North British 51 Year Old 1962 Malts of Scotland

North British at young age can be somewhat hit & miss. Remember the somewhat disappointing 12 Year Old from Signatory and the very nice 14 Year Old on Californian sherrycask, also from Signatory. At higher age, though, it can be quite beautiful. I tried a North British 1962 before, bottled last year by the Dutch bottler Archives, which was simply marvellous. This North British is bottled by Malts of Scotland a year after that Dutch bottling, making it a veritable 51 Year Old. Impressive, no?

The nose is very soft on tropical fruit. Quite some cinnamon and vanilla. Reminds me of rum in a way, but of very good matured brown rum. Coconut, hazelnuts and chocolate. Very sweet, indeed.

It is very oily on the palate, but less full than anticipated. Banana liqueur, orange and mango, but also some vanilla and oak. Cinnamon and cardamom. The oak slumbers. Surprisingly little oak, in fact, for a whisky that is more than half a century old. Fine balance.

The finish is very mild, but unfortunately also rather short.

This is a very delicate grain. For around 250 EUR, it can be yours. That is 100 EUR more expensive than the long gone Archives bottling. Well, question and demand, I suppose. What can you do? But be swift, there are only 85 bottles.

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