Benrinnes 1979 Old Malt Cask

Before I get to the tasting notes, a few notes about the bottle itself. This was a red tagged sale bottle. The seller had bought it from another liquor store that was going out of business. It had been marked down to around half the original price. Distilled in March of 1979, bottled in August 2000. So this has been in various states of storage for 13 years. This may explain the difficulty that I had encountered with the cork - broke off and bottom half was damp. Surprisingly, for a whisky bottled in 2000, the bottle proudly states not chill filtered and no artificial coloring. I thought that those badges or honor were only more recently adorning bottles as a result of consumer backlash. I guess this debate about coloring and filtering has been going on for some time. This is one of 216 bottles taken from the cask. There is no mention of the type of cask this was aged in, but I would guess bourbon.

I opened this a week ago, and had some difficulty with the cork. Had to drain through a coffee filter and recant in the bottle. Luckily, after disposing of another bottle a few days later, I was able to recork it.

That initial nose was not promising. Very hot. Very fusal. It was almost all raw alcohol. After a few days of relaxation, I could tell that things were improving. Enough to warrant a quick review.

Nose is all fudge and vanilla. Hurrah! There are still some underlying fusal notes, but they are much more faint.

Taste is OK. Strong burn from the alcohol forces me to add a few drops of water. Nose is thankfully not lost, and it does become easier to drink. Taste is not exceptional - light apple; nor is the finish - short. I do not think that this malt has found itself yet, but based on the nose, I have faith that, given time, this will be a great bottle.

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