Banff 22 Year Old 1974 Connoisseurs Choice

Oh, look now, my 10th Banff. This Speyside distillery closed its doors in 1983 and has since been demolished. There's only one official bottling, the 21-year-old from 1982 in the Rare Malts Selection, bottled in 2004 (which I tasted in 2017). What I'm tasting today is a 22-year-old from 1974 that was bottled in 1997. So it has been in the bottle for three years longer than it has spent in cask. It is a bottling in the well-known Connoisseurs Choice from Gordon & Macphail, Scotland's oldest independent bottler.

Yes, this nose is nice and waxy and old school. Mildly fruity on crispy apples and pears with a hint of maple syrup, sweet malt and a surprising dash of smoke. Freshly cut grass. Very elegant.

Great body despite the modest ABV with that elegance again. A little sweet on apples and apricots with that maple syrup, a drop of honey and that sweet malt. Nicely mouth filling and tasteful. Subtly smoky – that must be from the cask, right? Very tempting.

The finish is warm, sweet, and long. And surprisingly powerful. Pineapple on the deathbed.

Liquid history of the highest order. "They don't make it like that anymore, sir." I know, I know.

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