Fancy a dram?

The world's oldest malt whisky went on sale in Scotland a few days ago. The Guardian reports:

The Mortlach 70-year-old Speyside was sampled by a select group of tasters in a ceremony at Edinburgh Castle.

Only 54 full-size bottles, costing £10,000 each [US $15,172], and 162 smaller bottles, at £2,500 [US $3,793], are available.

The whisky has been released under Gordon and MacPhail's Generations brand.

It was filled into its cask on 15 October 1938 at the order of John Urquhart, the grandfather of the firm's joint managing directors, David and Michael Urquhart.

Exactly 70 years later, the decision was made to empty the cask and bottle its contents.

There's more at the link.

A reviewer, Charles Maclean, speaking at the tasting ceremony, had this to say:

"It's the oldest cask of whisky that, in my knowledge, has ever been bottled. The spirit and the wood have inter-reacted beautifully over this long period of time. It's very exotic-tasting whisky made before the Second World War, but purely from a flavour perspective it is just astonishing, with layers of flavour which you really only get with long maturation. It's a superb, beautifully-made whisky."

Let's see now: at the 'traditional' size of a tot (or shot) of whisky (25ml., or 0.85 fluid ounces), that's 30 tots/shots to a 750ml. bottle. At $15,172 per bottle, that works out at over $500 per drink, excluding any bar profit margin on top of the price of the bottle! Something tells me I can't afford it . . . but if any wealthy reader of this blog buys a bottle of Gordon and MacPhail's Mortlach 70-Year-Old Speyside Whisky (its full name), and is willing to share a tot with a struggling blogger, I'll gladly write a review!

Peter