our tasting notes
here are our impressions...
the tasting notes from the 3th Speyburn Tasting
Gordon & MacPhail 1971 40%
Nose:Sourdough and herbs and dry sherry. The 40% seem incredibly powerful. Overall very dense and interwoven. Paraffin and wax. Later also mango and overripe banana.
Mouth: Dry sherry, pepper, catnip. Vanilla, very oaky finish, tastes like old whisky should taste.
Conclusion: This is supposed to be only 40%? Warming on the way down, very distinct.
Original Bottling 1973 27y Highland Selection 46%
Nose: dry as dust, lavender? Yes, lavender field, nutty, wonderfully grassy, plus honey, a hint of smoke, a little green walnuts and plant greens, hay. A top whisky for the nose.
Mouth: Oily, lavender, some liquorice, herbs, dry sherry again, fennel and liquorice, dry, wonderful wood note. Once really sucked over the cask, stave with the tongue. Wonderful! With water, wax and a hint of sage come through. This herbal mixture is excellent.
Conclusion: We are all totally enthusiastic about this stuff!
Gordon & MacPhail 22y 13.09.1989 - 06/2012 Cask 2056 50%
Nose: dry wheat field in summer and the third tonight, which I wouldn't immediately recognise as Speyburn. Some yeast dough is detected. Block malt, cereal, straw.
Mouth: hay and grass are also the first taste impressions with a sweet portion of white wine. Caramel with cough syrup.
Of course, it can't keep up with the direct comparison with the 70s. But it doesn't need to.
Conclusion: It is independent and good.
Original Bottling for Shinanoya 13y 2004 - 2017 Single Cask 52,5%
Nose: Very clean sherry so far. No sulphur, no rubber. Just powerful PX sweetness - or a tiny hint of sulphur then. Sweet sultanas.
Velvety soft. Like a dessert on the nose, very sweet.
Mouth: : Oily, it sticks in the glass. Callaman thinks it's the sugar. It just can't flow any faster. Sweet and perfumed.
Even sweeter with water, but also even more drinkable!Callaman complains: Now we haven't celebrated it at all. This was the WORLD'S FIRST PRIVATE Bottling of Speyburn.
Conclusion: Very drinkable, very addictive, very tasty - but not a typical Speyburn whisky.
Odin's Living Bottle with 35 different Speyburns
Nose: distinct pear and vanilla.
Mouth: neat pepper in the mouth, distillery character. Nice and malty and lots of grain.
Vanilla pudding with pepper and salty pear. The first salty Speyburn tonight.
Conclusion: The first one tonight that was directly recognisable as Speyburn.
Cadenhead 15y 1975-1991 63,1%
Nose: not immediately recognisable as Speyburn, but WHOLE deep inhale some pear. A little musty, OBF.
Mouth: oily sticky, but again not immediately typical Speyburn, But a wonderful herbal note, honeydew melon, forest honey and neat, dry wood at the back. Resinous, sandalwood with water, brilliant!!! 63% offer room for water. Such a beautiful herbal wood blend with a dash of honey on top.
Conclusion: A decent, very honest whisky. Old School as it's best!
Original Bottling 25y 1977 – 2003 Single Cask 1858 63,5%
Nose: Vanilla, oak, grassy, fermented fruit, pear.
Mouth: PUR burns a swathe in the innards!!! With water, some honey, pear, peach.
With MORE water: really oily and then it suddenly tastes old, like wax, candles, library, vanilla, library.
Conclusion: It has something and invites you to discover it. But it demands a lot of attention and the willingness to work with water. It really oils up with water. Lots of liquorice and liquorice. It seems like the adult Dumpy from before.