Black Bull 40 year old – Blended Whisky (Batch #4)

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Black Bull 40 is a high-end blended whisky expression, blended by Duncan Taylor, and has been on the market for a few years now , now reaching batch #7 if I am not mistaken. It’s essentially 90% blended malts (from Glenfarclas, Springbank, Glenlivet, Highland Park, Bunnahabhain, Tamdhu, Miltonduff)  and 10% Grain from Invergordon, all above 40 years old. I’ve tasted bacth #2 quite a long time ago back in 2011 (my notes here), and loved it. Hopefully batch #4 will be as good.  The latest batch (#7) sells for over 500 quid on MOM, and I’ve seen it priced even higher on other shops, which makes this Batch #4 quite the bargain. My mate Sjoerd has written a rather interesting post ranting about the price hike for the latest batches, have a look here.

Luckily i bought a sample of #4 batch which i could afford, and we’re going to review that shortly.

Black Bull 40 yo Batch #4 , 41.9% black-bull-40-year-old-4th-release-duncan-taylor-whisky

Nose : lovely wood notes with sweet smoky earthy aromas,  sherry and sweet marinade,  tamarind and ripe oranges. Some wood varnish. Excellent and classy. 
Palate : pepper and oak,  bitter sweet interplay between the oak and sweet rum soaked cherries,  smoke and dry Oloroso sherry. A hint of grapefruit pith and licorice then more pepper and wine. 
Finish : dry,  with wood, sherry and more of that orange marmalade. 
This, happily, is still a class act. It’s complex, fun to drink, has enough old wood cask notes, which as you know I love, and the sherry is really well integrated, with a nice fruity note, as well as the ripe cherries. Still a 90 in my book. Go and find yourself a bottle.This is how old blends SHOULD be.

Score: 90/100

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