried a 41yo 1975 fino cask "Speyside Region" two years ago and was underwhelmed. Perhaps it was just me, as my score is tied for the lowest on that 41yo's Whiskybase page, but that experience will keep my enthusiasm for this 43yo in check, unless the whisky changes my mind. Please change my mind, whisky.

Distillery: Glen Fart Glass?

Region: Speyside (maybe)

Independent Bottler: The Whisky Agency

Age: 43 years old (1973 - 2017)

Maturation: a butt of some sort
Outturn: 568 bottles

Exclusive to: The Whisky Exchange

Alcohol by Volume: 47.4%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

This is definitely not a sherry bomb. Instead the nose begins with brine, mango, basil and graceful old oak. It gets fruitier with time, but I can't pin down the exotic fruit. There are some white nectarines and blueberry pies involved, though. Some citronella around the edges. A dash of Pecorino Romano as well.

Woo, it has some fight left in it. Citrus peels, cinnamon sticks and tons of very dark chocolate on the palate. It balances a peppery burst with baking spices (dried ginger and whole cloves), while an autumnal forest floor note gradually builds with time.

It finishes with eucalyptus, yuzu, honey, dried ginger and cloves.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

This was much better than the 41yo "Speyside Region", or at least I think it was, per my notes of the 41. I did try it side by side with the Cognac cask 'Farclas, and I loved them both. The official Farclas came out on top due to its dazzling unique style, but this 43yo Mystery Meat is excellent. Its success is due to the cask —as it usually is with spirits of a certain age — which I'm inclined to believe was indeed a fino sherry butt, and possibly not a first fill at that. Happy Friday, everyone!

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - Oh my goodness

Rating - 90

Randy Brandy drinks Malört

Kravitz thinks he's getting his revenge by subjecting me, Randy Brandy, to Malört. But the joke's on him. I'm going to take this review seriously.

What is Malört?

I actually have no idea, so you should watch this official video for more information. (Yeah that's right, I used a hyperlink. And italics.) All I know is that Chicagoans view Malört with a mixture of pride and utter embarrassment, as they do with their baseball teams, pizza, and Democrat mayors.

The Packaging

Gotta admire the graphic design going on with this six-shooter. The predominant yellow-green mucus, contrasting with the red almost-a-Nazi-emblem eagle.

Each mini has the classy plastic bottle and cap combo used for decades by failed brands that wind up in the 99¢ bin. And what is this? WHAT. IS. THIS.

Why is this legal? There's more alcohol in my cirrhosis medication.

Let's see what else these marketing geniuses put on the box.

Only "two-fisted drinkers"? What about one-fisted drinkers? Like all the people who lost an arm in a Malort fight?

Or a Malort fire?

Or a Malort fuck. Definitely a Malort fuck. I think you’re obligated to lose a limb in a Malort fuck.

Oops, I forgot to put the omelet over the Ö. (Kravitz, don't edit those omelets back in.)

The actual Malört part

Here are my notes:

COLOR - So the liquid has color to it. Is it supposed to have color? It's just ethanol and "botanicals". So where's that yellowish shade, like rusty water, coming fr......oh, that makes sense.

NOSE - It smells like hand sanitizers which smell like shit vodka which smell like hand sanitizers. Also ammonia.

PALATE - Wwwwwwwhat. Why. Why would anyone.

It's all chemical fires, copper wires, and junkyard tires. And hatred. Pure, radiant hatred. It's so hateful, Malört should review me.

FINISH - Vomiting after taking psilocybin or peyote may assist with the process (allegedly). But when taking Malört, vomiting won't help you because Malört tastes like bile. Early morning empty stomach dry heave bile, with the same yellowish tint, the color of impending death or cyborg piss. But I repeat myself.

There were my notes.

Further thoughts

I'm going to go find some strychnine to get this flavor out of my mouth. Someone told me I'd taste grapefruit in Malört. Yeah, maybe if the grapefruit was raped by Mr. Clean. I'll drink anything once. Okay twice. Now Kravitz, you can have the other four shotskis of this Socialist poison back. A little Skål for your skull, you asshole. There better be an apology awaiting me. And some cognac.

RATING: Ö

Birthday Booze: Glenfarclas 43 year old Cognac Cask matured

I interrupt your regularly scheduled Highland Park cluster program with birthday booze! Sorry, folks, it's an annual thing. There will be both curios and sensible choices this year. Today's whisky fits into both categories.

