Strathclyde 30 Year Old 1987 WhiskyBroker

They do not only produce grain whisky at Strathclyde, they also make a gin. And while it is not well-known in my neck of the woods, Seager’s Gin – named after the founder Seager Evans – is a household name in the U.K. for over half a century. I will be trying a single grain from 1987 that after 29 years was re-casked from a bourbon cask into a rum barrel by WhiskyBroker, on which it slept for another year. When I put my nose in the glass, I am immediately reminded of a Pina Colada! Truly, this is honeysweet on coconut milk, pineapple juice, mashed banana, raisins, baked apples, vanilla ice-cream and café frappé! And while it smells lovely, I’m not sure how much remains of the distillery character. Light body, very sweet and actually quite pleasant on the palate, but the question remains: is this whisky? The rum cask clearly dominates. No problem if, like me, you like this, of course. Rum-raisins, banana and baked apples with some cinnamon. Coconut turns very big. I can already hear the Marimba in the distance… In the long finish – that really keeps me on the Caribbean – some cocoa kicks in! While I really like this, it’s just a tad too sweet to be called whisky. It is totally dominated by the rum finish. And I love it.