Category: 1981

1981 Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon Review

I found this 1981 Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon on a dusty hunt 5+ years ago. When I got home I checked the bottom for a glass date code and saw an 81. It immediately went to a specific shelf in my whiskey bunker. A shelf with a set expiration date. On this shelf it […]

The post 1981 Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon Review appeared first on The Whiskey Jug.

I found this 1981 Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon on a dusty hunt 5+ years ago. When I got home I checked the bottom for a glass date code and saw an 81. It immediately went to a specific shelf in my whiskey bunker. A shelf with a set expiration date.

1981 Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon Review

On this shelf it sat next to the 1981 Brora and the 1981 North Port I recently reviewed. Over the years it would be joined by a couple of 1981 Armagnacs and eventually they would all get opened in March 2021. Opened to celebrate that I’ve managed to go around the sun 40 times on this hunk of rock hurtling through space. This is another, and the last, birth-year bottle review.

 

1981 Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon – Details and Tasting Notes

Whiskey Details

Style: Bourbon (Straight)
Region: Kentucky, USA

Distiller: Old Forester
Mash Bill: 72% Corn, 18% Rye, 10% Malted Barley
Cask: New Charred Cask (x2)
Age: 4 Years
ABV: 43%

Price: NA – Auction, Specialty Store or Private Seller

White background tasting shot with the 1981 Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon bottle and a glass of whiskey next to it.
“Created in 1870, Old Forester is the only bourbon continuously distilled and marketed by the founding family before, during and after Prohibition.” – Old Forester

 

1981 Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon Tasting Notes

EYE
Amber

NOSE
OBE, baking spice, rich caramel and vanilla, oak, baked apples, buttery toffee, cereal grain sweetness and a bit of chocolate, copper and leather.

There are current 8+ yo whiskeys bottled at higher proof that don’t smell this good. Damn.

PALATE
OBE, caramel coffee syrup, corn syrup, vanilla frosting, cocoa powder, menthol, oak and a nutty char with a touch of floral notes and copper.

Palate of this bourbon takes a bit of a dive compared to the aroma, but all-in-all, it’s still fun and tasty.

FINISH
Medium -> Warm fade of cocoa, oak and spice.

BALANCE, BODY and FEEL
Good balance, medium body and a soft, easy feel.

1981 Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon – Overall Thoughts and Score

The aroma of this thing is just fantastic. If the palate kept pace this would have been a dynamite whiskey, a true show stopper. As is, it’s still a nice taste of history and paints a picture of what the past was like. This will be important in the coming days as we take a critical reviewing eye, nose and tongue to the current Old Forest line… that sounds dirtier than I meant it to, but you get the idea.

40 years ago, this is what our parents and grandparents, and even some great-grandparents were drinking. And that right there is why I love sipping on dusty whiskeys like this 1981 Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon. It’s a glimpse into a time I never experienced despite living through it (being the year I was born and all); dusties like these are quite possibly the closest to time travel we’ll ever get to experience.

SCORE: 3/5

1981 Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon Label

1981 Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon Review $NA

Summary

This is a fun and interesting bourbon to try. It’s educational to see the evolution of a brand over the years and know what it was to compare it to what it is now.

Overall
3
  • Nose
    (3)
  • Palate
    (3)
  • Finish
    (3)
  • BBF
    (3)
Sending
User Review
0 (0 votes)
Comments Rating 0 (0 reviews)

The post 1981 Old Forester Kentucky Straight Bourbon Review appeared first on The Whiskey Jug.

1981 Duncan Taylor North Port 26 Years Review

Like the 81 Brora, this 1981 Duncan Taylor North Port 26 Years was opened earlier this year for my 40th birthday. And like Brora, it was closed in 1983 along with a slew of others. Several years after closing the distillery was demolished; a supermarket now resides as its tombstone. Though, unlike Brora, the whisky […]

The post 1981 Duncan Taylor North Port 26 Years Review appeared first on The Whiskey Jug.

Like the 81 Brora, this 1981 Duncan Taylor North Port 26 Years was opened earlier this year for my 40th birthday. And like Brora, it was closed in 1983 along with a slew of others. Several years after closing the distillery was demolished; a supermarket now resides as its tombstone. Though, unlike Brora, the whisky from North Port, also known as Brechin, never really hit a cult following.

