Royal Lochnagar 1985 Old Malt Cask 21-Year
44.1% ABV - Highlands, Scotland
Nose: Light fruits, white wine, citrus, pear… with hints of creamed honey and wet cardboard in a dunnage warehouse.
Taste: Punchy flavours of ripe pear, apricot, honey, orchard fruits and spices.
Finish: Sweet confectionery, light fruits and spices. Medium-short… I needed to go back!
A wonderful friend of mine kindly gifted the heel of this Royal Lochnagar to me; the bottle has some sentimental value… but hmm, I wonder how that influenced the scoring!
This bottle was bottled in 2007! It’s so wild to find some of these bottles in the… wild. This was purchased no more than a few years ago from a local ship with a notorious dusty (and dwindling) selection. Old Old Malt Casks by Douglas Laing—yes, old Old Malt Casks—are such a treat. They are often these lesser heard of distilleries for ages and stats normaly commanding hundreds more dollars that the sticker. "Pricing of yesteryear" as I like to call it.
Interestingly, Royal Lochnagar is owned by Diageo and is a component of the Johnnie Walker blend… likely that is where most of it goes! We don’t see many single malt bottlings. All of the releases that I have tasted are from independent bottlers.
Details: Distilled December 1985, Bottled January 2007. (Cask Number) DL Ref. 2181. Refill Hogshead.
Tasting Notes (Official): Nose: Lightly spiced with buttery and vanilla notes. Palate: Clean and creamy. Spicy, hinting at citrus. Finish: Long, still clean, medium sweet with late smoke.
Tasted 21 November 2023. (Posted 5 February 2024.)
