Mortlach Tasting - 23rd August - 7pm

[mikeymad]

Mortlach 10yo ( 59.8%, SMWS, Cask #76.50, Sept-1996 )

This is by far the lightest COLOR of any of the Morts I have had today. Anywhere from light yellow to straw.

Interesting wet hey smell comes right off the NOSE at first. Taking a few good long draws It seems that they hey goes away and you have a combo plate of very ripe lemons (hmmm dried lemon peel) and malt.

First taste comes off strong and finished nice. The initial PALATE is nice and rich with a great oily mouth feel. I the lemons comes though for me with a little bit of leather. It really is a nice blend it finished on the mid palate and goes down way too smooth for what it is.

The FINISH is a nice spice blend with a hit of the light fruits hanging around. Again all in the mouth which is what you would kind of expect with the 10yo. .

On one final bigger snoop of the beverage it came off a little astringent at the beginning but it resolved it self very soon and left me with the very nice spice blend (pepper) to finish with

Overall an enjoyable dram.... Not my favorite of the day, but shows some of the base characteristics of the Mortlach make.

[mikeymad]

Welcome back Wave... nice HB addition there

Cheers,

My second HB of the day, it's younger 'brother' was nice too.

Cheers!

I just went back and looked. I didn't catch it at the time but I have the hart brothers 17yo 1980 sealed. Sounds like it is a good beverage. We will see if I have to break into it....

Thanks for the notes on that one too....

Cheers,

[Ryguy]

Mortlach 15yo ( 43%, Signatory Vintage, 5.10.91/9.25.06, Sherry Hogshead Cask #4164, 91/366 )

Glass: SMWS Glass

Nose: Very dried hay, almost burnt-like, also with some floral notes.

Palate: Dry, more grassiness, malty. Not much of the sherry coming through.

Finish: Medium finish with some lemons and a tad of spice.

Another interesting and completely different Morty, still very enjoyable! Looks like Ras may have tried this same one earlier. Many thanks again to Orangedog for this sample!!

[Ryguy]

Mortlach 16yo 1988 ( 59.8%, Andreas Jacobs, Edition 1 - 2004 Raritaten )

Glass: SMWS Glass

Nose: Sweet candied oranges.

Palate: This just explodes on the palate! Very powerful mix of dried fruits, some vanilla/toffee. A couple drops of water makes this even more wonderfully sweet and tasty.

Finish: Lonnng and just really really good! Loads of fruits mixing it up and more vanilla.

Thanks to Mikeymad for this sample!!

[mikeymad]

Just to give you an idea of how much of a private bottling the AJ Mort is. Here is a picture of the label

I even wrote the Bottled in 2004 on there because it didn't have it on there:




But it is good though...

Cheers

[Wave]

Mortlach 17yo 1989 Signatory Vintage Cask Strength 56.9%
Refill Sherry (A Binny's hand-picked cask)
Glass: (as has been all day) A Caol Ila Glencairn (that's Ok isn't it? )

C: Bronze
N: Caramel apples and some sherry overtones. Sprightly.
P: Very creamy and mouth-coating, baked cinnamon apples
F: Chewy and throat-coating like drinking clovered honey, liquorish. sherry notes come through in the end

The best of the day! This is the one I thought about when the Mortlach poll was taking place. Simply a phenomenal whisky!

Cheers!

[Ryguy]

Sure sounds good Wave!!

[Ryguy]

Mortlach 12yo 1993 ( 46%, Murray McDavid, Bourbon/Syrah Enhanced in Syrah Guigal Cotes Rotie cask, /1800 bottles, in tube )

Glass: SMWS Glass

Nose: Rich and sweet, with dried dark fruits.

Palate: Tasty stuff! Very sweet and dry, with lots of dried fruits and spice.

Finish: Long and wonderful with candied oranges and other sweet dried fruits.

Thanks again to Mikeymad and Ganga for this sample!!!

