Glenury Royal: 1970 – 40 Year Old (Scottish Highland Single Malt Whisky: 40 Year: 59.4% ABV)
Visual: Moderately darkened gold, with very slow puckering coming from the spirit.
Nose: Cooked apple pie. Honey. Golden Grahams. Almonds. Cinnamon apples. Vanilla toffee. Cherry pocked biscuits. Wisp of smoke. Clotted cream. Water makes spicier. Peppery. Thai seven spice jars. Crushed hard boiled sweets or the aroma of old style sweet shops. More clotted cream.
Body: Treacle and honey. Becomes warming if held but never burning. Fudge. Clotted cream. Thick. Scones with raisins. Cherries. Water adds apples. Cinnamon. Lots of vanilla fudge. Crumpets. Fatty butter.
Finish: Dry oak. Tannins and tea bags. Malt chocolate. Chives. Very drying. Water adds a rum touch. Makes spicy. Plums and red wine. Fatty butter. More chives. Almonds.
Conclusion: Ok, pretty much the most important thing early on with this was that I was really nervous about adding water. Despite in coming in at nearly 60% abv it somehow doesn’t burn at all. I guess 40 years in the oak can do that. Most of my, admittedly very limited, experience with 40 year old whisky found them to be generally very light. You really had to take your time and dig in to get the complexity from them – which is why I generally prefer to max out my whisky at 30 years. I prefer the extra umph.
This, well this is smooth, but very full flavoured and thick mouthfeel which both grabs my attention and makes me wonder if it is already at the sweet spot without adding water.
It is solidly sweet, rocking lots of honey and even some treacle mid body. Give it some time to air and it brings out a lovely, thick clotted cream character which I adore. The aroma has light, sweetly spiced apple notes, and the finish is very dry, though packed with a bit too much oak and tannins. Generally though, especially main body, this is big, rewarding and sweet with lots of subtler side notes to examine as well.
Ok, let’s take a risk. Water play time!
Water makes it a lot spicier, with more peppery notes and some Thai seven spice character – though the release from the high abv also lets more subtle sweetness come through mid body. It also makes for a much better finish – the simple dry tannins and oak now gain complex spirit and red wine notes along with spice. It is a genuine improvement, but also adds a fatty butter character which isn’t as complementary as the previous clean sweet body. Despite that both neat and with water are very good.
A very impressive whisky. Complex, deep, weighty for a 40 year old and smooth for a 60% abv one. Ok, this is a rare case where a 40 year old whisky earns it’s place beyond its slightly younger cousins. I adore this.
Background: So, how I came to pay attention to this one was noticing it was nearly 60% abv at 40 years old. With the angels share I would have though this was damn near impossible, but after contacting my better informed whisky friends it turned out it is true. Was distilled at a very high abv and probably had many other evil magic tricks to keep it this way. So, while looking I noticed that The Whisky Exchange sold it by the measure. Not just a chance to try a dead distillery that I have never tried before, but a 40 year old one. So yes I treated myself. Think that is my silly expensive whisky money gone for a long time now! Anyway the distillery was closed 1985 and has since been sold for housing development so I don’t think we are seeing this one coming back. Went with the ever awesome Against Me! – Transgender Dysphoria Blues for background music when drinking.
