Year of the Horse 2026 – 45 years – Blend 1980

With great thanks to the legendary Serge Valentin from Whisky Fun for these fabulous notes; and this amazing score 651-90

Blend 1980/2025 47.1%

These old blends can harbour many wonders, all the more so when they’re intended for such royalty! 

Colour: amber

Nose: yes, this is very lovely indeed, on genuine pâtissier’s praline, with a wee touch of vegetal mastic and pistachio oil, some fine quality green tea, and a few hints of kirsch-laced marzipan—the sort of things to which resistance is utterly futile.

Mouth: if this truly is a blend with any meaningful proportion of grain whisky, then I must be the official whisky advisor to both Putin and Trump. You see the odds… At any rate, it’s splendid, on chlorophyll, mastic and oranges, with a stylistic purity one seldom finds in malts of this age. One’s leaning towards ‘C.’

Finish: rather long, creamier and waxier, even more squarely in the style of ‘C.’ No grain whisky is truly detectable, but then you’ll tell me that’s precisely the function of grain whisky—not to be detectable, ever since ‘Islington’. Check the Web or any AI slop.

Comments: that’s the charm of these slightly unlikely bottlings, to unveil unsuspected surprises (pleonasm alert, S.) SGP:651 - 90 points.

Please consult directly for the reference to 'such royalty'!