Whisky: Carsebridge 45 Year (1973), Thompson Brothers

Country/Region: Scotland/Lowland Grain

ABV: 53.5%

Cask: Sherry Butt

Age: 45 Years (Distilled 1973, Bottled 2018)

Nose: Dried fruits and dry baking spices with an undercurrent of pastry cream, very sherried with dried dates, plums, and apples, mellow caramel, cinnamon candies and licorice

Palate: Medium-bodied, dried fruits, dates and apples, licorice, salted pickled plums, li hing mui, brown sugar and caramel; rising bitterness toward the end.

Finish: Medium to short with dried fruits, vague hints of Chinese medicinal spice, and lacquered wood.

Score: 5 (75)

Mental Image: Medicated Candy Shop

Narrative & Notes: The aroma was very sherried with tons of dried fruits and baking spices. Though the character of the grain, insofar as any survives distillation, was largely subsumed under the cask, there was an underlying pasty cream that provided some richness to an otherwise mellow and restrained aroma.  Sometimes, the effect was something like walking into a candy store full of dried fruits, candied fruits, and slightly herbal-medicinal pickled tropical fruits.

The flavor profile was balanced and straightforward, though it had some lovely tart-sweet li hing mui and dried pickled plums that brought to mind local Chinese candy stores.  An occasional hint of medicinal herbs carried the impression from the candy store to the medicine shop, but a rising bitterness threw off any coherency that emerged and unbalanced the final act.  The bitterness initially faded on the finish, but the more I sipped, the longer the finish and the bitterer it became.  A tannic astringency entered the picture like a wrecking ball, and what had been a lovely whisky disintegrated.

Overall, frustrating because it was almost delicious.

Image Credit: Whisky Auctioneer

About Carsebridge

Distillation of malt whisky began at Carsebridge in 1799, before a switch to grain whisky production in 1852 to meet rising demand. One of the largest grain distilleries in Scotland during the 19th century, second often to only Caledonian, Carsebridge was a founding member of the Distillers Company Limited in 1877. The next hundred years or so saw retooling and refurbishment, but generally business as usual until 1983. As the economic effects of the Whisky Loch deepened, Distillers Company Limited shuttered operations in 1983. Most of the buildings were demolished in the 1990s when the site was transformed into a center for cooperage operations, though those moved to nearby Cambus in 2011.