Merry Christmas from Springbank. In August! : Spirit Of Freedom 30 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky

It is yet another Friday on the global procession towards Christmas. For those of you who work in or around retail, you’ll be aware that around this time business start to propose their Xmas line ups to the world, in preparation for those magazines who need a good long run up at events such as this.

Thankfully, running a website means that we don’t have to write about anything until the very last moment it is required- but our other print outlets in the media, such as magazines and books, do require a fair amount of notice, so it is nice to see the odd email popping into our inbox with a nod in the direction to how we can help you spend your gifting pounds in December and I’m sure you’ll hear more about those from us, on here (and other places) when the chill reality sets in and the snow begins to fall.

However, in with some of the more Christmas-facing press releases and emails, there are often ones about products which have suddenly, without warning, appeared on a shelf somewhere. Traditionally a silly season for news (of all kinds- John Lennon 40 Year Old Scotch whisky anyone?!) it can often be hard to pick out the good from the bad, or the good from the mad.

Here at Caskstrength.net we do receive press samples for review, sometimes for this site, sometime for books we are writing, or contributing to, and sometimes for articles we may be writing elsewhere or discussions we might be involve in. And of course we also buy booze- lots of it. A fair amount of brandy, gin, absinthe, rum, aquavit and other great potables were purchased as research (yes, research...) for our forthcoming book, but nothing gets us more excited, our wallets out faster, than an exciting new whisky purchase.

And last week that is exactly what happened, when I heard about a new release from J & A Mitchell, the chaps behind Springbank Distillery and Wm Cadenheads, when they announced a very limited edition (2014 bottles) 30 Year Old blended Scotch whisky.

All apparently exactly 30 years old (so all from 1984) and constructed from 75% malt and 25% grain, the chaps down in Campbeltown are known for having some exceptional old casks hidden away. So, what price on this 30 year old Scotch... just £75. Yeah, £75.

Spirit of Freedom – 30 Years Old - Blended Scotch Whisky – 2014 bottles only - 46% abv – 70cl - £72.95 here and £74.20 here

Nose: A strong vanilla and fennel note rises with a butter back bone and just a delicate hint of smoke. Walnuts and honey mix well, to give some sandlewood. Peaches and green apple too and a hint of pine. Sea salt. This smells like a blend of old- those great value ones from the 1970’s and 1980’s you can pick up for such great value at auction sites nowadays.

Palate:  Very, very drinkable at its bottled strength, it sits on the palate with a good dollop of oil and pineapple juice. A hint of coal dust in the background, gives a great foundation to tropical fruits and big butterscotch from the grain. A classic blend.

Finish: Oddly, probably the best bit (quite a feat given the nose and palate) with juicy fruit tropical chewing gum, more pineapple, honey, syrup and cinnamon spices with just a hint of that coal dust again.

Overall: For £75 you just can’t go wrong. Not at all.

At this price, you can drink this neat by the fireside, in preparation for Christmas, or you can run headlong in the opposite direction and, while there is still some sunshine left in the sky, dodge the gathering clouds, head out to your garden and drink this in a simply stunning highball.

“What, with a 30 year old blended Scotch whisky?” I hear you cry?!

Yup. With a 30 year old blended Scotch whisky. Happy Christmas!

Cheap As Chips: Cadenhead's 1973 Glenfiddich and 1976 Dalmore Single Malt Scotch Whiskies

Those of you who have read this site for a while will remember back to my 30th birthday. In the years leading up to it, I had assembled a collection of bottles from the year of my birth, 1979. Doing so wasn't too difficult (this was in the days when one could purchase a bottle of 1979 Port Ellen from an indie bottler for under £100, and an OB for little over that) and the army of drams which were opened on my celebration day would grace any high end hotel nowadays.

I'm not one of those people who perpetually complain about the price of whisky rising. I understand that it is a finite product and if demand rises, so will prices. Doing so, is like complaining about the current house prices in certain parts of London. 20 years ago, I could have probably afforded to live in, say, Notting Hill. But not these days. Do I complain? No, I just go and live somewhere that is nice and affordable. Move on. Literally.

The price of a bottle of whisky is not determined just by the demand for mature stocks, however. As discussed in a post from last week about the possible shortage of casks coming over from America (legislation tbc), cash-flow plays a major part, too. If more money is needed now to lay stocks down for the future, then you'll more than likely see an uplift in the cost of your beloved dram.

All of this is going to have an effect on whiskies from the year of my birth, 1979 especially when people like me actually go and open the damn things. More so, any Scotch from the 1970’s seems to have seen a fairly hefty price hike in the last few years and my thoughts go out to you if you were born in the 60's, 50's or, god forbid, the 1940s and you’re looking to purchase birthday bottles! My advice would be: stockpile now if you want something to drink on your special birthday in the future.

