Glenlivet 26 Year Old 1972 Murray McDavid

Murry MacDavid, until recently part of Bruichladdich, but after the sale of the distillery to Rémy Cointreau now in the hands of Aceo, bottled this Glenlivet from 1972. It matured for 26 years on a refill sherry cask and has been in the bottle for over 15 years. This was another dram poured by Bert Bruyneel during one of his infamous Wee Dram Master tastings.

The nose hits is off quite fruity on oranges, pineapple and peach, but immediately also shows a lot of oak. Wilde flowers, nettles and some vanilla. Not much else. Even worse, after two minutes in the glass, not much is left of this nose, except some caramel.

It feels rather oily on the palate with the same amount of fruit, but also, if not more, oak, making it somewhat bitter. Liquorice, no doubt. Much better than the nose, though. Maybe I should have added water? Too late now (I was trying this from a 2cl sample).

The finish is slightly drying and rather short, with just a tad too much bitterness.

Did I expect too much of this?

Find where to buy Glenlivet whisky