[mikeymad]

Mortlach 16yo 1988 ( 59.8%, Andreas Jacobs, Edition 1 - 2004 Raritaten )


Had this bottle for a while got it from Andreas himself from Germany. He had many very old bottles and I use to buy from him a lot. He put out this beverage and I also for a Rosebank that he put together as well. I don't know about other beverages he might have made. But if this is any judge I would have liked a lot more:

In the bottle (only about 3 fingers left) it looks like a nice dark red amber. In the glass the COLOR is more just a nice clear light red amber

In getting to the NOSE I am become very familiar with this smell. And I am going to miss it when it is gone. It has a really sweet caramel note to start with some grain and wood influence but they are way in the background. Cooked oranges and peaches as well. Very sugary on the nose all the way.

This starts off with a lot of spice and some burn, and then very soon after there is a rush of sugar and fruit juice. Wow what a great experience on the PALATE. The flavors of blood oranges, grapes, almost like black currant (no this is not my wine notes), very rich and spicy with sugary notes in there as well. Peppery and woody round out the flavors.

It FINISHES just about all in the mouth as well. Does not burn that much for almost 60%. The spices with some mixed dried fruit sit there for a while.

This gets an auto vote for 'sad to see empty' when it goes empty....

[mikeymad]

Good call Wave.. on the Binnys

Looks like an easy future purchase....

Cheers,

[Wave]

Good call Wave.. on the Binnys

Looks like an easy future purchase....

Cheers,

Yeah and this one is still available there and at a decent price too! I'll probably end up getting a couple more bottles to augment the second bottle I have in reserve.

Cheers!

[Wave]

And with that I bid you all a goodnight. Sleep well all but with all he whisky that's been tasted tonight I don't think that'll be much of a problem.

Wave out!
Cheers!

[Deactivated Member]

Well done toeveryone for a good evening / afternoon.

Sorry I left early, but I have just re-read all the notes and yes, you managed to find a lot of different bottlings and, so it seems, not a single bad one.

[Willie JJ]

Yes it was a great tasting and served to demonstrate why Mortlach is such a great distillery that more people should be aware of. In particular the bourbon casks were really showing it in a great light (no sulphur), but the odd really good sherry cask (Ryguy's G&M for example) let us see just how good it could be.

Unfortunately, at the moment Diageo appear to be keeping it all for blending, but hopefully at some point in the future we will see a return to a distillery bottling of this wonderful whisky. It has been a great relief to see so many high quality independents though.

Cheers

[Dram fine idea]

Hi folks, looks like you had a great time, sorry I missed it but will be back soon with a few of my own tasting notes, Cheers Steve

[Ganga]

Wow, what a beautiful selection of whiskies. Hopefully this tasting provides some insight for all of you that haven't had the pleasure of trying Mortlach.

[Willie JJ]

I have some Morties that I never got to last night. I Will post notes for them on this thread in the future.

[orangedogofglory]

quite a bit late here - ended up having a dentist appt at the "official" start time - then caught up with other matters. sorry to all! but, here are my notes, nonetheless.

Signatory Vintage Mortlach
Distilled: 10/5/1991
Bottled: 25/9/2006
Matured in: Hogshead
Cask No: 4164
Bottle No: 91 of 366
ABV: 43%

very very mild. almost too drinkable. the alcohol burn is non-existent, and this is one of the few sherry malts where the sherry isn't overpowering. there is a light hint of peat, definitely some spice - maybe pepper, some bready fruity notes - like fruitcake, also seems to be a light hint of cane sugar. the finish highlights spicy and grassy notes. wow, a different take on speyside for me.

The next, courtesy of ryguy:
Mortlach 10 YR, SMWS 76.50, 59.8% ABV

initial aroma and taste of burnt wood, a sweet note of vanilla, strong spice - I added some water and the sweet aromas burst out - strong fruits, a decent amount of oak and some mild grassy notes

very pleased with my samples from this distillery, and thanks again to ryguy!

