Mortlach 1954 Gordon & MacPhail Cask 493 43% 1954

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (86)

If I’m not mistaken, this one is 54 years old, more or less! Colour: amber. Nose: it seems that this one is very well alive after all these years! Of course it’s not a restless youngster anymore but it displays most of the very subtle aromas that one would expect from such an oldie, starting with milk chocolate and balsamic vinegar, beeswax, old wooden furniture, leather, roasted nuts and ‘old liqueurs’ and ending up with verbena, old tea, dried mint, various other herbs and old Burgundy wine (game). Much more coffee after ten minutes – actually, it does smell like plain coffee! Mouth: hey-hey, it’s almost restless! Very concentrated, creamy, sweet and fruity (bananas flambéed), with notes of old Cognac (these spirits do start to taste almost the same when they are very old) and old rum (ditto). It’s also a little almondy, getting finally more and more resinous and herbal (tannins). Notes of old sherry too. Finish: long, more on ‘old’ jams. Fig jam? Comments: there is quite some wood in this one but the spirit was big in the first place and stood the oak. Maybe not totally stunning but the fact that it’s still so much alive after all these years is an achievement as such.