Invergordon 1973 42 Year (The Exclusive Malts)

Belatedly drinking the 44-year-old sample from @PBMichiganWolverine referenced below. The nose is a refined combination of marmalade and wax polish. It’s oily in the mouth, with flavors of caramel and warm sponge pudding. Curiously, a brief note of peaches emerges mid-way, totally out of context with everything else that’s going on but delightful none the less. The finish is very long and satisfying.

First order: Invergordan/Battlehill 9 Year Friday evening. Time to catch up on Homeland and Billions from the DVR. Pour me a sample sit back and taste. Ahh, Friday’s. The nose somewhat odd and different. Dominated by paraffin wax and cardboard. Sherry notes of figs or dates surface with honey and vanilla. A light caramel sweetness flashes with burnt marshmallows creating a funky, earthy undertone that detracts from the whisky. A grainy cereal (oatmeal/Irish oats) supports the few available flavors. This finishes with oak drying tannins and vanilla wafers and tangerines that is somewhat short. The 9 year was bland and thin of flavor and fullness. Rough and harsh and lacking in any real substance. [80/100][Tasted: 3/30/18] ———————————- Second order: Invergordan 44 Well, it’s Saturday night and part two of the Invergordan 44 supplied by @PBMichiganWolverine through our little tour group. These have been sitting around for awhile and now, I am finding more time to catch up on these whiskies (bringing up the rear) The nose is more bourbon than of scotch and would almost be hard to discern is a blind nosing. rich brown sugar, cinnamon, caramel, cherries, vanilla, corn grain, oak, creme brûlée. It’s almost akin to a Four Roses, and that is not a bad similarity. A lovely nose and almost do not want to move on from here. The palate senses, from the nose, to expect a thick and syrupy fluid. The draw into the palate confuses the brain because the body is air thin. Again, more bourbon-esque than scotch. Silky smooth and sugary sweet. Brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg spices. Bakers chocolate comes forward to and delivers the finish. Oak, ground cinnamon nutmeg and oranges round out journey. Once again, more bourbon/grain than scotch/cereal. The is a nice dram from start to finish. Sweet, balanced, soft. The only true criticism I have is, due to the time it must have spent in the bourbon cask, I would not qualify this as a malt. But I would not turn it down if it comes my way again. [89/100][Tasted: 3/31/18]

Disclaimer: this review isn't for the listed Invergordon, but for 2 separate samples: a young 9 year old sample, independently bottled by Battlehill, and a 44 year old, independent bottling by Maltbarn. I will sort this out when Distiller lets us add our own bottles soon. Anyway, hate to say this Lee, but the 9 year old was sooo waxy on the nose that I thought I was smelling the beeswax I use with bottling sometimes. Unfortunately, I got the same soap, sawdust, wax, and other notes that Paul described. I swear that I gave this a college try, but it was so tough for me to get through after this, and the Girvan, that I thought to myself "I will NEVER buy or drink a grain whisky ever again". Thankfully, Pranay sent the Maltbarn we got to try. I don't know if it has to be that old (44 years) in order to be really good, but wow, what a clear difference of quality. This isn't night and day, or black and white, even more unlike than that. On the 44 I was able to get vanilla cookies, tropical notes, and oak out the ying-yang. The palate was sweet with more of those same tones, but along with a slight twang from something I couldn't place. It may be the mineral aspect Paul was getting, but I enjoyed it a lot. Maybe it was close to iodine from brine/salt somewhere. Either way, a big thanks to Lee and Pranay for the chance to go "all the way" with Invergordon. I'll just rate the better of the two with a solid 4.0.

