Description
A 22 year old Glen Mhor whisky. Bottled at cask strength by Diageo as part of their Rare Malts series – a historic selection of single malt whiskies from operational and lost distilleries that were released by Diageo between 1995 and 2005. This Glen Mhor was distilled in 1979 before being bottled in October 2001. This is bottle number 5170.
John Birnie and James Mackinlay of Charles Mackinlay & Co founded the Glen Mhor distillery in 1892, both blenders from Leith. John Birnie was the manager of the neigbouring Glen Albyn distillery but had left the two years earlier.
In fact, Glen Albyn and Glen Mhor worked together very closely for years. In 1920, Glen Mhor took over Glen Albyn entirely. The distillery passed from father to son, with William Birnie, John’s son, taking over the management of the site as his father aged. In 1972, William sold both Glen Mhor and Glen Albyn to Distilleries Company Limited, ending the Birnie family’ control of the two distilleries. DCL ceased the use of the Saladin box in 1980, and eventually closed the distillery in 1983 due to the hard economic climate during the big British recession. Glen Mhor was demolished in 1988.
To enjoy this pale gold 22 year old Highland cask strength single malt at its best, measure one part of whisky to two parts of still water at room temperature. Any slight cloudiness is normal in an unfiltered cask strength malt.
Colour: Pale gold.
Nose:
An interesting mix of floral, leafy and mineral notes; some peppery peat too and some lemon and sweet pear. Gets sweeter as it sits and a malty, cereal note emerges. More expressive with a few drops of water with the floral notes expanding along with the cereal; some vanilla too now. After a minute or two there’s more fruit: sweet cherries and lemon peel.
Taste:
Comes in (indistinctly) sweet with the pepper behind. Nice oily texture. Very closed at full strength and doesn’t really uncoil very much with time. Let’s add water. Ah yes, now we’re talking: loads of zesty lemon along with peppery olive oil and sweet floral accents. Gets more bitter with time but it’s a bracing bitterness.
Finish:
Medium-long. At full strength it’s too tight—the alcohol makes the biggest impression with some citrus and grainy notes under it. Water knocks the grain out and the notes that emerge on the palate hang out a good while.
