May 6, 2014

Another Mortlach verticale,
for the glory of it

Yeah yeah. I know, we’ve already had a lot of Mortlach lately, but there’s more, much more. Let’s try to build a nice wee verticale, starting with a light old aperitif as we often do…

Mortlach 12 yo (40%, Gordon & MacPhail, licensed bottling, +/-1980)

A well-known, easily ‘findable’ old bottling of Mortlach. Colour: gold. Nose: starts on a meat pie with custard and honey and rather goes on with orange cake, smoked tea, leather, menthol, cigars and more and more ham. Mortlach’s trademark big meatiness and ‘mineral’ sulphur are in full swing here, and this nose is simply wonderful. Mouth: rather wackier, with a little cardboard and strange notes of ‘chemical’ mint (After Eights), but other wise there’s some lovely cake and honey-glazed biscuits. Caramel. Finish: rather long, with some ‘dark’ oak and tea, then more and more parsley and even tarragon. Fun! Comments: incredible body at just 40% vol. As often with these old bottlings, the nose beats the palate fair and square. Lost a lot of points because of the ‘chemical’ mint. SGP:452 - 83 points.

Mortlach 17 yo 1996/2014 (54.6%, Tasting Fellows, barrel, 294 bottles)

Colour: light gold. Nose: this one’s got a brighter, fruitier, lighter style, but the fatty meatiness is lingering in the background. Some sweet barley, some vanilla, some grass, hints of cut cactus, then more apples and pears. With water: more of all that plus sweet sunflower oil, but in a way it gets lighter and easier. Mouth (neat): sweet, malty and rather citrusy, all that one a thick layer of vanilla and honey sauce. Bitter oranges, orange drops, pear drops, notes of hops (IPA). Good body. With water: excellent, firm, fruity and malty. Oranges and sweet malt, apple pie, light honey… Very clean and easy for Mortlach. Finish: good length, on pear juice (poiré, so pear cider) and orange cake. Comments: this baby lets the distillate sing. Dangerously drinkable! SGP:551 - 85 points.

Mortlach 18 yo 1996/2014 (51.2%, Sansibar, bourbon, 188 bottles)

Colour: light gold. Nose: this one’s unusual! Starts smoky and tarry, we’re almost nosing lapsang souchong or heavily smoked salmon. And then, gradually, we’re getting closer and closer to the previous one, although this one remains, say, pretty mezcaly. Whiffs of menthol too, it’s really funny! With water: wooosh, all smoky notes went away. Hey?! Mouth (neat): wow! Starts punchy and bizarrely phenolic, with hints of mint and smoked fish again, before it goes back to base, so to speak. Apples, mead, light honey, malt, ale… With water: same phenomenon as with the nose, the smoke went away and leaves us with light honey, apple compote, sweet beer and notes of oranges. Not that we’d complain, it’s all beautiful. Finish: long, clean, sweet, malty and rather honeyed. Apple pies, apple pies and apple pies. Comments: fun Mortlach. What had the bourbon cask previously contained? SGP:553 - 87 points.

Mortlach 1995/2014 (55.8%, Riegger's Selection for Whiskyschiff Luzern, cask #3420, 150 bottles)

The Whiskyschiff (whisky ship) in Lucerne is a great wee festival! It’s not that they ship whisky, it all happens on boats. Colour: light gold. Nose: extremely similar to the first 1996, maybe just a notch fatter and rounder, so more Mortlachy, in a way. Superior quality! With water: same. Cigarette tobacco, oils, pear and apple pies, ale, malt. Mouth (neat): really rich, very malty, with some ale again, bitter oranges, tobacco and liquorice… There’s a slight bitterness (leather) but all remains very fine. Heavy beer. With water: becomes rounder, sweeter and relatively easier. Touches of tar in the background. Finish: long, malty, with some mead and notes of mulled white wine. Comments: so a marginally fatter version of the 1996 by the Tasting Fellows. Same high quality in my opinion, so same score. Yes we’re very single-minded. SGP:551 - 85 points.