Like Lee and Pranay, this review is not for the listed version of Invergordon, but for both the 9 year version from Battlehill and the 44 year version from Maltbarn. This is a double review so I apologize for the excessive length. First up is the 9 year: Stop number 37 on the SDT is Invergordon. Like the Girvan that I recently reviewed, this distillery only produces single grain whisky. I really don't have much info on this Highland distillery, but I'm relatively sure it's main purpose is to be used in blends as you can't really find official distillery bottlings. This 9 year old bottle comes from the independent bottlers from Battlehill. Bottled at a beefy 58% ABV, non chill filtered and natural color of a pale straw. There is an initial blast of alcohol on the nose, as is to be expected at this strength. It's very waxy, candle wax or paraffin wax. A fair amount of vanilla and grain (comes off as wheat but it could be another type of grain). Green oak and sawdust. Some honey and another hit of oak, but charred oak this time. At this point it took a turn for the worse and a very sour note emerged. Like sourdough bread. I decided to add a generous amount of water to see what would happen. More grain, oak and honey came out, but so did more of that sour note. Really off putting. The palate arrives hot with sharp oak. Underripe stone fruits like apricots and nectarines and some bitter grapes or bad grapenuts cereal. Some bitter chocolate and perhaps burnt coffee beans. The water brought out that sourdough bread in the palate as well. A weird soap like note came through as well. Not pleasant and it actually made me a little nauseous. The mouthfeel is hot, oily and mouthwatering. Actually a rather pleasant mouthfeel. A medium long finish that is sour with green oak I think I've gotten my point across that this stuff was not very good, at least not for my nose and tongue. Really unpleasant sour notes. Actually it reminded me of Craigellachie with how sour it was (I know most people rave about Craigellachie but I didn't care for it). I ended up dumping about half of the sample that Lee provided me with (sorry Lee). It was just not sitting well with me, and still isn't 30 minutes later. I can't see a time when I would buy or recommend this bottle. The initial nose and mouthfeel are the only redeeming qualities that I found. I'm giving it 2 stars and I thinks that's generous. Cheers Next up is the 44 year version: After the disaster that was the 9 year Invergordon from Battlehill that I had yesterday, I was glad to have another Invergordon to try. This go around involves a 44 year old single cask (ex bourbon) from the independent bottlers at Maltbarn. This was bottled in 1972, making it a full decade older than I am! This is the oldest whisky I've had to date. Bottled at 49% ABV, natural color of an orange amber and non chill filtered. The nose is full on bourbon, so much so that I can hardly detect anything scotch about it. After 44 years in an ex bourbon cask it's sort of to be expected though. A fairly strong mint note up front. Caramel and toffee with a little brown sugar and cinnamon. There is a grainy note, but more corn like than anything else. Some fresh red berries and a lovely oak note. Creamy vanilla custard, a little cocoa powder, cherries, toasted coconut and more vanilla. Really an enjoyable nose. Like the nose, the palate is very bourbon like. It arrives hot and a little peppery. Old oak, slightly bitter but not at all unpleasant. Mint and caramel. It reminds me of Buffalo Trace, with maybe some young Bowmore mixed in. It has a slight earthiness about it. Coconut and maybe even mango. Given its age, it has a surprising youthful zip to it. A little bit of graininess comes out eventually, but it integrates well. A full bodied mouthfeel that is hot at first, oily and mouthwatering. Medium length finish with oak, mint and bourbon. There is a slight metallic note that comes and goes on the finish. When it's there it's distracting, when it's not there it is very enjoyable. If I tasted this blind, you'd have a hard time trying to convince me that it's not a bourbon. I'd be interested to know where the cask was sourced, like I said it reminds me of Buffalo Trace. Invergordon has officially redeemed itself with this beautiful whisky. Thanks to Pranay for the bonus sample provided during this round of our Scottish distillery tour group. Cheers

