Friday, March 12, 2010
Oldest
malt whiskey - Mortlach 70-Year-Old Speyside sets world record
EDINBURGH, UK -- Scottish whisky firm Gordon
and MacPhail
unveiled bottles of whisky which matured
for 70 years in the cask , setting the world record for the
Oldest
malt whiskey
. 
Photo: Claire Urquhart, granddaughter
of John Urqhart, holds a bottle of the world's
oldest bottled single malt whisky
/ AFP ( enlarge
photo
The Urquharts describe it as a malt “without
comparison.” “This is a very special day for us – one we’ve
literally been anticipating for generations,” they said. “Our
family has been in the whisky business for a long time, with
each generation building and handing on a lifetime’s expertise
to the next,” they added.
The family said the longer maturing period helps
provide depth of flavour.
The Mortlach
70-year-old Speyside whisky
has been released under Gordon
and MacPhail's Generations brand with a price tag of up to
$15,000 a full-size bottle.
"It matured for 70 years in the cask and that is what
makes it the oldest
whisky in the world
," a spokeswoman for Gordon and MacPhail
told AFP.
The Oldest
malt whiskey
was filled into its cask on October 15,
1938 by the grandfather of the company's managing directors
David and Michael Urquhart.
Gordon and MacPhail's Mortlach 70-Year-Old
Speyside was sampled at a launch party in Edinburgh Castle,
where it was escorted through the doors by pipers and a military
escort.
Charles MacLean, a whisky connoisseur and
consultant for Bonhams’ auctioneers, described the world's oldest malt whiskey
as “a delicate, fresh, vital,
fruity whisky, with unusual attributes of waxiness and smokiness”.
“The colour of sun-bleached polished mahogany,
a mellow nose, at once waxy and fruity; candlewax to the fore
initially, which becomes snuffed candle – a thread of smoke
– with Maraschino cherries in Madeira cake behind and, after
a while, an orangey citric note, fresh and juicy, becoming
apricot jam. “Surprisingly lively tasted straight.”
Bottles of the rare piece of Scotland's
"liquid history" have now hit the market. Only 54 full-size
bottles, costing £10,000 each, and 162 smaller bottles at
£2,500, have been made available.
The limited edition malt was matured in a former
sherry hogshead cask made from Spanish oak. It has been bottled
in a "tear shaped, hand-blown" crystal decanter with a silver
stopper.
Whisky taster Charles MacLean described
the single malt as "a delicate, fresh, vital, fruity whisky,
with unusual attributes of waxiness and smokiness".
"It's the oldest cask of whisky that, in
my knowledge, has ever been bottled," he said. "The spirit
and the wood have inter-reacted beautifully over this long
period of time.
It is possible older casks have been held
privately but a spokesman for the Scottish Whisky Association
said: “It is our understanding that this would be the first
70-year-old Scotch whisky bottled for retail sale.
“There is a growing international collectors’
market for rare whiskies and an exciting range of bottlings
being made available to consumers,” Mr MacLean added.
In recent years a 62-year-old The Dalmore
and 64-year-old Glenfiddich have been introduced while Gordon
& MacPhail earlier had a 65-year-old malt.
The previous Guinness world record for the Oldest
malt whiskey
was a 65-year-old malt from Gordon & MacPhail.
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:
Oldest
champagne-world record set by an 1825 Perrier-Jouet
Most
Expensive Bottle of Spirits-world record set by Donald Edge
Largest
whisky bottle-world record set by Tomintoul Distillery
Largest
collection of Scottish whiskies-world record set by Claive
Vidiz
Most
expensive bottles of whisky is a Bowmore
Friday, March 12, 2010