Mortlach 23 yo 1990/2013 (46%, Hart Bros, Finest Collection, first filled sherry butt)

Colour: gold with bronze hues. Nose: I’m not overly sensitive to the slightest amount of sulphur, and I even find some sulphury profiles really lovely, but this one is just too much on struck matches, I’m sorry. Add to that notes of cooked asparagus, cabbage and leek, and there, you have it. Mouth: works better, but it’s strange. Burnt caramel and overcooked fruits and pie, burnt raisins, something bizarrely mineral and gingery (Schweppes?) In short, not my cup of malt at all. Finish: rather long and relatively nicer, on orange cake. Comments: these things happen with sherry butts. Also a matter of personal limits, I guess. SGP:372 - 49 points.

Mortlach 24 yo 1989/2013 (57.9%, The First Editions, refill hogshead, 192 bottles)

Colour: light gold. Nose: praline this time! It reeks of warm praline at first nosing, milk chocolate, custard, with some pear as well, as well as the Mortlachy meat (steak) and a handful of jelly beans, a combo that may sound bizarre but that isn’t. With water: calms down, becomes fruitier and grassier, with a little earth as well. Apples and sweet barley. Like this a lot now. Mouth (neat): big stuff! Starts a little astringent, malty and fruity, with some grapefruits mixed with eucalyptus syrup and drops of chartreuse. Very unusual, but it works. Bites you, just a little. With water: becomes even more herbaceous, which works very well. Mint, eucalyptus, lime and lemon… Excellent. Finish: long, rather zesty, ‘green’ in a great way. Comments: do not forget to try this restless Mortlach with water! SGP:461 - 87 points.

All right, let’s pull the older ones if you don’t mind…

Mortlach 36 yo 1976/2012 (43%, Gordon & MacPhail, lincensed bottling)

Mortlach 36 yo 1976/2012 (43%, Gordon & MacPhail, lincensed bottling) G&M have always been Mortlach specialists and they’ve issued some stunning old ones. Remember the 70 years old? Colour: gold. Nose: not big but complex, very complex. Cigar-complex, I’d say, it’s like nosing a brand new box of Partagas Lusitanias (my references are now outdated, I’ve stopped smoking cigars quite a while ago). Leather, tobacco, cedar wood, aniseed, liquorice, smoked ham, blood oranges, French marigold… Gets drier over time though, with some wood and black tea. Mouth: movingly old-skool, I’d say. A delicately oaky base (chocolate and black tea) with some apples, oranges, chamomile tea, orange blossom, pastries and tobacco again. It’s not big, but it delivers despite its slight drying side. Finish: a little short, with some unexpected notes of ripe strawberries, but the miracle is that it did not get any oakier. So, no drying finish, hurray! Comments: these lovely whiskies can be a little frustrating because of their low strengths, and this one was a little frustrating indeed, but I think quality remains very, very high. Old-fashioned, moi? SGP:441 - 88 points.

And a very last one, because we need one from the 60s, don’t we…

Mortlach 32 yo 1962/1994 (42.8%, Cadenhead, Original Collection)

As usual with Cadenhead, we’re extremely happy to learn that it was an ‘oak cask’. You never know, could have been sequoia or baobab. Not to mention chestnut of course (not joking here). Colour: gold. Nose: there’s some magic in these old whiskies, magic that’s not easily found in the newer bottlings if you ask me. Magic, in my book, means that you first get a ‘whole’ picture, not just a collection of aromas. And magic goes on when the spirit unfolds and keeps changing for a long time. As I already wrote on numerous occasions, a movie-malt vs a picture-malt. In this case, I’d quote an evolving resinous side (almonds, pinesap, chartreuse, pitch, motor oil) and many soft spices and essential oils such as pine again, benzoin, almond oil… Also wax polish, old wine, rancio for sure, Japanese seaweed, crushed nuts (or halva)… Really, it’s a movie, it’s not easy to describe. Mouth: all right, it’s a little drying and too oaky. Okay, done that, but then, there are lovely notes of citrons, cough syrup (it’s certainly quite medicinal), old liqueurs, drops of the tar liqueurs we had the other day (remember?), then cinnamon, mint lozenges, liquorice, bergamots (earl grey tea), a little lemongrass, a touch of metal, a mushroomy side, some cocoa powder… But really, it’s a global feeling, not just a collection of descriptors. Finish: short and drying, not this baby’s best side, definitely. Comments: imperfect – thus no 90-material – but this old baby tells you many stories. Moving, in several senses of the word. SGP:372 - 89 points.

I’m afraid we found no 90+ today, but we were close! (thanks Angus and Tom!)

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

Another Mortlach verticale, for the glory of it

Another Mortlach verticale,
for the glory of it