This mini was rescued from a basement, during a recent trip to the States.
Cutty Sark Blended Scots Whisky (86 Proof, Berry Bros & Rudd imported by The Buckingham Corporation, b. ca early 1980s): nose: citrus, fragrant lichen and copper coins on their way to being eaten by verdigris. It has a strong smell of dust too, acrid and borderline incommoding. adc, who shares it with me, finds seaside gorse, but I do not agree, even if it has a vaguely-salty note akin to focaccia, as well as very dry hay, a dusting of desert dirt and, maybe, oily rags, dried into a parchment. Inexorably, the copper coins come back, though. The nose is rather deep, if not too complex -- that is to say: it hits the back of the sinuses, not just the nostrils. The second nose adds a pinch of milk-chocolate shavings to the mix. Mouth: despite the low ABV, the ancientness of the bottling and the low fill level, it is lively and a half on the tongue, with fierce ginger biscuits, crushed cloves and cinnamon-bark splinters. Perhaps crushed cardamom pods too. Behind the spices are strong salt, hot sawdust about to ignite, and the return of the copper coins. The second sip adds some sticky marmalade, close to a nigella-seed-augmented chutney, and even closer to a cast-iron pot. Boy! this is metallic alright. Finish: long, powerful, woody and dusty, with little of the saltiness surviving. All the same, it is a spectacularly-drying finish, this. There is some menthol, straw (adc), and heaps of hot, oxidised metal -- more tin than brass, now, to be precise, although the verdigris remains; go figure! Further sips see a nuance of chocolate milk or chocolate custard with a drop of lemon juice, for good measure, but this is a pretty austere affair, on the whole. Appealing to a certain type of crowds, then. Fascinating old blend. 7/10 (Thanks DS and ME)
Happy birthday, MD, FH, JPH.
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