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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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April 7, 2026 |
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The Time Warp Sessions,
bizarre Tullibardine 40 years apart
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Indeed, this time, we’re going all in and tasting two malts distilled forty years apart, sound good? It might feel a bit like pitting Bad Bunny against The Yardbirds, or Taylor Swift against Helen Merrill, but why not? What’s more, they were both bottled at very similar strengths… |
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Tullibardine 1966/1987 (52.1%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, #28.2) 
Indeed, this is only the second Tullibardine ever offered by the very honourable SMWS. This vintage still dates from the Brodie Hepburn era, before the takeover by Invergordon. Thanks to scotchwhisky.com, always a seminal website, we continue to pray that it may remain online forever, even if it has no doubt already been entirely pillaged by the asthmatic coyotes of ChatGPT and company. Long live scotchwhisky.com! Colour: pale gold. Nose: really on frying oil at first, after many rounds of frying to boot, but it rather quickly moves towards strawberry yoghurt, cottage cheese, pine needles and new rubber. Wellingtons. All the oddness of old Tullibardines is here. With water: it goes towards carbon paper and Tipp-Ex. Do you remember Tipp-Ex? (A silly joke from forty years ago had it that peroxide-blonde secretaries used to put some on their computer screens. Silly times.) Mouth (neat): truly a malt apart. Tart apples, farmhouse cider, rice vinegar, porridge and a few unknown bitter herbs, sucked or chewed absent-mindedly during a walk in the forest. Which we should never do, should we. With water: as so often, citrus comes to the rescue, but the whole remains really rather bizarre. At least we can say that this is a singular malt. Finish: same again. Quite a strong fermentary acidity. Comments: for those who insist on having tasted every style. We do, for instance. Not easy all the same…
SGP:372 - 72 points. |
That should make things easier for the next one… |
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Tullibardine 19 yo 2006/2025 (52.5%, Thompson Bros., 194 bottles) 
With a nine-year second maturation in a PX hogshead. Colour: copper gold. Nose: let’s admit it, this is rather bizarre too, but perhaps we’ve never been quite so fond of a PX finishing or second maturation. Sultanas and pecans, chestnut honey, pipe tobacco, slight hints of old comté or gouda… With water: it opens up, it lightens, it heads towards old Madeiras or dry sherries. More amontillado in style than PX, unless it was PX seco. Mouth (neat): trans-spirit, somewhere between malt, rum, armagnac and herbal liqueurs, Mitteleuropa-style. Old walnuts set the tempo, raisins play first and second fiddle, while a combo invloving brown tobacco and balsamic vinegar handle the bass. Continuo bass, naturally. With water: it’s incredible how much good the water does it. Superb old walnut wines, sercials from Madeira, zibibbos from Marsala, etc… Finish: same again, with touches of dry ham and ginger tonic. Comments: frankly, we’re somewhere between malt and old oxidative wines. Which suits us perfectly, as we adore both. Very well played, Thompson Bros.
SGP:272 - 88 points. |
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