Tasting two summery Mortlach and a beast

June 15, 2013

Tasting two summery Mortlach and a beast

There are quite some middle-aged Mortlach around and we won't complain. In my experience it's a pretty versatile spirit and it can even be summery. Indeed...

Mortlach 16 yo 1997/2013 (51%, Liquid Treasures, bourbon hogshead, 176 bottles)

Colour: white wine. Nose: it’s a very clean, pretty un-Mortlach Mortlach if I may say so. The cask must have been quite lazy because we remain close to the barley, with added touches of nectar and dandelions as well as a little fresh rhubarb and gentian roots. The lightest side of Mortlach, without any oily/sulphury tones. It’s a great distillate. Mouth: wow! Wonderfully eau-de-vie-ish, without much wood and yet no immaturity either. Zwetchke and kirsch, I’d say, maybe one to sip with your espresso after a good lunch? Goes on with more barley sugar, corn syrup, light honey… All good stuff. Finish: rather long, clean, with now a little more grass. Absolutely not sweetish. Comments: it’s no big malt and no competition beast either, but it’s lovely to drink. A summery Mortlach? SGP:541 - 85 points.

Mortlach 1995/2013 (56.4%, Svenska Eldvatten, 257 bottles)

Colour: gold. Nose: very nice, bigger and hotter than the 1997 and that’s not just the higher strength. Vanilla and humus, cider apples, wee touches of manure – very nice in this context – and cigarette tobacco. Say old Camels. A little maple syrup and acacia honey as well. Easy to nose without water. Mouth: excellent! Big, punchy, starting with more wood again, rather obvious notes of agave, some Grand-Marnier, angelica, maybe wee touches of fresh coriander plus spearmint, all that on a bed of green apples and barley sugar. Works very well. Finish: long, less easy/sexy than the 1997 but maybe more profound. Well, I know what I’m trying to say. Comments: Mortlach sure is a great malt when it’s only mildly sherried – yeah, or not sherried at all. And, of course, when it’s heavily and when sherried the sherry’s beautiful! SGP:551 - 86 points.

Mortlach 21 yo 1991/2012 (56.3%, Silver Seal, cask #4246, 542 bottles)

So yeah, sherry... Colour: full amber. Nose: if you do not like gunpowder, struck matches or the smell of a brand new leather jacket, go your way! ;-). Anyway, what's quite splendid is what's behind that pretty extreme side, that is to say the pipe tobacco, the sultanas, the dried figs, the liquorice and all the fresh parsley. Sulphur? Yes, and not only sulphur from the cask. With water: saltpetre, leather, gunflints, clay... Mouth (neat): VERY chocolaty. Chocolate, kirsch and bitter oranges, always with this leathery side in the background (but close to the front). With water: chicken soup! Beef stock! And a few drops of lemon and orange juices... Finish: long, on the same notes. The aftertaste is a tad grapy. Comments: quite some whisky lovers are very fond of this style, but it's not to everybody's taste. An understatement. As far as I'm concerned, I like it a lot but I had to do some kind of intellectualisation. Oh, forget. SGP:562 - 85 points.

Check the index of all Mortlach I've tasted so far