A Wee Departure

I was delighted by the traditional 18-year-old expression, considerably more so than by the Fine Oak and, as always hampered by the editor’s frugal allocation of space, I shall elaborate on the former one only. This had been casked in 1989 and bottled in 2007 and its nose was drier than I expected, its sherry cask provenance was dominant when initially tasted and it rounded off with a nice smoky and nutty finish. Of course, my preference for the traditional expression may have as much to do with my dislike of bourbon as it has to do with the exquisiteness of the bottling aged in sherry casks, but I make no apology for my Europhilic preferences which any recent photograph of Scarlett Johansson would go a long way to explain.

Hampered by the realities of life, I have not sampled the 50-year-old that Bill was presented with in 2002 but I have on occasion, when someone else is paying, had the good fortune to try one or two glasses of the 30-year-old. Once again, this is redolent with sherry but the nose is wonderfully recognizable and much as its colour is deeper than that of the eighteen year old, all of the other great qualities are just that wee bit more pronounced. However, much like a first class air ticket, I would happily take it if offered but, faced with pecuniary responsibility, I would happily stay with the eighteen year old. Both the eighteen and thirty year old expressions are exceptional malts and it bodes well for any of the special bottlings, a wide variety of which are available from this distillery which is only second to Glenfiddich in the volume of its production.