Whisky: Strathisla 30 Year, Gordon & MacPhail

Country/Region: Scotland/Speyside

ABV: 43%

Cask: Oak

Age: 30 Years

Nose: Refined and rich; leather, shoe polish, lacquered wood, dried fruits, cherries; more dark chocolate, coffee, and anise with time.

Palate: Medium to light-bodied, dried fruits, syrupy plums, li hing mui and salty-tart spice, leather and brown sugar toward the end, hints of coffee and dark chocolate.

Finish: Medium-length with dates and flourless cake.

Score: 8 (86)

Mental Image: Cat in a Tux

Narrative & Notes: Rich and savory, the whisky radiated class and refinement with leather shoes, shoe polish, lacquered wood, dried fruits, and sticky cherry sauce over vanilla ice cream.  Dark chocolate emerged with roasty, rich notes of coffee beans and a touch of anise— a shot of sambuca and espresso perhaps?  Medium to light-bodied on the palate with a similar spread of dried fruits, berries in syrup, and plums.  A sweet spice left the impression of plums wrapped in shiso or dusted with li hing.  More leather and brown sugar lingered at the end with a touch of dark roasted coffee and chocolate.  The finish was medium-length with dried dates and decadent flourless cake.

The whole idea of a whisky with an “old school sherry profile” is a bit hard to wrap your head around until you experience it.  I think this is true of many whisky touchstones— the herbal funky finish on some vintage malts, the old bottle effect, the rotten wood of some older malts, or the mango tree on 1960s Bowmore— these are things that you can read, or be told about, but until you experience them, it is hard to know what they mean exactly.

This was bursting with old school sherry notes— it had a richness and gentleness born of the  less assertive cask, the age, and the adjusted bottle strength.  It was not just sticky fruits, there was a savory element to it and other old school sherry malts that often reminds me of an old school steak house— or any restaurant whose aesthetic still leans on leather and lacquered wood.

Overall, beautiful stuff— I had heard these old Gordon & MacPhail Strathisla were good, and so it was.