However, there is hope! The indie bottler often rides to the rescue of those indeed of a rare, old dram and we feature a few of them on this site every so often. But one bottler who we hardly ever talk about (in fact, I don't think we ever do) is Cadenhead’s.

The last time we had a wee drop from these chaps was down in Campbeltown after a visit to Springbank distillery. They have a shop locally and sell some quite astonishing stuff at exceptionally low prices. I used to frequent their shop in London's Covent Garden (before rent price hikes forced them out to Marylebone- see what they did there? When faced with a price hike, they just moved on...) but have sadly not taken the time out to check out their new London store.

Silly me.

Why? Because of bottling such as this:

Cadenhead's 43 yo Glenlivet

I discovered this wee treat behind the bar at the Royal Oak  pub in Dufftown a few weeks ago. Not many people have whisky dating back this far. And not many sell it for well under £200 a bottle. Yeah, you heard: under £200 a bottle.

So, what do Candenhead’s have in store for future release? Well, one of them is their most expensive bottling ever, a 41 year old Glenfiddich from 1973 which comes, as Brand Ambassdor Mark Watt excitedly tells me "in a cardboard box!" and is a single cask which yielded just 96 bottles, retailing for £450.

Glenfiddich - 1973 – 41 Years Old – Wm. Cadenhead – 96 bottles only - 43.1% abv

Nose: A complex nose of sandalwood, petrichor, old diesel locomotives, school desks and furniture polish. This is like sticking your nose into a 1960's ercol cabinet. Some orange peel, fig, angostura bitters... this would be brilliant in an Old Fashioned.  

Palate: Rich and oily, it starts off with apricot jam, dark chocolate-dipped candied orange, some more sandalwood, cinnamon sticks and ginger. Rich and mouthfilling, this could have been dry and woody, but it is as refreshing as a dewy walk through an autumnal wood at dawn.

 

Finish: Apricots, old armagnac and a hint of menthol.

Overall: Rich with great woody notes, a full body and lots of fresh fruits. Fantastic.

Alongside this release is a single cask 37 year old Dalmore, retailing at an astonishing £170.

Dalmore - 1976 – 37 Years Old – Wm. Cadenhead - 150 – 46.4% abv

Nose: Brandy butter, rich clotted cream, some marzipan and toasted almonds give way to the oak, which takes a while to lift from the glass, but once it does it provides a good spicy topline, finally resting on fresh pine needles.

Palate: Vanilla again, rounded with cinnamon and green apple, which quickly develops into toffee apple and light, runny honey. The palate also has an element of watermelon and pear drop sweets. Some custard notes, too.

Finish: Rhubarb and custard sweets.

Overall: A great dram at a stella price, this is all about the vanilla, cinnamon spice and rhubarb & custard.

So, if you look hard enough, you'll find the odd bottle out there which is extremely good value for a well aged product. Just keep your eyes peeled.

1966. What happened then? Something great. And it wasn't football related!

Back in the day when the proprietors were Bulloch Lade & Co, before the distillery was closed in 1972 and rebuilt again (re-opening in 1974), this Caol Ila arrived on earth. After 17 years of knocking about in a cask, watching on as its parent was swallowed up into major drinks company after major drinks company, it was eventually bottled by Cadenheads and sent out on to the mean streets of the 1980's. A time when distilleries were closing down at an alarming rate and when blends were all that mattered. Let's see how this mid-1980's release fairs in todays palate:

Caol Ila - 17 YO -Cadenheads Bottling - Distilled Feb 1966 - Bottled Oct 1983 - 46% Vol - 70cl

N- Big hit of peat. This is unmistakably Caol Ila. I was given some and not told what it was, but the pre-face lift personality of this distillery still shines though in the nose (unlike human face lifts!). However, there is much more to this than the modern day Caol Ila. There are tinned pineapples in syrup, a touch of mango. Stuff you would expect from those good Bowmores. You know, the really expensive ones they do now-a-days! Personal to me, or any other Norskmen reading: there is a real smell of my Morfar's boat house in Norway, (up in Hodneland on the Western Coast of Norway just North West of Bergen). All tar, wood and leather constantly drying and encrusted with salt. A touch of dry fish (cod). Really well layered and lovely to nose.

P- On the palate you get a sharp hit of smoke followed by damp shammy leather, a slight bitterness. Vanilla creme. A light palate and not as salty as I expected from the nose.

F- The palate moves into coffee and dark chocco. Medium in length with enough legs left after all these years to warm your heart and leave you glowing.

O- This is a whisky from a different era. Production methods may be "better" and more refined, but there is something about this era of drams that, I'm sure not as well produced from a scientific point of view, retains character. Bags of character. Like in old films when people are driving cars. The special effects are not as good, but the acting can be out of this world.