Tasting Old, Older & Oldest Strathisla

I've been really looking forward to this and the next tasting. This one, Strathisla, and then some even older and rarer Glenlivet. Strathisla first, a big contributor to the Chivas blends, and on its own, often a slow paced sherry-driven whisky that handles a lot of water and improves even further if you're patient.



Strathisla 37yo 1965-2002 51.7% James MacArthur's Old Master's

I will not taste these whiskies in the direction the title implies, but rather start with the lightest alcohol level and finish with the strongest, as usual here on maltdiary.com. The color is amber orangey. It smells of honey, licorice, oak, cedar wood, vanilla, grassy, feints, hints of leather, camomile, tea, heather, floral, juniper, dust, rustic, sand, flinty, old warehouse, concrete. A real aristocrat, never vile, but still very dominant. A whisky that would be dangerous when nosing in group sessions as it'd be talked about and referred to ever since. The taste is sweet, oaky, prunes, phenolic to the max, sulphur in loads. This is somewhat over-oaked for my palate, but I know a few people who'd love it. I'll add some water. Now it turns sweeter, more prunes, raisins, peppery, sulphury, a lot of sherry notes, bitter, salty licorice, really austere, lots of rubbery notes, and to be fair, quite hard to enjoy.

One to nose for hours, talk about, and then drink if you love bitter sherry: 6.5


Strathisla 18yo 1974-1992 57.8% Gordon & Macphail Cask cask#2206,2207

Amer orange hue, a bit darker than the 1965. It smells of peat, smoke, honey, banana, peppery, spicy, smoked paprika, grilled onions and mushrooms, gasoline, chorizo, a lot of that smoky red paprika here, sweet and salty, give this one time and you'll be rewarded. The taste is leather upon leather, smoke and oil, a bit burning initially, rubber, phenolic, peppery, glue, cotton. With water added it turns more bitter, more phenolic, sulphur, peppery, chili oil, really a hot one, to keep warm with in winter time?

Another sherry monster from Strathisla: 6


Strathisla 41yo 1970-2011 59.6% Malts of Scotland / The Whisky Agency

A joint bottling, which if I'm correct, means they've vatted some, maybe just two, casks together for this bottling. Sherry matured, and by the high strength despite low age, this might be one of those great old sherried ones. I remember having a 30-something Inchgower at 65+%abv, which was superb. The color is dark brown. It smells of cinnamon, black peppery, cough mixture, syrup, honey, leather, sawdust, oloroso sherry, butter, gingerbread, quite fantastic old style mellow sherry. The taste is sweet, oloroso, honey, mustard, lemon rind, cinnamon, chili, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, emmental cheese, oregano, basil, earthy. Keeps impressing me. Time to add some water for sake of research. Now it turns more peppery, mustard, blackberries, apricot, apple seeds, oloroso sherry, black pepper, nutty.

I'd say, if a sherry freak, this is that one you can't live without: 8.5


Strathisla 22yo 1972-1995 61.8% Gordon & Macphail Cask cask#7520,7521,7522,7523

A mix of four different casks. Distiller pre and bottled past the 1974 from G&M, I wonder why? At a very high strength for this age indeed. From some very tight casks? The ones I like the best? Really, really, really? If I were a dog right now I'd waggle my tail, but the human putting on the boots doesn't always mean a walk, or? The color is golden, the lightest one in this session. It smells of peppery, vanilla and earthy notes, some mint, sage, fresh thyme, lime juice, lavender oil, blackberries, honey, grassy, bitter, potato spirit, caraway, this is a totally different kind of beast. The taste is sweet, oily, perfumy, banana, vanilla, honey, heather, most definitively some great bourbon casks in this one, more on oak, gin, vanilla and sour notes of mango, oranges and lemon shows in the finish. Quite an unusual, but rather superb Strathisla.

Seems Strathisla also works in bourbon wood: 8



Next tasting: Glenlivet Distillery