1997 Mortlach 24 Year Old "Hart Brothers Finest Collection" K&L Exclusive Cask Strength Single Sherry Butt Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (700ml)

1997 Mortlach 24 Year Old "Hart Brothers Finest Collection" K&L Exclusive Cask Strength Single Sherry Butt Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky (700ml)

There isn't much that needs to be said about this. Mortlach meet sherry, sherry Mortlach. Two and a half decades later the marriage is still a perfect one. What's the secret? Listening and mutual respect or raw unbridled attraction? Probably both. There may be no right answer, but no one questions that these two belong together. The Mortlach distillery, known locally as the "Beast of Dufftown," is one of those great distilleries that has never been given proper attention by its owners. The distillery has quietly been a key component in the great Scotch blends since 1823, yet few outside the single malt aficionados appreciate its prowess. Yes, the new owners have recently re-released a line of well regarded distillery bottlings, but their availability is intermittent, and the exceptional pricing the original offered seems to have evaporated. It's been a much more successful effort to transition the brand into a proper single malt property, yet this excellent property remains in the shadows of its "classic malt" brethren. The beast, brooding down in the gully, was waiting to be unleashed. Now it finally has been! This is a big boy butt from the biggest of Speyside's blue-chips. Robust, full of character and bottled no-holds-barred at full cask strength. It's incredible we're still able to get things like this out of Scotland and while it will be hard to argue with anyone that this one is "affordable," for what it is, the price is really quite shocking.