Strathisla Strathisla Gordon & McPhail Distilled 1948 and 1961 bottled 1981 A special vatting to commemorate the marriage of H.R.H. The Prince of Wales to Lady Diana 40% 1948-1961

Professional reviews

Serge Valentin (92)

This one was issued in 1981 to celebrate the marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. It’s a vatting of both birth years, 1948 and 1961, so its average age is 26yo, although it’s technically a 20yo.

Its colour is amber, and at first nosing it’s very mellow. Some great perfume notes are soon to arise: lavender, ‘vetiver’, citronella, peppermint, and then some torrefaction. It’s not marked by the wood, and quite different from most G&M Speysiders. Great freshness.

The first mouthfeel is a little light, smooth and sweet. The palate is on the fruity mode at first (tangerine, exotic fruit, camomile) and then it gets quite woody, in a fine way (ginger, cinnamon, cocoa powder) and a little dusty as well – who said like the Prince? In short, very refined and elegant and, again, surprisingly fresh.

The finish is short to medium. This malt lacks some power, for sure, but it’s very subtle globally. It’s got some ‘old bottle’ notes both Olivier and I like a lot. We both think malt does age in bottle – almost always for the better -, even if most connoisseurs claim it doesn’t. Sure, the process is much longer than with wine, but we found these ‘old bottle’ notes only in… erm, old bottles, and never in recently bottled malts. Anyway, our ratings for this ‘Royal’ malt:

Words of Whisky (89)