Strathclyde 30 Year Old 1989 Cadenhead Authentic

Strathclyde was founded in 1927 along the River Clyde in Glasgow. With no less than seven column stills they produce around 40,000,000 litres per annum. Today I will try a 30 years old that has matured on a very active oloroso cask, judging by the colour that looks a bit like Cola. At cask strength, obviously, bottled by Cadenhead.

Oh, boy… On the nose you can easily claim that you have poured yourself a coffee liqueur. Mixed with chicken broth no less. This is not at all sweet. It is rather herbal and reminds me of raw red meat and Ricola cough bonbons with thyme and sage. Tomato soup in the back. In a nutshell, let's simply call this umami.

On the palate I now do get a little sweetness in the guise of elderflower and cuberdons, but again some green herbs kick in. The tannins from the oak cask make it quite dry and slightly bitter.

The finish starts off sweet, but then quickly turns quite bitter an herbal.

I had high hopes for this one, but it goes over the top. Thank you, Manny. This was quite a unique experience.