The View from the Golden Promise is a chance to see the bottles under the hammer at finespirits.auction in a new light. To give you this fresh perspective, we’ve called on two experts from the Golden Promise Whisky Bar.
SALVATORE MANNINO
BRORA 28 Year Old, 1982, The Whisky Agency/LMDW, Private stock, ex-Bourbon Hogshead, 51.6%
Once again, the question of decade crops up. Brora from the 1970s are better known than their 1980s versions, which are less peaty but reveal another facet of this coastal malt and recall the malt of the distillery’s younger neighbour, Clynelish.
The nose is lively, rich and fruity (white nectarine). Lightly peated (grilled barley), herbaceous (dried bark, liquorice stick) and spicy (candied ginger), it also brings to mind a certain well-known lip balm brand. Allowed to breathe, citrus (lemon, citron) and freshly peeled pear bring lots of freshness. Finally, vanilla pod promises lots of rich surprises.
The palate is round, with the same fruit found on the nose. It then becomes livelier, with a waft of spices (ginger, nutmeg, juniper berry) filling the palate and preparing the arrival of peaty but measured aromas. The finish is long, with fleur de sel settling on inside the lips as pepper continues to stimulate the palate before making way for a waft of freshness and faraway smoke.
STANISLAS KINDROZ
BRORA 37 years 14th Release Official Bottling 50.4%
This Brora was bottled from several refill American white oak hogsheads filled with spirit produced in 1978. The first aromas are incredibly pure. Unsurprisingly, we find lots of waxy, mineral (wet stone, sand), saline (seawater) and lemon notes. This seaside atmosphere lends incredible charm to the tasting. A very light smoke is present in the background. This is a very subtle Brora that demands time. The palate further anchors us on the coast. It’s impossible to drift away, and who would want to, with such an exceptionally elegant expression of waxy, salty, mineral and delicately smoky notes? Nothing is in excess. No note dominates another, each is perfect. Do I even need to say the finish follows in the same tone? I’ll stop there, because some tastings simply surpass us. What an immense whisky! Every aroma sequence is played so eloquently, allowing the identity of a mythical distillery to beam with unfettered beauty.
BEN NEVIS 1975 Prestonfield 34 Year Old Signatory Vintage 63%
It would be easy to be fooled by this Ben Nevis’ beautiful amber colour, but it was actually matured in an ex-bourbon cask. Right from the start of the tasting, grist aromas meet the taster’s nose. These are followed by notes of very ripe fruit, freshly sanded wood, orange liqueur, molasses and modelling clay. If the nose could hold up a sign, it would read: “only for die-hard Ben Nevis fans”. The palate is magnificently round and more accessible than the nose. Malted barley is always present, from the attack to the end of the palate. And yet its presence serves only to frame the other flavours, which include hazelnut, orange liqueur, orange loaf and cinnamon and bring the malt exceptional smoothness. Notes of fig and pepper appear once allowed to breathe. Orange returns at the start of the finish. Flavours of walnut, almond, dried banana and slightly sour beer follow. In reality, a more accurate sign for this malt would read: “only for die-hard fans of Ben Nevis, aged rums and aged grain whiskies”. Utterly charming!
