Extra closed distilleries

Convalmore 1975/2015 (46%, Gordon & MacPhail ‘Uncommon Previous’, cask #R0/15/06, refill sherry hogshead, 299 bottles)
Color: gold. Nostril: wooft! Pure heather honey, resinous fir wooden, a coconut-drenched pina colada, mineral oils, wormwood, immense waxes and camphor vibes, verbena and great notes of fennel, tarragon and honeycomb. Beautiful nostril! Mouth: this high quality that I all the time adore that makes me consider very previous mead, or some form of crystallised or salted honey. It has this in spades, together with extra deeply natural and medicinal mixtures that go in direction of very previous yellow Chartreuse and cough syrups. Then waxiness and beautifully fats textural parts that carry all these flavours brilliantly. End: good size, again on resins, fir wooden, pinecones, tarragon, camphor and beeswax. Feedback: one in every of these older highland kinds that exhibits sublimely at this type of age when simply left to its personal units in easy, lighter contact wooden. 
SGP: 552 – 90 factors. 

Lochside 20 yo 1981/2001 (61.0%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 92.10 ‘Cod-liver oil and blackcurrants’)
Color: vivid straw. Nostril: very citrus and grass pushed, with vivid notes of crushed nettles, finger limes, Viognier, putty, lemon barley water, grapefruit and likewise some clear cereal and mineral oil notes. Very pure and recent, I find it irresistible. With water: splendidly on inexperienced herbs, citrus fruits and mineral qualities. Aged Riesling and Chenin Blanc, clay, putty, petrol and buttered white toast. Extraordinarily exact and superbly tense. Mouth: reasonably tight, punchy and petrolic, with plenty of clay, aniseed, recent muddled herbs, lime peel, wormwood and a drying waxiness. Powerful however good distillate. With water: actually explodes with water! Geraniums, vase water, lime curd, jasmine flower, unique fruit teas, limestone, waxed canvass, bergamot oil and some drops of very previous Benedictine. A really particular and weird profile that’s all to do with energy, precision and this very great inexperienced / recent / citric / mineral quartet. I’m positive Serge would name this a ‘wine drinkers malt’. End: lengthy, tense, nervous, quivering inexperienced acidity, white flowers, underripe gooseberry, petrol and tarragon. Feedback: sitting someplace between St Magdalene and… Lochside, in fact. Superb and distinctive distillate that would preserve you, a pipette and a bottle of water, entertained for hours. 
SGP: 661 – 91 factors.

Glenugie 33 yo 1966/2000 (48.1%, Signatory Classic ‘Silent Stills’, cask #5081, 148 bottles)
Color: straw. Nostril: shoe polish and mashed unique fruits. Then pink grapefruit extra particularly, a tiny trace of seawater and big notes of lime and waxed citrus rinds. Extraordinarily zesty, recent and with these sharp and grassy notes of rapeseed oil and parsley. Usually exuberant and bewilderingly fruity previous Glenugie. Mouth: just a little closed up entrance on arrival, some humorous notes of mocha espresso, cocoa, ales and breads. Then extra unique hoppy IPA vibes, after which an enormous burst of tropical fruits of all kind and elegance. Whole and totally lethal fruit juice at this energy. Slightly easy in some methods, however I discover that reasonably an asset right here. End: medium in size however gloriously fruity, extra shoe polish fatness, leathery notes, seawater and grapefruit once more and these properly waxy and mild peppery notes. Feedback: I’d say that this might most likely have been completely chic if bottled a couple of years youthful, feels prefer it was caught simply because it was coming over the hill. That mentioned, the sheer fruitiness of it and particularly that tropical flashbomb on the swallow had been giddiness-inducing and vastly enjoyable. One other completely great previous Glenugie. 
SGP: 751 – 91 factors. 

