The 1975 Signatory Vintage Rare Ayrshire 37 Years might have you scratching your head wondering where in the hell the Rare Ayrshire distillery is. If that’s the case allow me to help by being the first to tell you that it doesn’t. Ayrshire is the code name used by several NDPs for the Ladyburn distillery that was closed in 1975 by William Grant & Sons. WG&S does continue to put out rare releases of this wonderful old whisky, but won’t allow anyone but themselves to actually use the name Ladyburn.
Ladyburn Timeline (via Malt Madness)
1966 – A set of pot stills were added to the Girvan grain distillery and “named” Ladyburn
1975 – Stills shut down
1976 – Stills torn down
That’s right, Ladyburn was only operational for 9 short years and is one of the reasons that it’s both incredibly rare and fetches such crazy prices at auctions. Between its short life span and the fact that William Grant & Sons built it to supply single malt whisky for their blends there really isn’t much of it around. This true scarcity makes it an actual unicorn unlike those horses with plastic horns (“limited edition” whiskies) that come out every year and often fetches as much, or more, than bottles of Ladyburn at auctions and in the secondary market. It’s a topsy turvy world we live in friends.
1975 Signatory Vintage Rare Ayrshire 37 Years Info
Region: Lowlands, Scotland
Distiller: Ladyburn (1966 – 1975)
Mashbill: 100% Malted barley
Cask: ex-Bourbon
Age: 37 years (1975 – 2013)
ABV: 48.5%
Cask Strength | Non-Chill Filtered | Natural Color
Cask: 3422
Bottle: 111
Price: NA – Specialty store, auction or private sale
1975 Signatory Vintage Rare Ayrshire 37 Years Review
EYE
Dark pear juice
NOSE
Starts off with some funky, woody and fruity notes which develop into grassy malt, toasted nuts and a charred sweetness like burned marshmallows and some earthy undertones. I really enjoy the complex duality playing out here.
PALATE
Whoosh, here comes the rich complex fruit with both tropical and orchard notes. A nice layer of honeyed sweetness moves through along with some wood and a nutty overtone. In the background are some darker earthier notes and a bit of something I can only describe as cumin-like (B.O.).
FINISH
Wood and fruit heavy it fades out at a medium pace with some trailing notes of nuts and cumin.
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
Decent balance with the dark and sweet notes being fairly well matched. A nice round body and silken texture that carries little burn at full cask strength.
OVERALL
1975 Signatory Vintage Rare Ayrshire 37 Years is an enjoyable whisky indeed. The battling duality of the light and dark notes play out nicely and I found myself enjoying this whisky more and more with each sip. This is something I would happily revisit if I could but alas the distillery, and the bottle, are no more.
The cheapest bottle of Ladyburn I’ve found recently is carries price tag of over $1,800 which is just a hair outside of my comfort zone… and by hair I mean $1,600 outside of my budget for a single bottle of whisky. It might be possible to find a pour of the 1975 Signatory Vintage Rare Ayrshire 37 Years, or something similar to it, at an incredibly well stocked whisky bar, but it’d be a costly pour. No one ever said unicorns were cheap, but at least we know they can be tasty.
SCORE: 87-89/100 (range given since it was not tasted at home)
