Colour: very pale gold. Nose: this is fresher and, quite ironically, fruitier than the ‘youngster’, as if the cask had been much less active during all these years. Notes of wild flowers, butterscotch and plain butter plus, at the fruit department, high-end apple juice and orange juice. Becomes partly similar to the 1956 after a moment, with the same notes of leather polish, soot and fresh almonds, but also something more mineral. Graphite oil. This one really reminds me of the 1955 that was bottled for H-H Hansen, that I could try on Feb 8, 2006. It’s superbly pure. Mouth: this is a little rounder and more polished, but there’s also more oak than on the nose. Also something that reminds me of the very old Jones Road Irish that I had a few weeks ago, but this is much, much more pleasant. Quite some wood extracts that are in the ‘mint – eucalyptus – camphor’ category but that aren’t over the top at all here, without one single ounce of bitterness. Also sweet spices (white pepper, nutmeg). Very excellent and directly pleasant. I mean, it’s no intellectual ‘I-have-to-scratch-my-head’ old whisky at all. Finish: medium-long, rather more citrusy at this stage and very, very elegant. Comments: much more than just a curiosity or a vanity bottling for emirs in transit at Heathrow, this is ‘damn good Scotch’, as Kramer would have said

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