Glenugie 1966/1986 (55%, Samaroli, 480 bottles)
I’ve tried this one a couple of instances earlier than and all the time been impressed. Nonetheless, Serge recorded notes for this fashion again in 2006 and it solely clocked in at WF88 at the moment, whereas lots different people have scored it a lot greater through the years. Let’s revisit once more, with an open thoughts… Color: gold. Nostril: clear shared DNA with the Signatory bottling, however this one additionally instantly jogs my memory of Lochside with this very explicit grassy and unique mixture. Unique fruit pulp, passionfruit, natural and fruit teas and delicate impressions of verbena and a mixture of mechanical and cooking oils. I nonetheless really feel that this is a wonderful whisky with a extremely distinctive profile. With water: turns into greener, leaner and grassier. Some inexperienced pepper, snapped twigs, moss, nettle, lime zest and really sharp, nearly trebly unique notes. Mouth: cooking oils, waxes, marmalade, steel polish, suet, flower honey and mead. That’s simply to start, it has spectacular complexity, but it surely appears to develop away from the unique fruitiness on the nostril, extra in direction of these cooking oil qualities, preserved citrus fruits, beers, waxes, clay, mineral oil, some tiger balm – very massive whisky, however perhaps the problem is it may be just a little all over, missing coherence maybe? With water: a few of the identical grassy, inexperienced, sharpness of the nostril comes by – gooseberry, lime, nettle and many others – but it surely’s nonetheless a reasonably punchy, peppery, waxy and barely austere profile. End: lengthy, drying, well-chiselled brittle waxy notes, together with additional impressions of old-style ales, breads, camphor and barely medicinal natural qualities. Feedback: I believe that is a kind of whiskies which is able to all the time divide opinion. Tasted in sure lights I can simply see the way it would possibly dazzle, however tasted in at my desk on a quiet Fife afternoon, I discover myself extra in alignment with Serge again in 2006. It’s very spectacular and fascinating whisky, however I really feel it maybe lacks a little bit of path, and in that sense isn’t technically good. There are definitely many different Samaroli bottlings of comparable pedigree which present far more instant and unequivocal magnificence. Now, it’s solely attainable I’d have tried it prior to now and given a unique verdict relying on the situations… so, as all the time, please take my foolish rating with a pinch of salt. 
SGP: 662 – 89 factors. 

Glenlochy 29 yo 1970/2000 (57.2%, Signatory Classic ‘Silent Stills’, cask #3359, 248 bottles)
A uncommon bottling for the USA. Color: pale gold. Nostril: the extra Glenlochys I strive, the extra I really feel it’s one thing just like the Clynelish of the West. This glorious waxiness and distillate-derived fatness that feels additionally mechanical, barely animalistic and extremely mineral is like Clynelish talking with a west highland accent to my palate. There’s additionally beautiful recent hints of grass and crushed inexperienced herbs together with just a little punchy olive oil. With water: extra clay, sheep wool oils and an impression of porridge laced with sea salt and honey. What I really like most is the efficiency of the distillate which continues to be nearly solely what this whisky is about even at 29 years previous. Mouth: massive, chewy, beautifully waxy, mineral and oily with numerous yellow flowers, salted honey, crushed flower stems, vase water, clay, ointments, putty and tea tree oil. Treads that beautiful line between mechanical and rustic with this mineral and waxy profile that brings in medical stuff, garages and toolbox vibes together with it. With water: retains this excellent fatness and richness within the mouth. Honey combined with olive oil with a tang of seawater and filtered by sheep wool. I’d additionally add extra clay, ink and shoe polish into the combo. End: good size, with just a little white stone and unique fruit hints within the aftertaste, extra drugs and cooking oils too. Feedback: it’s additionally a whisky that makes me consider older Oban bottlings too, within the sense that that is highly effective, vastly characterful however reasonably difficult west highland model malt whisky – a profile that’s extraordinarily scarce as of late. However we shouldn’t get too hung up on evaluating this to different distilleries. Glenlochy is, or sadly reasonably was, Glenlochy, and it stays one of many distilleries whose loss was a larger disgrace than most for my part. One other great instance. 
SGP: 472 – 92 factors.

Dallas Dhu 43 yo 1979/2023 (54.1%, Gordon & MacPhail ‘Non-public Assortment’, cask #1404, refill hogshead, 155 bottles)
I feel we are able to nonetheless depend Dallas Dhu as ‘closed’ in the intervening time, regardless of chatter about its imminent return. Color: deep gold. Nostril: we’re in acquainted ‘honeyed’ territory of those previous, older model, malts. Solely right here it’s much more narrowly targeted and exactly on beeswax, pine wooden, linseed furnishings oil, burlap sack, cough syrup and tiny inflections of desiccated coconut, gorse flower and mead. It’s lovely, however gives the look of being ever so barely closed. With water: will get properly sappy, mentholated and shows some beautiful, softer notes of sandalwood, beeswax, camphor and even touches of very previous Demerara rum. Mouth: a kind of whiskies the place you are feeling it has been captured on one thing of a knife edge, the wooden may be very current, but it surely’s stuffed with excellent resinous and spice qualities that add to the depth of flavour and don’t simply come by as dryness and tannin. Plenty of unique and varied natural teas and infusions, dried mint, eucalyptus, extra cough drugs vibes, particularly darjeeling tea now, after which some good floral touches with pressed wildflowers and dusty pollens. With water: turns into just a little too astringent and woody now I’d say. The flavours stay fairly marvellous, but it surely develops in direction of a really peppery and barely tannic profile with extra teaish vibes and a contact of bitterness. End: lengthy, again on honeys, camphor, sturdy natural teas, waxes and warming peppery notes. Feedback: great previous whisky in lots of senses, and really entertaining growth from nostril to palate when you’ve got just a little water at hand. Nonetheless, it’s arduous to not really feel it might have been much more luminous if bottled a couple of years earlier. 
SGP: 561 – 89 factors. 

