Tag Archives: Old Malt Cask

New in from independent bottler Douglas Laing

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By Mike Lord

Here are the new bottlings we have in from Doulas Laing.  The tasting notes are from them.

Old Malt Cask Glen Ord 1997 14 Years Old

It's getting harder and harder to find Glen Ord particularly in Europe.  This one is a very fruity orangy example.

Nose: Opens clean & refreshing - running to sweet fruit + gristy style.

Taste: Still sweet - a macerated ripe fruit character + gentle spices.

Finish: Long - sweetly spiced with a pleasant orange bitters lingering.

Old Malt Cask Glenrothes 1990 21 Years Old

Although this is from a refill sherry but it is a big sherried whisky with lots of citrus and ginger nicely balanced with leather and tobacco.

Nose: Richly spiced – running to a caramelised orange trait + barley sugar.

Taste: Mouth coating with toffee and ginger + a warming citrus quality.

Finish: Long – carrying an attractive oak, leather & sweet tobacco style.

Old Malt Cask Glen Keith 1993 18 Years Old

It's difficult to find a single cask Glen Keith and particularly one that doesn't break the bank.  And this one is even very very drinkable.

Nose: Fresh & fruitily sweet + fresh homemade shortbread + sweet melon.

Taste: Distinctly barley sugared running to a sweet orange/lime zest style.

Finish: Still fresh and fruity – replicating nose & palate + more zest.

Old Malt Cask Imperial 1976 35 Years Old

Oooh, an old Imperial and with definite traces of peat smoke!

Nose: Dry cedar wood shavings open to sweet dark fruit tones + ash

Taste: Richly spiced – lightly smoked/peated + old wooden candy boxes.

Finish: Camphor and cough drops + warming spices + late soft leather.

Old Malt Cask Knockando 1994 17 Years Old

A lush spicy, honey toasty Knockando.

Nose: Opens fruity & sweetly spiced running to a bees wax style.

Taste: Rich – carrying a dry spicy quality + a distinct oak character. Rich – carrying a dry spicy quality + a distinct oak character.

Finish: Long – still spicy + burnt toast & honey that runs and runs.

Old Malt Cask Laphroaig 1993 18 Years Old

Now this is a very good Laphraoig.

Nose: Opens sweet & vanilla’d running to soft smoke + flamed orange zest

Taste: Still sweet & softly smoked + more vanilla – burnt home baked style.

Finish: Long – with an ashes and burnt wood character + lingering creosote.

See our full Douglas Laing range.


Lots of New Single Malts in from Douglas Laing

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By Mike Lord

Old Malt Cask Littlemill 1991 19 Years Old

This Old Malt Cask Littlemill 1991 19 Yeas Old is full of citrus fruit and barley sugar and has some spices which develop on the pallet. 340 bottles were obtained from a refill hogshead. It's getting rarer and rarer to see a Littlemill and this is a great example.

Old Malt Cask Blair Athol 1995 15 Years Old

This Old Malt Cask Blair Athol 1995 15 Years Old is from a sherry butt but don't think the Flora & Fauna distillery bottling. The colour and flavours suggest a refill giving that orange characteristics you would get from a double maturation.

Old Malt Cask Laphroaig 1993 17 Years Old

Sometimes age makes an Islay whisky more refinded but that is not the case with the nose of this Old Malt Cask Laphroaig 1993 17 Years Old. It is only when you taste it does the complexity of age show through. Just 150 bottles came from this refill hogshead.

Old Malt Cask St Magdelene 1982 28 Years Old

I have a soft spot for this distillery and this Old Malt Cask St Magdelene 1982 28 Years Old is a great examples - peaches and honey. 439 bottles came from this refill butt.

Old Malt Cask Glen Grant 1990 20 Years Old

This Old Malt Cask Glen Grant 1990 20 Years Old is from a sherry butt and has all those fabulous rich flavours you would expect after 20 years. A superb dram.

A complex elderly whisky from a refill Hogshead which gave up only 202 bottles. This Old Malt Cask Glenlivet 1977 33 Years Old is a great example of the rich spices that develop from a refill ex-bourbon barrel.

This Old Malt Cask Linkwood 1989 21 Years Old is full of bananas, oranges and nuts. It is from a refill butt which produced 484 bottles.
45 years in a sherry hogshead - what more do you need to know? This is a big whisky but it's not over done. Old & Rare Probably Speyside's Finest 1965 45 Years Old - so fine if it has stayed at the distillery it would probably have been a Family Cask.

The WSD Challenge 2010

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This was another very competitive competition.  Independent Bottlers entered their whiskies in to 2 categories: Speyside; and The Rest of Whisky.  The winners, voted for by attendees at The Whisky Shop Dufftown during the Spirit of Speyside Festival were:

Speyside

First place: Old Malt Cask Probably Speyside's Finest 1967 41 Years Old (Jan Beckers)

Second place: Duncan Taylor Rare Auld Glen Grant 1987 22 Years Old (Mark Watt)

Third place: Tie between Weymss Spiced Apples (Susan Colville) and Adelphi Glenallachie 1973 26 Years Old (SOLD OUT)

The Rest of Whisky

First Place: Adelphi Bunnahabhain 1968 41 Years Old

Second Place: Mackillops Bowmore 1989 (IN STOCK SOON)

Third Place: Douglas Laing Big Peat.

The winner of the competition for the best tasting note was by Ed Velthuizew from Holland.  His prize was a bottle of his favourite whisky from the challenge which was the Adelphi Bunnahabhain.

Michael Lord