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Tue, 24 Nov 2009

Berch on whisky

Circumstances dictated pouring a good strong shot of Scotch whisky this evening, but alas, the cupboard was bare. There was some Bombay gin, but it was not a gin night. There were two kinds of cognac (not quite right), some amontillado (no, for the love of God, Montresor!), some amaretto (um, no), and even a bottle labeled in Chinese with a hand-applied sticker on which I'd written "Evil Chinese Sorghum Liquor".

I'd almost given up, but I thought I'd take a look at the small collection of airline-sized miniature bottles in the back of the liquor cabinet. Some odd stuff, including Grand Marnier, Jaegermeister, and a couple of undistinguished vodkas, but over by itself was -- mirabile dictu -- a miniature of Scotch whisky. I almost didn't read the label before unsealing the screw-top and pouring, but I'm glad I did.

It wasn't just any Scotch whisky, but, apparently, a commemorative bottling, "Celebrating 500 Years of Scotch Whisky, 1494-1994", and was a Lochside (East Highlands) single grain whisky, cask strength (60.5% ABV, 121 U.S. proof), distilled in 1963 (!). I vaguely remember buying some miniatures in the UK in the mid-'90s, and sure enough, there was a price sticker on the back for £7.80. Not sure how it avoiding being drunk up in my hotel room 15 years ago, but somehow it made its way into my luggage and survived to this day. It's not every day you find a bottle of 46-year-old whisky that you didn't know you owned, even if it's only 50 ml. (In orthodox terms, it's really only 31-year-old whisky, since aging is limited to the cask, not time spent in the bottle.)

I opened it, poured, and took a whiff. Whoo! Haven't had any cask strength since a sampling of Port Ellen from my friend Richard's collection years ago. The nose was sharp, spirited (like strong alcohol) and had high, almost fruity notes. On the tongue (undiluted) it was astringent and tannic. I added a splash of water, which brought out the aromas. Normally I drink Islay whiskies, and this was pretty much the polar opposite of those -- caramel, fruit, flowers, instead of peat and smoke and creosotes. Not something I thought I'd like, but it was surprisingly pleasant, and a nice change of pace. I'd gladly pick up a bottle of it, but it's probably not obtainable at any reasonable price, if at all.

After enjoying my wee dram, I set off to find out what I could about the Lochside Distillery. According to ScotchWhisky.net, the former Deuchar's Distillery in Montrose, East Highlands, was converted to the Lochside Distillery in 1957. This whisky was distilled in 1963, and in 1973 the distillery passed into the hands of a Spanish company, and in 1992 production was suspended, and it remains closed. James MacArthur & Co. was started in 1982, and purchased various whiskies to sell under its own name, and the sole review of their Lochside whisky I could find shows a representative label. I was unable to find any reliable information on the "500 Years" bottlings, but it seems to have been a marketing promotion on MacArthur's part in the mid-1990s.

Not a bad result for poking around in the back of the liquor cabinet!

Posted at 23:20 | permanent link

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