Banff 1976 (Cadenhead)

The story goes that this cask of Banff 1976 was found by accident in the Cadenhead warehouses during a tour. Se non è vero, è ben trovato.

Banff distillery, founded in 1824, was closed down on 31 March 1983 and destroyed by a fire in 1991, so we’re happy casks still appear on the market, even though you can count the bottlings on one hand each year. Cadenhead had quite a few of these 1976s in the past.

Banff 36 yo 1976 (49,8%, Cadenhead Small Batch 2013, bourbon hogshead, 192 btl.)

Nose: surprisingly smooth and easy-going for a Banff (most of them have a few glitches here and there). Fruits like kumquats and kiwi (half sweet / half sour), apples and gooseberries. Vanilla powder. Plenty of wax and hay. Tiny metallic notes as well. Hints of mustard seeds and wet gravel. Some oak dust and leather. Old-style.

Mouth: oily, rather zesty with nice fruity notes (passion fruits, bitter oranges) alongside sweet oak. Big peppery notes. Still hints of sweet mustard. Grows spicier. Some mint. A nice balance of sweetness, bitterness and herbalness.

Finish: long, lemony. Quite dry.

A great Banff, holding the middle between its typical unsexiness and rounder, gentler notes. It takes you back to a different era. Too bad that kind of experience will set you back a lot of money. Around € 320.

Score: 90/100