Bottled in May of 2010, thus distilled in 1967 or earlier, this Glenfarclas comes with a label that doesn't specify whether the whisky spent its entire life in cognac casks or just a smaller portion of its maturation time (though it may be related to this bottling). Having now completed the tasting, I'm going to posit that it very well may have been the former. It is unlike any whisky or brandy I've tried.

Distillery: Glenfarclas
Ownership: J&G Grant
Region: Speyside (Central)
Age: minimum 43 years old (1967? - 14 May 2010)
Maturation: Cognac casks

Outturn: ???
Alcohol by Volume: 40.7%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

It's a lovely, earthy, old hybrid spirit in the nose. At first, it's papaya, toffee, toasted walnuts and toasted oak. Then it picks up notes of Sauternes and dried cheese. (No I'm not going to say "rancio".) Then dried rosemary and coriander. After an hour it's funky honey and a worn out dollar bill.

The palate begins with gentle old oak, honeycomb and ripple of lime zest. Then, for almost twenty minutes, it is liquid honey. At the 43-ish minute mark, it shifts gears, taking on black licorice, dark chocolate and menthol, with hints of cigarettes, apricots and loquats in the background. The figs arrive, floating around in then honey after an hour.

It has a long full finish with the figs and honey arriving after the first sips, 30 minutes in. Bitter chocolate-covered pennies and sweet oranges appear later on.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

I wonder if the whisky world will ever see anything like this again. If so, it would have to come from a relatively independent distillery like Glenfarclas. Hopefully someone tries it, because the resulting quality of this experiment was very high.

Like the ultra-aged G&M Glen Grants, this Glenfarclas registers gloriously rich even at 40.7%abv. It was almost profanely honeyed in the mouth; then fruits (figs and -quats), ancient oak and a puff of smoke join in, making each small sip fascinating. But that's nothing compared to the nose, where it was a glass-bound but puckish changeling, destined to sprout wings and fly away if I let it sit any longer.

Which is to say, I kinda liked the stuff.

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - About 3x-4x its original price. Time machine, people!

Rating - 92

Birthday Booze: Bunnahabhain 40 year old 1978 by MASAM from Private Stock of Silvano Samaroli

I wanted to get my grimy mitts on a Birthday Bunna since I started this blog. And now I have one from a bottle split. And now I'm going to drink it. It spent 40 years in a sherry butt but it's as light as a 10 year old refill cask whisky.

This is what the sample bottle looks like:

on the back of a gigantic rabbit

But this is what the actual bottle looks like:

lifted from TWE, where the bottle was bought

The whisky was bottled by MASAM, an enterprise overseen by Maryse Accorsi, wife of the late Silvano Samaroli. I think all of MASAM's bottles have this roly-poly look and very old-school label design. But more importantly, the whisky...

Distillery: Bunnahabhain
Region: Islay
Independent Bottler: Samaroli
Range: MASAM, Private Stock of Silvano
Age: 40 years (1978-2019)
Maturation: sherry butt
Cask number: 7229
Outturn: 520 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 51.6%
Chillfiltered? No
Color added? Definitely not
(from a bottle split)

NOTES
It has a nose for foodies. Beef stock, aged cheese, back bacon. Smoked salmon on Irish soda bread. Honey butter, mangoes and yuzu. A dusty oil-stained garage. The mangoes and yuzu completely take over after 45 minutes, with some mizunara-style sandalwood notes in the background.

Minerals minerals minerals on the early palate. An earthiness that borders on smoky. Pan-heated dried herbs, miso broth, hints of flower blossoms. Limes, white peaches and yuzu. Toffee pudding far far in the back. Fresher herbs and bolder fruit notes appear after 45 minutes, while all those minerals stay put.

Minerals, salt, dried savory herbs, an OBE-like metallic note and a big squeeze of yuzu juice in the finish.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
I drank this late, far too late, into the night, listening to quiet shakuhachi melodies and keeping all the screens off. What a calm vessel this sherry cask proved to be, its restraint generous, allowing time to settle in rather than punish. The results surpassed my high expectations. There's nothing else I can offer here other than goddamn happy birthday to me!

Availability - Several retailers appear to have bottles
Pricing - Half the price of the official 40yo
Rating - 92