If you remember last week’s “The wood makes the whisky” campaign by G&M one of the most prominent IBs out there, whisky merchants, you might remember I promised more excellent whiskies notes from those guys, and the day after, another little package landed at WI HQ, with this 1974 gem of a whisky. It’s not often I get to taste whisky older than myself, and this one is one year older. A part of the Rare Range, with original distillery labels, this was bottled at 43% and aged in Refill American & refill Sherry casks. 43% might not be a lot, but this whisky feels quite right, at that ABV.\
Smith’s Glenlivet , vintage 1974 , G&M ,43% , $299 (K&L wines) 
Nose : old wood varnish, green grass, quite a bit of vanilla and fruit : ripe apricot, some apple and Rose petals. There’s some chocolate and spice as well as hints of old leather bags.
Palate: Quite zingy and spicy up front with sweet note spicy chilly and white pepper which give way to chocolate truffle, sherry and candied cherries in sweet syrup. There’s quite a lot of wood too, which is toned down with time, giving way to more thick chocolate and cocoa,quite toffeed and buttery.
Finish : Bitter cocoa, dark chocolate and oak.
This is a very good whisky, with a good mix of wood, fruit and spice. I quite love the old profile with the pronounced wood, some would argue it’s too woody for them, It all depends on your preference. G&M do bottle some brilliant stuff, don’t they? and the labels on this series are just classic and beautiful. Were this was a bit more balanced, it would shot to the 90’s. I would have loved to own a bottle, nonetheless.