...where distraction is the main attraction.

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Birthday Booze: MacPhail's 40 year old single malt, Gordon & MacPhail (current edition)

Thank you to Randy who so kindly detailed my Saturday night whisky party. The rest of the weekend was a blur, though not a tipsy one. Weekends pause for no man, no woman, no child. I'm pretty sure at least one of my daughters was crying for 48 hours. But at least I wasn't crying. Or was I?

Our strict dietary protocol collapsed for one night when Kristen baked two Winning Hearts and Minds cakes. She comes from a long line of fierce bakers, and (though she won't admit it) tops them all. Meanwhile, I received much love from family and friends. Especially from Randy, who really liked that cognac. I wish I knew where the bottle was because I would have poured him a sample to take home.

This week on Diving for Pearls you'll find reviews of three spirits, all of a certain age. This is the second spirit. And this is the only one that's a whisky. It's MacPhail's 40 year old mystery meat. Looks like they've been producing this bottling since at least The Glut. The fact that they still bottle a four-decade-old whisky at 40%abv seems somewhere between goofy and criminal. Clearly, I didn't mind it that much when I found a sample for sale...

Distillery: ???
Brand: MacPhail's
Bottler: Gordon & MacPhail
Age: minimum 40 years
Maturation: OAK
Alcohol by Volume: 40%
Chillfiltered? ???
Colorant added? ???
(from a purchased sample)

Its color is bourbon dark. So does the nose take me on a journey? Well, sorta. It starts somewhere inside a barrel, then floats up into a dunnage warehouse. Except, it gets its foot caught between two staves. Forever. There are cashews and almonds and good cinnamon. Dark chocolate and earth and kale. A whiff of incense. Not much development other than hints of vanilla, honey, black raisins and saline. And freshly sawn planks. The palate is gentle, subtle. Except for the oak part. Cherries, currants and lemon pass through, but only momentarily. There's vanilla pudding, salt and a musty dunnage note. It's mostly violently tannic and increasingly bitter. The finish is like chewing on a pencil. There are some hints of oranges and black cherries. Something earthy and bitter. But it's mostly tannins.

OAK. It's been a tough year, and this is a tough whisky. OAK. The key phrase here is "violently tannic." OAK. It's right up there with Pappy 23 and Forged OAK as the most tannic thing I've sipped. OAK. One should obviously expect some OAK in a whisky of this age, but I've had the great pleasure of trying several other whiskies 40 years and up, and none of them were as woody as this. OAK. While not stupendous, the nose delivers some excitement amongst the OAK, coming across nutty and dirty and dark at times. But OAK.

SPOILER ALERT: This is not the best drink of the three this week.

Availability - A few dozen European and Japanese retailers
Pricing - $450-$800
Rating - 81 (I'm feeling generous towards this old thing)