The whisky community on Twitter is one of the friendliest I've come across but every now and again one of it's members goes that little step further. This is what happened a couple of weeks ago when @mentaldrams, who I've been swapping drams with for a couple of years now, asked if I'd like a sample of his birthday dram.
He'd decided to open a bottle of Signatory Vintage's North British 1959 51yo. How could I refuse? He included a 1989 Glenfarclas and also sent samples for @jwbassman_ so we arranged a little zoom tasting to try them!
These also happened to be the 999th and 1,000th dram I've reviewed on the blog!
First up was the Glenfarclas 1989, a 28yo Christmas Special matured in four Oloroso Sherry Casks 125670, 12820, 12831 & 13014, producing 1,200 bottles at 46% ABV. This was bottle 756.
Appearance: Dark bronze in the glass, swirls leave a thin line which takes a while to form beads which fall as slow thick legs.
Nose: Dunnage warehouse notes, dried fruit, Christmas spices, thick strawberry jam, mixed berries, cherries, dates.
Palate: Thin syrupy arrival, sweet sherry soaked dried fruit, thick gloopy strawberry jam. Orchard and tropical fruits mix on the palate - apricot, pears, pineapple, mango, a little nuttiness but hardly any spice.
Finish: Long dry sherry notes, a little vanilla. Nice!
Overall: a lovely Christmassy dram, nearly a sherry bomb but lacking a little on mouthfeel and body as if it had been chill-filtered but I don't think it has.
Second was the Signatory Vintage North British 51yo distilled in 1959 matured in refill sherry butt 67876 and bottled in 2011 producing 289 bottles at 55.6% ABV. This was bottle 97.
Appearance: Dark gold, swirls leave a hairline crack in the glass which takes ages to bead up. Slow thick legs fall.
Nose: Musty, dry old bookshop, soft fudge, icing sugar covered dry pineapple and a little spicy ginger.
Palate: Sweet thick arrival, mouth coating. toffee, dried fruit, vanilla, tropical fruit notes from the nose add coconut, kiwi and a warming ginger spice.
Finish: Long dry, sweet finish of tropical fruit and spicy ginger - lips are left tingling. Superb!
Overall: WOW - where do you start? I've only tried 4 50yo+ drams and 2 of them were like licking a stave from a broken cask - woody and not entirely pleasant - this is nothing like that - the whisky shines through, although you'd be hard pushed to say this was a grain. 51 years in what must have been a fairly quiet but tight refill butt has given some dried fruit notes, I'm guessing in 1959 North British would have been using corn rather than wheat and this shines through with old grain characteristics of tropical fruit, fudge, toffee and vanilla.
A couple of pieces of liquid history - especially the North British - many thanks to Mark for sharing and John for joining in the fun! It's not very often you get to try a whisky that's the same age as you or one that was distilled before you were born...
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