Lochside 48 Years Old Cooper's Choice Cask: 6799 41.2% 1964

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (88)

LOL, when a whisky is 48 years old, do you really need to add on the label that those were ‘long years’? Just joking. As for this being a grain, I guess you know that just like Ben Nevis, Lochside used to shelter a column still along the pot stills for a while. And I remember well a Lochside grain by James MacArthur (green label) that used to be pure rocket fuel. So funny! Colour: amber. Nose: between rum and bourbon, with plenty of pencil shavings. Including pencil lead, mind you. And yet it remained soft like an angel, until more and more turpentine comes out. Along many compounds ending with –ol. I find this beautifully intriguing, but a little scary with regards to the palate. Let’s see… Mouth: the definition of smoothness. It’s a miracle that the oak didn’t take over, and only imparted notes of suntan lotion (right, coconut-based suntan oil). It’s all on pastries, shortbread, croissants, Danish cookies, butterscotch, amaretti… And there are even crystallised cherries somewhere… Maraschino? This is all very delicate, and anything but tired or over-oaked. A genuine miracle… Finish: quite short, but still smooth and balanced. Hazelnut liqueur, perhaps, Werther’s Originals… Comments: it’s almost as old as Keith Richards, and just like Keef, it’s as alive as a newborn kitten (S., that was lame!) A very, very lovely old thing – despite all the pencil shavings.