We got together for a bit of a pre-Christmas tasting. We started proceedings with a miniature bottle of 1975 Knockando (bottled in 1989 – so that makes it a 14 year old). The cork had all but disintegrated, and the level had dropped significantly, so we suspect that some of the alcohol had evaporated from it, leaving it less than its advertised 41% abv – but we thought we’d give it a try anyway.
Nose: light, menthol, lemon, fig, pencil shaving
Palate: slight, takes a long time to come through – sherbert, creamy, smooth, very little depth
Finish: tanin, vanilla, smoke
As it was, you could drink that, quite happily, with a meal – but not quite the special treat we were hoping for. We followed up with an AnCnoc 16:
Nose: Great. Banana. Floral.
Palate: Woody, mulch – leaves, apples, melons
Finish: Short, but peppery.
Much better. Definitely worth a try. But now we’re really looking forward to this Fettercairn tasting we’re going to try and squeeze in before Santa comes…