Whisky : Strathclyde 41 Year; SMWS G10.21 “Surfing a custard wave”

Country/Region : Scotland/Lowland (single grain)

ABV : 57.0%

Cask : 2nd Fill Ex-Bourbon

Age : 41 Years (Distilled 23 Nov. 1977)

Nose : Rich custard and fruit— apple, pear, or blueberry— baked inside a creamy tart.  Fried apple hand pies, cinnamon, bananas foster, and orange zest.  Loads of buttery pastry and creamy custard.

Palate :  Full bodied with intense sugar and pastry— fresh hot fried malasadas rolled in sugar and cinnamon and stuffed with vanilla cream.  Rich malty fried dough, vanilla pastry cream, and just a hint of citrus or lemon zest.  Fruit and cream notes reprise as fried plantains covered in honey.

Finish : Very long with vanilla pudding and creamy custard.

Score : 9

Mental Image : Hot Cream Filled Malasadas

Something Similar : Longmorn 15 Year SMWS 7.226 (similar fried buttery pastries, more fruits)

Something Worse : Port Dundas 28 Year (similar pastry and cream, more berries/spices, not as rich)

Notes :  This was the epitome of rich and smooth— even if those are cliched descriptors for whisky, this was it.  It had a lovely thick body and clean clear flavor notes.  This was everything you want from an old single grain scotch— and with an abv. that made it absolutely dangerous to sip on.  Aside from a bit of warming heat near the finish, this just coated the palate with the most pleasing dessert, brunch, or afternoon pastry snack notes.  I really enjoyed this— I was a bit skeptical it could possibly live up to the level of hype a friend had given it, but boy did it ever get there.  

My wife described this one as “rum raisin Kit-kat”.  I can vaguely imagine that as a rich fruity waffle cookie covered in milk chocolate— while that was a weirdly unique way of putting it, I can sort of see it.  I found the malty pastry notes were so strong that this just kept taking me back to custard and creme filled pastries.  The finish on this just lasted forever and this was easily one of my favorite whiskies so far in 2020.