Mortlach 1990 / 24 Year Old / Cask #6075 / Signatory
Reine Claude
2 186
Review by @markjedi1
- Nose~
- Taste~
- Finish~
- Balance~
- Overall86
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Today’s official Mortlach 25 Year Old will set you back about 600 to 800 EUR for 50cl. Luckily the independent bottlers have not lost their mind (yet) and therefor you can buy this bottle – if you can still find it – for less than half (or in some cases, depending on where you shop, even a third). This Mortlach 24 Year Old 1990 was bottled by Signatory in their wonderful Cask Strength Collection decanters.
You would be remiss if you called this nose sweet. But not if you were to call it very good. It is more umami than sweet in my book. I do get some banana flambéed (whodathunk?), but mostly some raw meat, pine cones and broth. It may sound a bit weird, but take my word for it: it’s very good! Leave it to breathe for at least ten minutes and it will turn wonderfully sweet after all.
Very oily and sweet on the palate, though. Next to the banana, I also get loads of citrus and even some pineapple. The oak rears its head with a lot of spices and some tannins. Some Reine Claude plums and a single gooseberry kick in. Interesting, although I do miss the sherry cask influence a bit.
In the finish, which is very long and round, the umami character of Mortlach shines through brightly.
Again a very good Mortlach (is there any other?) that makes you long for more. This bottle will set you back around 200 EUR, but that’s peanuts for a malt that is almost a quarter century old. Certainly if compared to the price of the official release.
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@markjedi1, was this a sherry cask or bourbon?
You ask rhetorically whether there are any other Mortlachs other than very good Mortlachs. I've had only two: a young (7-year?) bourbon cask and a 15-year sherry cask, both proofed down to 46% or less. And both where just OK.
I do believe the Mortlach Magick kicks in only with sherry cask maturation, long aging, and at cask strength—like with your recent reviews. I'm looking forward to experiencing that magic one day, but so far, nothing. (Benrinnes might do the trick, too, but same story there: I haven't yet had one of the really old sherried ones.)