Glen Mhor and Neighbour


October 12, 2022

Glen Mhor and Neighbour

It's that Gordon & MacPhail are having a new Glen Mhor, while all I could find in WF's 'Glen Mhor Box' were cobwebs. No untasted Glen Mhor left, so no proper sparring partner (I feel shame indeed, tell me about a whisky blogger) but we 've got resources, you will see… But first, this ultra-rare new Glen Mhor…

(Picture Valentino Zagatti when we last met, in 2009; he'd have adored the new Glen Mhor! - R.I.P.)

Glen Mhor 40 yo 1982/2022 (50.8%, Gordon & MacPhail, Private Collection, The Recollection, refill sherry hogshead, cask #72, 174 bottles)

To me, Glen Mhor means Valentino Zagatti, he who used to like the old Glen Mhor 10 yo better than any other malt whisky. We miss Valentino Zagatti, even if I've met him only a few times. And indeed, we did share some Glen Mhor 10 years old!… Let's expect some dried meats, some tobacco, and probably some soot, straight from the most well-known amongst the three old Inverness Distilleries, Glen Albyn, Millburn (wink, wink), and Glen Mhor… … Colour: deep gold. Nose: so very antique, 'vintage', precious, polished, waxy… This is like entering an antique shop, full of old furniture, oil paintings, perhaps bicycles and motorbikes, early radio sets… The meatiness too is fantastic, we're having soy sauces, Marmite, Bovril, also suet, leek soup, old tobacco pouch, old leather jackets… With water: old hive, old books, library, furniture polish, humidor, mocha, chocolate, artichoke, cracked pepper, thin mints… Mouth (neat): but this is fresh and vibrant! We're extremely far from a dusty, tired old malt whisky that would be here just because it's rare (but G&M wouldn't do that, agreed), on the contrary, this is almost a bottled lesson to new distillers. Incredible complexity, meats, roasted chestnuts, chestnut honey, beef jerky, tar, tobacco, chocolate… It is stunning. To think that they closed the Distillery for good only one year after this glory was distilled. With water: oh, bergamots chiming in, tobacco, tangerine liqueur, dried apricots, very old brandy de Jerez… And countless other elements. Finish: Jaffa cakes and precious very old sweet wines that have digested their sugars. No names needed. Comments: I'm sorry but I didn't know this was going to be this good. What's more, this is an extinct style, unless new Distillers would… you can always dream…
SGP:562 - 93 points.

I'm sure you saw me coming, we'll have a Millburn as the sparring partner.

Millburn 1981/2004 (61.5%, MacKillop's Choice, sherry wood, cask #353)

Lorne MacKillop's 'MacKillop's Choice' line has gathered some stupendous malt whiskies within the last twenty-five years. Their very low-key packaging was and remains a huge asset, as it would certainly scream 'it's the content that counts!' I would add that the reputations of any of the old Inverness distilleries, including Millburn's, have never been extremely high and they were sometimes even deemed as being 'dirty and random'. But with randomness comes luck… Colour: deep gold. Nose: much, much fruitier than the Glen Mhor, but it's true that it's much younger. Awesome blood oranges, pink grapefruits, perhaps wee whiffs of struck matches (typical), also mangos and papayas. Mangos and papayas! I know some Glen Albyns were showcasing this too, sometimes… With water: butterscotch jumping in, cakes, scones, praline, milk chocolate, café latte… Mouth (neat): possibly one of the most 'tropical' Millburns, with bananas, mangos, sultanas as well, angelica, genepy and verbena… And no more struck matches. With water: once again it would become cakier and more on butterscotch, shortbread… But the tropical fruits are still there. A feeling of putty and paint too, then some pepper… Finish: long and indeed, a little dirty-ish, we would have said 'chemical' twenty years ago. Loses points now, but between us, who cares, the Distillery was closed in 1985, two years after Glen Mhor and Glen Albyn, then almost fully demolished.… Comments: I'm feeling the tears rise now…
SGP:662 - 88 points.