< This review is specifically for a Maltbarn 44 yr old 1972 Invergordan that I had picked up from my travel > We're now in round 3 in our little Scottish distillery sampling team ( I'm guessing maybe 4-5 more rounds to go before we cover all the Scottish active distilleries ), and I supplied this as part of a "bonus" offering (in essence...something we find interesting enough to share outside the distilleries we normally sign up to provide). So...onto the review. I recently saw that new Spiderman movie, you know, the one where Spiderman is just a young teenager, getting mentored by Iron Man. Marisa Tomei played the character of Aunt May. Most of us grew up with Aunt May as this older grandmotherly woman. Well, Marisa throws that notion upside down. She aged so well, she's anything but grandmotherly type. Point is...she brings this certain " wow, she looks amazing" factor and turns the notion of a white haired older feeble grandmother upside down. Well, the 44 yr old Invergordan reminded me of that. You think "grain whisky" and immediately have these notions of lighter fluid. But, it goes to show that as you get up there in age, for some good grain whisky, that notion is turned upside down. I'm not going to do any more justice in tasting notes than Lee's excellent review below---so, I'll just leave y'all with the image of Marisa Tomei. ;-)

Disclaimer: this review isn't for the listed Invergordon, but for 2 separate samples: a young 9 year old sample, independently bottled by Battlehill, and a 44 year old, independent bottling by Maltbarn. This is a combination of 2 separate reviews and will be a pretty long read. Turn back now if you aren't settled in.... To kick off our third round of Scottish distillery samples in a more exciting way, I decided to try the "official" Invergordon sample I supplied beside the extra sample my friend Pranay generously added. This isn't a comparison, but more of a case study in generations of Invergordon's single grain whisky. The 9 year old along side a rare, 44 year old sample. Up first is the older, much rarer 44 year old from German independent bottler- Maltbarn. This one is a slightly darker, amber than the much younger 9 year old. No surprise there. The nose is heavy charred oak. Heavy char- almost burnt. It's a bit of a shock after huffing its younger sibling. Yet, right on cue, those same cereal notes and toasted marshmallow notes appear. This time, though, they bring some berry sweetness instead of vanilla. It's a bit of a surprise. This one smells delicious and decadent. On the palate, there's the same initial blast of oak cask notes. This one seems like a more traditional, American bourbon. Lots of spices and significantly drier than its counterpart (the 9yo). Cinnamon and pepper spices and heat, with a similar fig and nutmeg finish. Speaking of finish, this one takes on all the typical, oak barrel notes while still being short and not really hot at all. I get the impression that the barrels used weren't of the highest quality but that long slumber extracted everything that was available and ultimately turns this one into a more complex dram. I think I could spend more quality time with Scottish grain whiskies and not feel "shorted" by any means. These siblings play well together and paint a beautiful picture of what's possible when aged properly. Blends be damned- I'd like to have these on hand when I really want something a little different, but I don't feel like experimenting with crazy blends or heavy flavor bombs. I just want to sip and get happy. 4 stars. Next up is the newer stuff- the 9 year old, independent bottling from Battlehill that comes in at a cask strength of 58%. It's a very pale yellow and smells of candle wax and cereal box marshmallows. There's hints of vanilla, figs and nutmeg. Even at 58% there's no evidence of ABV at all. The youthful, lightly charred oak provides an interesting backbone here, too. On the tongue, there's an initial blast of oak and pepper spice that's short lived and fades into a freshly opened box of Lucky Charms cereal, with the marshmallows! The vanilla and honey sweetness helps temper the burn as it fades into a sweet wheat and malty finish. It's more oily than I expected but rather short. I really expected a lengthy and hot finish because of the ABV, but I guess that's the joy of grain whisky. It's pretty smooth overall. It's really non-offensive, but with little to no depth, which is why it's mainly used for blending I suppose, but it's still surprisingly enjoyable. Liquified, Saturday morning cereal- with a kick. 3.75 stars. I like this more than I probably should, haha. To sum them both up- they are equally enjoyable for how simple they both are. This was one of the more enjoyable side-by-sides I've been able to do, not just on our "tour", by in general. A big thanks to Pranay for providing the oldest sampled whisky I believe I've had to date. This couldn't have played out any better. Cheers, thanks for sticking around and reading my novella.