Glen Albyn 20 yo 1962/1983 (92 US proof, Cadenhead Dumpy)
Color: pale amber. Nostril: Ha! It’s what I can solely describe as a 50/50 mixture of ‘previous Cadenhead Dumpy’ profile + pre-war malt whisky profile. Which suggests, plenty of steel polish, big waxes, soot, camphor and oiliness from the previous, plus an nearly natural liqueurish, medicinal, earthy and dry, comfortable peaty high quality from the latter. Add into the combo some very old-style sherry affect with this pure, completely drying, earthy and ruggedly salty aroma that remembers wonderful VORS Oloroso. Thus far, I actually prefer it. Mouth: it appears to alight precisely the place it ought to be: late 50s/early 60s, previous model highland malt from a sherry cask! Massive, fats, oily-textured malt whisky stuffed with waxes, animalistic edges, mineral oils, bone marrow, big umami and savoury notes of mushroom powder, bouillon, Maggi and soy sauce, then extra steel polish, dried herbs, aniseed, curious previous ointments and deeply earthy and mulchy notes that incorporate some very high-quality tobaccos and humidor vibes. This stressed saltiness stays very current. End: lengthy, warming, peppery, with these deeper earthy notes brining dryness, extra natural liqueur qualities, extra inventory, marrow, camphor and wax. Feedback: completely old style! A whisky to show to anybody nonetheless doubtful, that the broad characters of Scottish malt whisky have modified reasonably so much over the previous fifty or so years. Loads of these previous Cadenhead Dumpies are of variable high quality as of late, and definitely there are some previous Cadenhead Glen Albyns of comparable pedigree that are a bit all over, however this one is matches very effectively into that class of rugged, highly effective, deeply characterful previous model highland malt whisky that I unashamedly adore. 
SGP: 473 – 91 factors. 

Glen Albyn 1975 (59.1%, Cadenhead for Oddbins, cask #3344, bottled early Nineties)
A well-known collection that was achieved for Oddbins (the place I labored round 2007) and which contained some out of this work choices, but additionally a couple of reasonably much less seemingly picks as effectively. Color: pale gold. Nostril: ruggedly salty and fats distillate-driven old style whisky. A great deal of tertiary waxy and mineral notes, vastly petrolic, with notes of peppery watercress, fennel seed, honey roast parsnips, crushed aspirin and steel polish. It has this monolithic and austere facet, but it surely additionally has one thing ‘further’ that simply elevates the whole lot by way of depth and energy. Very spectacular to date! With water: beautifully peppery and oily, extra camphor, sunflower oil, additional notes of watercress, suet, bouillon and mineral qualities like coal and seaside pebbles. Mouth: oh wow, farmyard, coal mud, evenly peated Brora (can that be a tasting word?), wooden ashes, sheep wool, bike chain oil, hessian toolbox rags – a kind of whiskies that appears to solely make you consider flavours and belongings you shouldn’t actually put in your mouth. Very sooty, very oily, very fatty, very peppery and really waxy. There’s additionally a persistent salinity about it which brings freshness and energy. With water: bone dry, stunningly peppery, oily and fats, with a brittle, sharp waxiness working all through. One other one in every of these old style malts that remembers high class, aged, dry white wines. End: very lengthy, nonetheless on peppery and dry waxy qualities, however including in some traces of dried out, crystallised previous honey, ink, shoe polish, extra sooty vibes and extra sheep wool. Feedback: a complete beast! Actually in step with the theme of this previous white label collection, which appears to have been ‘huge fucking whiskies’. Anyway, this clearly demonstrates that previous Invernesian ‘toughness’ whereas additionally being a terrific old style highlander on the identical time. Now, you most likely must put aside about two hours to correctly grapple with one dram of this… 
SGP: 372 – 91 factors.