Description

A 38 year old Caperdonich whisky. Bottled at cask strength by Taste Still as part of their M&H Cask Selection series. This Caperdonich was distilled in 1968, it was then aged in a Refil Hogshead cask, before being bottled in March 2006. A run of just 131 bottles.

The Caperdonich Distillery was originally opened in 1898 but closed shortly after in 1902. It lay dormant for six decades until it was rebuilt by Glenlivert Distilleries Ld in 1965. In 1977 Canadian distillers Seagram aquired the distillery – before selling it on the Pernod Ricard in 2001. Pernod Ricard closed the distillery one year later in 2002. In autumn of 2010 the distillery was demolished.

Colour: gold-amber.

Nose:
Lots of cough syrup and furniture polish at very first nosing, even hints of varnish but those are soon to disappear. We have then some big, bold notes of marzipan and argan oil (if you don’t know argan oil, imagine a blend of olive oil and hazelnut oil) and quite some old turpentine. There’s probably some hints of peat again… And then this Caperdonich slowly switches to chocolate and toffee, with always something delicately minty (better than ‘After Eight’). And then there’s the forest, with big notes of moss and fresh mushrooms, pine needles, wet dead leaves… And finally the balsamic vinegar and even black truffles… It’s just superb indeed.

Taste:
The hard notes are soon to vanish and let the sherry express itself. Superbly dry but not austere, tannic but not drying, spicy but not biting, it’s all balance again. And we have lots of bitter oranges, strong unsugared espresso, something resinous, slightly burnt raisins, cooked fruits, very old rum. Oh, yes, and lots of chocolate!.

Finish:
Is long, balanced, dry, slightly minty and very chocolaty again. An excellent, elegant, old, rather dark sherry despite the fact that it was ‘just’ a refill hogshead.