cascode
That Boutique-y Whisky Blended 50 yr old Batch 1
Blended — Scotland
Reviewed
April 18, 2020 (edited May 2, 2020)
Nose: Deep, elegant oak and sherry, inextricably intertwined. Heaps of rancio. Cloves, dark fruits, plums, oloroso sherry (but held in great restraint). There's a touch of treacle or molasses and a soupçon of anise and mint. The nose has great depth and continues to unfold over time eventually showing chocolate, leather, orange oil and espresso notes. Adding water unleashes a torrent of orange marmalade and grapefruit aromas, but sadly the lovely musty depth of the neat aromas is lost. A supurb nose highlighting very old grain whisky aromas. [The dry-glass aroma is like the memory of ancient maple syrup, aged in a toasted cask for decades].
Palate: The initial tasting is surprisingly bright and flinty on the arrival for a whisky of this age with lots of leather and tobacco. Stewed fruits and sherry appear as it develops along with sour cherry and some bittersweet orange cake. There's a touch almost like madeira or plum brandy after some time resting in the glass. There is also a mighty lot of old oak tannin lurking in the background that gives the arrival its hardness but you only identify it positively once you're into the development, as it rises to take prominence. The texture is mouth-coating with that mild astringency you get from old sherried whisky. Adding water softens the arrival but does not change the tannic rise in the development. It adds a touch of sweetness throughout the palate and makes the texture a little creamier.
Finish: Long. Dark cherry, leather, old fortified wine and a distinct rum-and-raisin chocolate aftertaste with side flavours of oak. Licorice becomes apparent after a while and is the final echo.
A lovely, elegant nose. I could happily sit nosing this dram for hours without ever bothering to taste it.
The palate is a little tight and confused at first tasting but it opens excellently over time. I'd recommend you give this a brief nose and taste to set your palate but then concentrate on the nose for 20 minutes or so before taking another taste. Sip and savour slowly at intervals to experience the progression. With considerable time the many facets of the palate recombine into dense, dark fruitcake with overtones of tobacco, sherry and oak.
Adding water (and if you do only a few drops) softens the dram but mutes it strongly. Personally I prefer this neat. Excellent stuff. I've never seen this in Australia, I guess we had no allocation.
Many thanks to @Soba45 who sent me a tasting sample shared from a sample he received from @PBMichiganWolverine.
"Excellent" : 88/100 (4.5 stars)
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@Rick_M This was great but I rated the Batch 1 35 years old (That Boutique-y Whisky Co.) even higher. you can still get a sample of it for a reasonable $15 :-)
@PBMichiganWolverine Yeah I still have 70 to work my way through...my stomach will be very happy once they are gone I think! Will be taking things much easier after they are gone! How many samples you have to work through?
@WhiskeyLonghorn @Soba45 @cascode I have only one open ( knob creek store pick 15yr), but I’m trying to go through samples
@WhiskeyLonghorn Yeah it's really hard just to keep it limited..it gets away from you pretty quickly. Every time I see a great review and I can get my hands on a bottle it's really hard not to open it. Which is why nearly all the 30 closed bottles I have I have already tried!
@Soba45 @cascode I’m moving through a similar pattern where I’m trying to clear out my open bottles (currently down to 16), and I’m of a similar mindset, where I eventually just want to keep around one peated, one sherry’d, on bourbon, an Irish and a Canadian at any given time. I have a few “top shelfers” that only come out from time to time (GD 21, Talisker 18), but otherwise, trying to drink what I have.
@cascode Now that would be interesting. As well as time open, oxegen i.e. factors specific to the whisky I think it would open peoples eyes up to all the factors that influence the tasting. How they feel, what else they pair it with etc.
@Rick_M yeah typical TBWC. You think eh that's a great dram, higher end price but worth it and then you look at the size!
I take that back. That’s for a 375ml bottle. Ouch!
@cascode - i may have to spring for this. For $200, this is a great buy for 50yo whisky.
@PBMichiganWolverine One of my favourite IBs at the moment - always interesting, at the very least, and usually very good value. @Sob45 I'm in the same space. Of the 19 bottles I still have going some are down to the last dregs and it includes gin, rum and liqueurs etc. Going forward I'm going to try and keep it to a peated and a non-peated scotch, a bourbon or rye, a rum and a gin. I used to host tastings a lot and it left me with a lot opened, but that's not happening right now so it's a good time to cut back. Going forward, once it's possible, I'm thinking of doing intense focus tastings where I just provide one outstanding whisky, but several drams over an extended period so people can see what difference time, water etc makes to a dram. If it's not popular then it's back to the tried and true 6-expression vertical and horizontal tastings.
@cascode Nice find :-). Yeah I don't like having much stuff open at a time. After giving a bunch of open bottles away a couple of weeks ago I'm down to a hard core triplet of Bunna 18, Loch Gorm 2019 & Glendronach 18. I'm going to try to limit to only one of each type going fwd e.g. a sherry, a peated and a couple of other varieties such as bourbon, blend, potstill or alternate finish. As much as I love my sampling once I run those down and just have a few bottles open it'll be a lot easier to moderate my consumption!
I think i have that Spica. North Star in general seems to put out pretty good stuff at reasonable prices.
@PBMichiganWolverine Thanks! Yes, I just read your review. I hasistated about the rating for this but then thought, it's a blend, so it has to be ranked against other blends. So far the highest score I'd given to any blend was 4 stars for North Star Spica 29 yo, Johnnie Walker Blue Label, and Johnnie Walker Platinum. This eclipses all three, although I'm wondering now why I didn't give Spica at least 4.25
I remember opening this one up. Was at this point last year, when my son got a scholarship. Was a celebratory pour. Glad you enjoyed it.
I've not been reviewing much recently as I decided back in January to not open anything else until I had cleared all the open bottles from the cabinet. I'm down to the last 19 half-empty bottles now, plus 4 samples (including this one). However while clearing up the stash yesterday and doing the periodical "upturning" of the bottles I discovered a box of 24 samples I bought from SMWhisky last year and completely forgot about, so I do have some expressions to review again!
Ah nice review. Completely forgot you still had a few drams left of the batches I sent over, glad you enjoyed it!