Whisky: Glenburgie 40 Year (1980), Douglas Laing Xtra Old Particular

Country/Region: Scotland/Speyside

ABV: 40.8%

Cask: Refill Hogshead

Age: 40 Years (Distilled Nov. 1980, Bottled June 2021)

Nose: Melon and muddled mint, lime zest, grapefruit, jasmine, cucumber, fresh, talc, vegetal, sandalwood and mellow spice with mustard seed, caraway, and cumin.

Palate: Medium to light bodied, subdued and subtle, jasmine tea and dusty red earth, hints of melon and cream, memories of the spice market, metallic and rust, shredded coconut, plantain, mint, peppercorn, hints of sarsaparilla and sassafras. My wife picked out grapefruit and perilla leaf as the notes she found most dominant.

Finish: Medium-length with subtle herbal spice, citrus rind, red clay.

Score: 7-8

Mental Image: Memories of Market Side Streets

Narrative & Notes: I poured this as dram #24, the final whisky, on a “Holiday Mystery Whisky Advent Calendar” and guessed it was a single malt from Rosebank, the shuttered Lowland Distillery. I had no idea what to guess; the possibilities seemed limitless. All I knew for sure was that the final pour was epic, so I threw a dart at the Lowland distillery I recalled being a bit herbal and funky.

It turns out this was a 40-Year-old Glenburgie. It was a fantastic coincidence that I had just finished typing up reviews for a pair of younger Glenburgie and wrote about how much I love the distillery— or, perhaps even better, I started December with a review of a 30 Year Glenburgie distilled in 1954. It was fitting that I end the year with one more incredible Glenburgie. It was the oldest I have reviewed by a decade and one of the oldest malts I tried all year.

If you read this, google the bottle, see the online prices, and wonder if it was worth it: it depends. Was it worth the experience of enjoying a handmade advent calendar with friends and finishing with this bottle; then yes, absolutely, I would do it again. Would it be worth buying the bottle for me to enjoy; probably not. I love tasting and sharing exceptional whiskies with friends, but when purchasing for personal consumption, I tend to stick around the hundred-dollar mark with occasional splurges for special occasion whiskies. If I owned this bottle, I would almost certainly be too intimated to ever take it out of the box and pour it.

I thought the whisky was fantastic. The aroma varied with several unique elements; I have heard people offer cucumber as a note before, and this was the first time a whisky brought it to my mind without prompting— the aroma was fresh: fresh mint, celery, citrus, sliced green melon. A lovely blend of spices emerged with more time, reminding me of some of my favorite pickling spices.

That spice appeared only faintly on the palate; the flavor profile was relatively subdued, and I got none of the “mouth-coatingly thick and moreish” mouthfeel that the bottle notes mentioned. If the whisky had a shortcoming that kept it from hitting a clear eight or nine, it was the lighter mouthfeel. It was mouth-coating, I agree with that, but it felt lighter and oilier, almost like ghee, rather than the thick buttercream I hoped to find. However, the flavors were excellent, and I loved the interplay between musty, dusty earth, and fruit.

Overall, memorable. 2022 had its ups and downs beyond the world of whisky, and I can think of few betters ways to wrap up.

Image Credit: The Whisky Vault