Royal Lochnagar 30 Years Old Rare Malts Selection 56.2% 1974

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (84)

Colour: pale straw. Nose: very spirity and grassy. Hay, straw… Not too expressive, I’d say. You really need to ‘work’ this one. Hints of fresh natural water (minerals). Mouth: bold, sweet and spirity, with quite some pepper right from the start. Cooked apple, peach. It gets more and more peppery, and even prickly. Adding a few drops of water sort of kills it – too bad. Hints of burnt caramel developing after a moment. The finish is long and very powerful… A rather 'difficult' malt, I'd say, for adventurous aficionados only? 84 points.

Words of Whisky (88)

Maltsfascination.com:

Sniff:
It smells like the alcoholic version of a distillery’s mill room. Lots of dusty barley and cast iron. A tad minerally, and a hint of old bottle effect. Rather crisp, all in all.

Sip:
A fairly gentle arrival, but with a bit of a crisp bite. Green apples, iron filings, lots of dry grist and barley stores. There’s a bit of oak too, as well as a white peppery heat.

Swallow:
The finish shows a little bit more of the OBE. Although it’s pretty intense, most flavors are quite light. Apples, grapes, iron. Some oak and old, dusty barley.

Much like the other one it focuses heavily on the core ingredients of single malt whisky. There’s oak and barley, and all other notes play second fiddle to those. Surprisingly, this happens without being boring or dull, and makes for quite an interesting whisky with those minor notes really making the experience. Unfortunately, I can’t really compare to modern and younger Lochnagars because I’ve not tried them. So far, the old ones are pretty awesome!

BOW (87)

This is an old vintage bottle and the closure may have deteriorated; When opening care should be taken. The item is sold as described.