Whisky is made to be drunk. A short phrase so often said but actually the reality is a small quantity is actually made for investment. I mean, I doubt anyone at Edrington expects these silly priced limited edition bottles to ever be opened. Perhaps they are even banking on that fact when they make up the recipes and commission the snazzy bottles.

There is another reason why so whiskies are not drunk though.

Those which cannot be replaced are rarely drunk. IF you have a bottle which has sentimental value perhaps you can open it and keep the empty bottle and preserve the memories that way but could you take the risk? That is the backstory on how I came to buy a 12  year old Glen Moray from the 1980’s at auction last year and gave it away.

My father-in-law doesn’t really drink whisky and his father didn’t really drink it either. He was in the army and bought a bottle of whisky from Glen Moray that featured his regiment. At the time the 12 and 15 year old both came in metal tins with artistic images of 4 or 5 different regiments of Scotland. When his father died he got the bottle and has kept it in his drinks cabinet ever since.

When I first met him he brought it out to show me when he heard I was into whisky. He told me the story and the story of his father and that bottle still sits in his drinks cabinet never to be opened. All of which is cool with me but you just can’t help wondering “what does it taste like?” Can you?

Well this Christmas I presented him with a replica bottle I got at auction after a lot of attempts. They turn up at auction fairly regularly but for months I ended up in bidding wars until I got lucky in the October of 2019. Coming in at £30 plus commission its about the same price as a similar aged bottle from a supermarket so it all ended up well enough.

At the end of Christmas Day I came through with the bottle. We opened it, toasted my Father-in-Law’s dad and remembered him. Now we have the opportunity to take drams from that bottle and remember family but also preserve the original bottle which the old man once owned.

Tasting Notes

Tastes like nostalgia, like family and like the future.

Does it really matter what the tasting notes are for something which is about remembering those who are not with us anymore and the new generations coming into the family.

I think not.