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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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May 14, 2026 |
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WF's Little Duos,
today Strathmill 1988
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There used to be quite a lot of independent Strathmill around at one point, although to our great regret that seems to have calmed down somewhat. In any case, today we shall be trying two mature versions, both distilled in 1988 (indeed, 1988 now counts as mature) and both from ex-hogsheads. And so, we shall begin with the lower-strength one.
Some advertisements are better than others. Strathmill has been under the J&B umbrella since the 1960s and the creation of IDV, now Diageo. (J&B) |
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Strathmill 37 yo 1988/2026 (45.1%, Sansibar & The Whisky Agency, hogshead) 
A two-penny anecdote about this sample, it had ‘JB’ written on it, and of course Strathmill is J&B territory, Justerini & Brooks. So we naturally thought this was a direct cask from Diageo, before realising that in this case, ‘JB’ simply meant ‘joint bottling’. Such is the daily lot of the unfortunate whisky blogger… Colour: northern chardonnay. Nose: magnificent fruitiness, initially on peach and melon, then papaya and mango, before blood orange and Williams pear arrive. This is what we would call an elegantly exuberant nose and, dare I add, a slightly unexpected one. Lovely stuff, only long maturation in very discreet and well-behaved casks can bring about this sort of profile. Mouth: fatter than the nose suggested, more marked by barley, brioche dough, praline, clay, malt… Yet the fruits from the nose remain quietly congregated in the background, with the whole feeling perfectly balanced. In short, this is an old malt of astonishing ease, without the usual cavalcade of tobacco, leather, spice or walnuts that we so often encounter at this age. Finish: not especially long, yet blessed with a magnificent fruity freshness, circling back towards vineyard peach and blood orange. And honey. Comments: care required, the drinkability index is alarmingly high. One day they really ought to print warnings on the bottles.
SGP:651 - 90 points. |
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Strathmill 36 yo 1988/2024 (46.6%, Anchor & The Elysian 8th Anniversary, hogshead, cask #795)
A bottling for Melbourne, Australia. We are of course expecting something rather similar here, especially since the colours are more or less identical. Colour: southern chardonnay. Bur naturally. Nose: it is always pleasing to taste highly coherent duos, although the danger is that the two spirits may turn out identical or near-identical, which is absolutely the case here. This one perhaps seems a millihair more earthy, although that impression may simply come from the extra 1.5%. Everything else could quite literally be copied and pasted from the previous note, which we shall refrain from doing. Mouth: perhaps a shade more on yellow citrus fruits, or perhaps not. Maybe very slightly sharper, although once again that may simply stem from the marginally higher strength. Finish: same again. Comments: as we often say, in cases like this we would really require a double magnum of each in order to uncover any notable differences, and the consequences would be catastrophic. It still rather seems to us that this Australian bottling leans ever so slightly more towards grapefruit. Or perhaps not.
SGP:651 - 90 points. |
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