Soba45
Mortlach 1971 41 Year Distillery Labels (Gordon & MacPhail)
Single Malt — Speyside, Scotland
Reviewed
May 16, 2020 (edited July 8, 2020)
I had bought celebratory bottles of whiskey for my decade birthday anniversaries; 40th, 50th but no further as I didn't want to tempt fate. However on the 1000th taste I thought screw it why wait to open the 50th celebratory bottle, who really knows what is coming for us. After a catch up with mates for a few drinks today reminiscing about good times I came home cracked open a Loch Gorm sample (2018 compared to 2019) then thought screw it...I said I was going to open it albeit in a moment of drunkenness so I will. All of the above flitted through my mind in a nanosecond as I hesitated, before I grabbed the bottle, then pulled it down from the shelf. The box was covered in builders dust from all the wholesale renovations we have going on and I opened the lid and cracked open the bottle.
I've always thought blind tasting is the great leveler and it is. Showing up overpriced spirits for what they are. Not necessarily bad but not worth the price premium over other drams. So many times I catch myself rating something that I know I don't like and thinking but it's a xyz, everyone else thinks it's great and feel the pressure to moderate my score as I think maybe it's me, what i'm feeling now, not the right setting etc etc. But then by in large I try to stay true to what I feel.
In saying all that, however, sometimes it is nice knowing what you are tasting, acknowledging and accepting it for what it is, in this case an elderly dram laid down to rest in a cask before I was born. Knowing what it is helps you appreciate how it's constructed.
With all that in mind I enjoyed the dram for what it represented, an old whiskey laid dormant for more years I've been on earth. Is it great? Yes it's very nice, is it worth the price? Well am I clinically judging the spirit for what it is or what it represents...a celebration before I anticipated, of a great life and pushing through a recent bad batch. I don't regret what I paid but no one is missing out on a magical experience...it's a beautifully crafted dram but the experience is by in large the celebratory experience and sentiment i've attached to it. Normally I'd give it a very decent rating but in this instance I choose not to quantify it in those terms as what it represents to me will be experienced differently by someone else. For those that get to try this or similar special dram make it part of an experience that is meaningful to them, share it widely and don't judge it on what it is by itself...
Update: Ok sentiment pushed aside I will rate it. I find it hard to stop drinking this stuff. Damn nice and solid 4.5 at least.
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@Slainte-Mhath That sounds like an interesting dram! Yeah when it first came a long I thought bad flu. Then potentially deadly bad flu once I started hearing the personal stories but it wasn't until even later that reading further stories I realised this isn't a one time impact type of thing and as you say there are often ongoing after affects which makes it even more scary. Fingers crossed you make a full or as close to as possible recovery...
@Soba45 I bought a Mortlach for a 'special occasion' as well, although not as old as your Gordon & MacPhail. It's a 22 yo Douglas Laing bottling with a magnificent blood-like color. https://distiller.com/spirits/mortlach-1992-22-year-xop-douglas-laing, which I was thinking to open once my HP25 is empty, but that might take a while... I am somewhat better now, at least with the acute Covid-19 symptoms, but I am almost feeling that I am not the same person anymore. As @LeeEvolved might have experienced as well, this nightmare changes you, and I question a lot of things that I used to do in my everyday life. I'm still struggling with tinnitus and insomnia, but I also started to work out seriously, as I realized how sloppy I have been in this regard in the past.
@Slainte-Mhath Yes very happy I did as it's damn tasty! Hope you are feeling better :-)
@Soba45 Good to hear that you popped the cork of this bottle before your 50th birthday. I don't think it is fatalistic to open it sooner than anticipated, it simply acknowledges the fact that life is not endless and the future uncertain. Going through my own Springbank 25 review, I wondered again: was it the special bottle I hoped for? It certainly is an experience, but sometimes I notice that the greatest satisfaction can be found in a dram where you didn't expect much in the beginning, and were positively surprised.
@Soba45 glad to hear that! It definitely seems like it, always loved using it to decide what to buy - finally taking the time to review. Lot of good people here!
@RLDN106 Thanks mate. :-) Yes alive kicking with great friends and family and also great whiskey to help carry me through the bad and celebrate the good! Oh and welcome on to the distiller platform.. it's a great community!
@cascode Cheers mate :-). Yes you have to take the bad with the good and I've been blessed to have the later outweigh the former and push through (and also be dragged through with help!) the worse stuff and come out the other side. Nice to have something great to celebrate when I do!
@PBMichiganWolverine Cheers mate. :-) Yes usually we have collectively defined celebratory milestones e.g. decade or wedding anniversaries, but as you say sometimes there are just random experiences both good and bad you come out the other side of and think I definitely need to celebrate! Life being life its a set of continuous experiences with the end point being death so who knows what else will happen between now and then but at least I got to drink this whiskey before the ultimate end point!
@LeeEvolved Cheers mate :-). Just happy I came out the otherside in the end battered but still kicking! Your and @Slainte-Mhath covid-19 experiences were the final catalysts that had me thinking na whilst not fatalistic i'm not hanging around until 50 to open this bottle..plus we live in earthquake country so if something doesn't get me first i'm sure an earthquake will get the bottle!
It sounds like you’ve really had a rough few years. What’s important is that through everything — you’re still here. Hope the next few years treat you better (you’re due for it). Cheers!
@Soba45 Crikey mate, you've had a bloody awful couple of years all right. Here's hoping things get better real soon and stay that way. I get why you don't want to rate this one, and it's a salient lesson. Slàinte mhath.
Celebratory pours are just exactly this —-a celebration of what a person has been through. I remember emailing back and forth on one of those you were going through, and thought to myself “ if it were me, I’m not sure I can be as strong “. And that was just one out of this. Congrats mate—-you’re still here and standing strong.
Great revie....well, I suppose it’s more of a review of your life to this point, as opposed to a well-aged whisky. But hey, now we’re just splitting hairs. It’s always a great time to celebrate- even if it’s just to cheer that fact that you woke up this morning with a fire in your gut. Congrats to all your triumphs and let’s all still raise a glass to the things that didn’t go as well. All the usual cliches aside, here’s to hoping the next decade is full of winning ideas and unlimited success! Keep sipping on that Mortlach, as I’m sure it’ll get better as the bottle empties. Cheers, my friend!