It was only a month or so ago that we tasted The Last Drop Distillers' 48yo blended whisky - a stunning and complex blend of which only 592 bottles were produced.
Not one to rest on their laurels, The Last Drop Distillers have announced their next release - this time a 50 year old, due to launch in Hong Kong next month. Pricing hasn't yet been announced, but with a previous 50yo release selling at auction last year for HK$85,750 - three times its original price - we can speculate that this release might carry a premium.
This one's particularly interesting as it was initially released as a 30yo blended whisky, then re-racked into 2nd fill sherry hogsheads for a further 20 years, matured in the Scottish lowlands (and has still managed to retain a strength of 51.8% ABV).
"This latest release, a 50 Year Old ‘Double Matured Blended Scotch, comprises only 898 bottles in existence, and has already been awarded 2016 Blend of the Year (26-50 Years) and 2016 Scotch Blend of the Year –in Jim Murray’s prestigious Bible.
This elegant and complex whisky was initially blended from more than fifty different Scotch whiskies, and is a fine example of the Blender’s Art. It was first blended in 1995 as a premium 30yo Blend for the Asian market and refilled into Bourbon wood for marrying. After bottling, a small and precious remnant was then refilled into 2nd Fill Sherry wood Hogsheads and returned to an old traditional maturation warehouse in the Lowlands of Scotland. The liquid was laid to rest for a further 20 years slowly maturing in perfect conditions until it was bottled by The Last Drop Distillers at its peak in late 2015. Over the course of this slow process of ageing, the whisky developed extraordinary richness and depth of flavour, taking on character traits from both woods – stone-fruit and honey from the Bourbon wood, and a rich, spicy quality from the Sherry wood creating the ‘double-matured effect.
The original blend includes over 50 different Malt & Grain whiskies, many from distilleries long since closed, making the liquid an exceptional, complex and multi-layered whisky and utterly delicious."