[Ganga]

I was just perusing through the tastings, looking at those coming up, and noted that we usually do a favorite whisky from the tasting. I don't think a poll works for this one as we all had so many different whiskies. If anyone wants to have a discussion, we can leave it as part of this thread.

[Ryguy]

Ok favorites, hmmmm....here goes.

I really enjoyed the 12yo Murray McDavid Syrah. Very sweet and extremely drinkable!

The 16yo Andreas Jacobs bottling blew my mind, I really liked this one. Lots of flavor and very powerful!

The SMWS 76.37 really stood out as having the biggest sherry influence, especially for only 13yo. An extremely tasty dram!

The 15yo OB, Sig 15yo, and 16yo F&F were all very enjoyable, and really drinkable. All could easily be everyday drams for me.

The other two I tasted were my bottles, so I won't comment on those.

[orangedogofglory]

both of my samples were quite enjoyable - Mortlach is certainly on my radar. But being I had a selection of two, I don't think I'm qualified to name a favorite.

[Willie JJ]

Well the 76.57 was my bottle, but as I'm not responsible for making it I'll say it was brilliant and I will probably try for another.

Nick the SMWS samples you sent me were good (especially the 76.31) but I think there was a sulphur element in the 76.37 that I struggled with. I will try it again and repost.

The Andreas Jacobs was very fine (thanks Mikey), but really it was the G&M from Ryguy that was the winner for me. I'm not big on expletives online but, **ck me, it was good. Thanks Ryan.

You have my permission to send me more samples of that quality.

Cheers

[Ganga]

Funny, I think the F&F 16 was probably my favorite. Seemed to me that it fit me better than the others. The G&M 50, was very good. Flavors and aromas played around alot. Did I like it very much but I wouldn't want to pay the price for a full bottle of this. Now Mikey and I had another sample of G&M 50 from 1939 and it was mind blowing and probably worth the admission.

Mikey still has the remainder of some Mortlach that he needs to post about.

[lohssanami]

I'm bummed I didn't get to a computer on the 23rd as my day got more booked than I realized. A car show (Alameda County) in the AM, followed by a BBQ that lasted into the evening, topped off by picking my parents up at the airport at 11:30PM.

Somewhere along the line, I got sick, but I will take advantage of the sample orangedog sent me and put in my notes tomorrow or Thursday when I imbibe.

[Wave]

My favorite of the night was Mortlach 17yo 1989 Signatory Vintage Cask Strength, the Binny's hand-picked. I've been getting into Refill sherry cask matured Speysides lately and that one emphasizes the reason of why I'm getting to love this style of single malt above all.

Cheers!

[Dram fine idea]

Sorry for not making the official tasting evening and for the delay. Here are my brief Mortlach tasting notes. They are brief because I started writing them out on the Post Reply page. When I was ready to post, they had vanished into thin air (a bit like the whisky I have been drinking)

G&M 15 years old 43%

I enjoyed the nose on this whisky but found the taste and finish too dry and astringent for my liking

Flora and Fauna 16 years old 43%

Very enjoyable. A touch of the cough medicine about this one (in a pleasant way). I have found variations in this bottling from batch to batch. This bottling is one I have to be in the mood for (almost finished).

G&M 1970 43% (no bottling date but probably over 30 years old)

The best of the evening. Similar in profile to the Flora and Fauna but the extra age adds depth, finesse, complexity and smoothness.

Duncan Taylor & Co, 1993, 14 years old, 46% abv (special bottling for the Grill pub in Aberdeen)

Oh dear oh dear. Awful. I have 30 ml left if anyone is brave enough to try the most evil Mortlach ever.

Berry Bros & Reid, 15 years old, 56.4%

Like the G&M 15 year old, I enjoyed the nose on this whisky but found the taste and finish too dry and astringent for my liking

Overall - There are undoubtedly good and bad Mortlachs out there. I found it wanting with the bottlings I chose. I would recommend trying the G&M 1970.