North British Distillery
Douglas Laing & Co Ltd Directors Cut North British 1960 (50 year old) 57.1%

Bourbon
Code: DIR0017
Dist: Jul 1960 Btl: June 2012
Tasted: June 2012
There are some whiskies that have such a complex nose that it takes quite a while to unpick them, and this is one of them. The aromas are ever changing and kaleidoscopic in character. Without a doubt this is the finest old grain whisky I have had the pleasure of tasting.

The nose opens with a serious intensity of herbal oak, which has an almost Oloroso cask richness. Oily, viscous, liquid dark toffee and molasses follow. There’s liquorice coated dried fruit by the bucketful along with hints of tobacco. The grain nips rather pleasantly adding spice and balance. As it opens up the oak takes on a big, Bourbon-like sheen (in fact if I didn’t know what it was you would be forgiven for thinking this was an old Bourbon as there is a definite old wheat/ corn/ rye complexity going on here!) Oh and it positively reeks of maturity. There’s a touch of camphor, lime and dark tea leaves now along with some slightly creamy Colombian coffee and a touch of chlorine. Damn, this is truly stunning!

Wonderfully soft and mature on the palate with oak vanillins and tannins, shot through with some gorgeously spicy grain. Hints of toffee, liquorice, mocha and burnt wood follow. The silky dried fruits have a rum-like quality to them along with a more Cognac-esque rancio. The oils build trying to counteract the grains as they hammer the mid palate. Wow, this is a serious hit! Buckets of warming spice and sweet dried fruit are deposited on the tongue. Hugely concentrated and amazingly long with a silky, cocoa bean after-taste. Yes it’s expensive, but it’s a monumental dram!