St Magdalene 24 Years Old 1982 Mission Port Finished (58.3%, Murray McDavid, Port Finish, 446 Bottles, 2006)

• Single malt scotch whisky
• 58.3% ABV, ~€90 at auction
• Score: 85/100

What they say:

A 1982 vintage whisky from closed St Magdalene (aka Linlithgow), distilled in the year before its closure. This was matured for a total of 24 years, first in bourbon casks and then in casks that had previously contained vintage port. As you might expect, this was bottled by the cask experimentation kings of Murray McDavid.

What I say:

Another dram sampled on the WOLS HIghland Trip, this time thanks to Calum McFadyen for sharing his bottle of St Magdalene with us. This was bottled at the Bruichladdich distillery on Islay! Bourbon-matured initially before finishing in port casks and non chillfiltered before bottling at cask strength

Colour:

Dark coppery pink gold

Nose:

Herbal sage and rosemary, old oak wood, toffee and caramel, sweet fruit jam, strawberry and blackcurrant, vinegary, balsamic vinegar and sea salt flavour crisps (potato chips)

Taste:

Tobacco and cigar boxes, oak wood toffee with caramelised sugar, molasses, herbal sage, rosemary and cumin, deep black fruits, black cherry,  blackberry, blackcurrant, damson, strawberry

Finish:

Medium long fruity, herbal oak wood

Overall:

A great way to add an unsampled distillery to our record here at The Whiskyphiles. What better than a group of whisky nuts sitting around the kitchen of the Inverness youth hostel pulling out random bottles for sampling. On a trip already destined to be filled with great whisky, this one outshone them all. A little piece of liquid history from my local distillery – one which I had longed to sample since I began my quest to sample the breadth of scotch distilleries. As for the whisky itself, a little overaged and overpowered perhaps by the port-maturation but who cares!