Review: 1975 Glenlossie Blackadder Raw Cask - Disco Drams Part 1
Buying Candles in Bulk
It is June, the month of both hubby and wifey's respective births. We're only two days apart (insert ooh's & aaah's). Ok well two days plus some years. And, as wifey's year of birth shall remain confidential, this month we will be sampling some fine selections from hubby's birth year: 1975. That's right, the big three eight. Two years left until forty. Not old, but getting very close to not young. Time to start buying those birthday candles in bulk. So get out your bell-bottoms and disco shoes (or in hubby's case your diapers and baby bottles) and get ready for some serious seventies treasure.
Our first groovy dram comes compliments of Ol' Captain Coop. This time our peg-legged, patched and parroted friend went into the vault for a special birthday gift: Glenlossie Distillery's 26-Year malt, bottled as part of Blackadder's Raw Cask series.
Nose: It only takes one whiff of this 111.2 proof beast to know you'll have to head for some water, and more than our typical three eye dropper's worth. With a teaspoon full of water, the nose turns into something unique. The best we can describe it is like a desert oasis. It starts with salt and sand. That's really the only way to put it into words. Dry and crunchy, you can smell the camel hair. An old burned out jeep with some rust and tire rubber. The funny thing is that, believe it or not, these are all good things. It all combines into kind of a perfume-y oily musky fragrance.
Body: Whoa this is a mighty beast. We're going back for another splash of water, and then another. The desert sun and sand stay with us. It's a fire-breather. Pretty shocking actually considering twenty six years in the barrel and then thirteen years in the bottle. There are some faint sweet notes of dessert wine, cream, and lemon. But this one's tough.
Finish: Well we're still tasting it the next morning, so that's some finish. The Blackadder Raw Cask leaves a huge amount of sediment in each bottle. It's supposed to preserve the oils in the liquor. We'll give it that. It is definitely raw.
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| Sediment at the bottom of the Raw Cask bottle |
Review: We're going to save this as an eye-opener on birthday morning. It's not an every day whisky. It's not an every week whisky. It's harsh, abrasive, ballsy, and honestly if we didn't know it was a '75, and we didn't have a label, we'd probably think this was some very young hooch. Wifey likes her beasts and took to it more than hubby, who was doing his best impression of having just dipped his tongue in raw lemon juice. Given the good part of a week to open up, and now at about 30% water, we start to see something drinkable here. There are some dramatic fruits - pineapple, tart lemon, grapefruit. It's a really strong character. Not unlike Blackadder himself. Well we're not likely to see this beast again, so it was quite an experience, and a fun way to start birthday month. Coming up next week, another groovy beast from 1975. Stay tuned, and send us some birthday wishes!
/SmokyBeast
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