World's Greatest Whisky, Mr. Murray?

Before we will talk about the World’s Greatest Whisky made at Old Pulteney 21 years ago – according to whisky-writer Jim Murray in the new Whisky Bible – soon (with tasting notes) we stay modest and humble today and try a blend for a change … which comes from the same owner’s company:

„Blended Whisky is Crap“

A Great Blend

This quote from the Hollywood movie Malice might be shared by some Gung Ho Single Malt Hardheads. These guys shouldn’t forget that soaring Blended Whisky Sales in the past brought us many cherished distilleries in the first place and kept the exotic product Single Malt alive inhard times – although blending demands were also responsible for the closing of distilleries later on.

In terms of taste, there are great blends and vats out there, no question about it. I think of Cutty Sark 25, the old Campbeltown Loch 25 (dumpy bottle), the Compass Box series and many others – not necessarily very old. Young vintage blends from the past can be a special treat and kick some Single Malt’s butt easily because they show surprising maturity at an early age and maybe some OBF (old bottle flavour). But can modern blends do the trick as well? Some can – we are just not willing to try them!

Today’s article wants to give you such an example of a well-done blend that wouldn’t negatively stand out within a decent line-up of Single Malts.

Hankey Bannister 12 y.o. ‚Regency‘, 40%

Recently, I could revisit Inver House’s moderately priced blend Hankey Bannister 12 y.o. – a name with a long history. Honestly, I didn’t expect much from it – but it really surprised me and tickled my fancy:

Nose: Very well-balanced with some heat at first – dried flowers, heather and hay, powerful spice combo (white pepper, ginger, coriander), licorice, raisins, apricots, grapefruits and sweet malt.

Palate: Round and very drinkable, slightly dry, becoming sweeter with notes of botrytis-infested grapes, raisins, almonds and the sweet malt again, accompanied by a mix of the mentioned aromas of the nose.

Finish: Long and satisfying without any off-note, a real ‚quaffer‘!

Score: 87+

Comment: Try it for yourself, it is affordable. Try blends in general from time to time. With this bottle I would invite some friends (not necessarily Maltsters) and just savour it during a nice poker night or a football match. Perfect.

Do you remember the old days, when Glenglassaugh was „just“ another closed distillery with an odd name to us. Many connoisseurs have enjoyed the Family Silver bottling (89 points), the more maniacal guys savoured the chocolate-praline-like Wilson & Morgan Sherry editions, and some freaks even drank some of the rare  independent bottler’s Glassaughs of that time (Jack Wieber’s, SMWC, Signatory Silent Stills, etc.). All these were really good, but not mindblowing.

… wonder:

Three years ago, Carsten Ehrlich from the Whisky Fair sent me a sample of their new 1965 Glenglassaugh 40 y.o. and I thought he was fooling me. This baby tasted like an old Bowmore concerning the berry-like fruitiness, but it had a slightly different backbone with less coastal stylistics. What a dram that was (92+ points)! I bought three bottles and wondered what heights Glenglassaugh drams could reach and what versatility they have.

… splurge:

A year later, I met Stuart Nickerson behind the Caminneci-stand at the Finest Spirits-Festival in Munich. Aside from the very nice conversation we had about the takeover by the ‚Sceant Group‘,who bought the distillery and the remaining casks and soon will have a 3 y.o. (the ‚legal‘ age for whisky in Scotland), I discovered what crazy casks there still lay in the Glenglassaugh warehouse.

Andrea and Stuart gave me the massively complex 30-year-old (light color) which surprised me with a freshness of lemony and tropical fruits and almost no wood presence in the spirit – a real winner (91 points).

However, the Lionel Messi on the Glassaugh-team is the rare 40-/41-year old from 1967. Dark in color and even deeper than all the Lochs in Scotland combined, it ranks among the very best drams available, Champions-League! Reminiscenses of Black Bowmore come to mind, a dense elixir at a high price of about 1.450 Euro (96 points).

The new 21-year-old also is a very recommendable dram for fruit-lovers in its own style (90 points).

Later, Andrea Caminneci imported a 1973 cask that had the wrong age on the decanter (30 instead of 34/35 y.o.) in a rosewood-box, but it was even better than the great 30 y.o. (93 points for this Single Cask with high abv). Then, I tried the older Manager-bottlings … again, stunner after stunner.

So I bought them all! Who needs food, fuel, fashion and other less important things in life when you can have such drams? Glenglassaugh even engraved the decanter and the glasses for me. And would I do it again? Hell, yes! My fellow maniac Serge should retaste them, I can’t relate to some of his scores for Glenglassaugh Whisky – but let’s not forget: Taste is always personal and not debatable.

… travel:

If you have followed our sweepstake for two Scotland trips last week (the winners were akready notified), you have read about our ‚Beer meets Barley‘ idea. Late September, we are going to bring two Ayinger sweet dark beer casks to Glenglassaugh and the Scottish Liqueur Centre, empty them at a Barbecue with some of these crazy Scots and refill them with whisky (Islay and Glenglassaugh). The beer-finished drams will be available in February 2012 straight from the cask at the Munich Finest Spirits Festival. Indeed, a Bavarian-Scottish jointventure. We will also be able to try some of the wonderful    drams yet to come. I just hope, I am not returning with a cask of my own. If I did, my wife would definitely finish me – and I don’t mean remature or enhance!

Ouch!