1981 Duncan Taylor North Port 26 Years Review

It’s not because they made piss poor whisky, I’ve had several great North Port/Brechins over the years. It’s definitely not because bottles didn’t get great scores by well-known writers, because I’ve read many praisings…. but maybe they were just the wrong writers. It seems like the distilleries that get deified happen because certain groups rally around it and everyone else follows. Though, I guess that’s how a lot of industries work, not just whiskey.

As a phenomenon, it’s not something I care to dwell too long on. It is what it is and it’s not always a bad thing, just a thing worth noting and musing on. It can also be a signal to you that when everyone turns right, maybe you should turn left and see what gems are down a less trodden path. Anyways, now that this has been noted, let’s get to drinkin’ and see what this 1981 distilled, 26-years-old, ex-sherry cask, North Port Brechin, bottled by Duncan Taylor, is all about!

1981 Duncan Taylor North Port 26 Years – Details and Tasting Notes

 

Whiskey Details

Region: Highlands

Distiller: North Port
Bottler: Duncan Taylor (Rarest of the Rare)
Mash Bill: 100% Malted Barley
Cask: ex-Sherry
Age: 26 Years (April 1981 – September 2007)
ABV: 52.9%

Cask Strength | Non-Chill Filtered | Natural Color

Vintage: 1981
Bottles: 523

Price: NA – Auction, Specialty Store or Private Seller

White background tasting shot with the 1981 Duncan Taylor North Port 26 Years bottle and a glass of whiskey next to it.
“North Port distillery derived its name from the positioning as the north gate of the once walled city of Brechin.” – Duncan Taylor

Tasting Notes

EYE
Copperish amber

NOSE
Strawberry shortcake, vanilla frosting, coppery malt, milk chocolate, pralines, dried fruit, Honey Nut Cheerios, and a touch of earthy hay and leather with a light bit of OBE.

Lovely, I could smell this thing for hours. The layers and levels shift as it sits with the earthy coming up a bit, the sweet down a bit, and then it shifts back. Each sniff is a bit different than the last.

PALATE
OBE, Honey Nut Cheerios, strawberry shortcake, vanilla fondant, coppery malt, pralines, citrus peels, complex earthiness (mushrooms, leather, hay) that comes off a tad farmy with a slight pop of smoke and caramel.

There is a light “roasty” character to the 1981 Duncan Taylor North Port 26 Years’ palate that wasn’t on the aroma and the old bottle effect really pops here, but it doesn’t come close to overwhelming. More like an additional musty facet that just works.

FINISH
Long -> Starts sweet with dried fruit and strawberry shortcake, but fades out to a hay-like, leathery, slightly oaky, earthy profile.

BALANCE, BODY and FEEL
Well balanced, full-body, with a slick, warm, satiny feel.

1981 Duncan Taylor North Port 26 Years – Overall Thoughts and Score

The previous North Ports I’ve had (2) were quite different from another, so I didn’t really have a preconceived idea about what I was in for. And I’m glad I didn’t because this blew both of them away and has become what I will now think of when it comes to this distillery.

This was a birth year bottle I opened for my 40th. A bottle I bought 4 or 5 years before the big day so there was a lot riding on this bottle’s sloped shoulders. It wasn’t the bottle of the night (the 1981 Brora and 1941 Four Roses tied for that honor), but the 1981 Duncan Taylor North Port 26 Years did get an honorable mention. It’s a great whisky and if you have a bottle, make it last.

SCORE: 4.5/5

1981 Duncan Taylor North Port 26 Years Label

1981 Duncan Taylor North Port 26 Years Review N/A

Summary

I’ve only had two other North Ports to compare this to, and I felt rather “meh” about them. But this… this knocks it clean out of the park. This was a great bottling.

Overall
4.5
  • Nose
    (4.5)
  • Palate
    (4.5)
  • Finish
    (4.5)
  • BBF
    (4.5)
Sending
User Review
0 (0 votes)
Comments Rating 0 (0 reviews)

The post 1981 Duncan Taylor North Port 26 Years Review appeared first on The Whiskey Jug.

1981 Old Malt Cask Brora 19 Years Review

I opened this 1981 Old Malt Cask Brora 19 Years earlier this year to celebrate my 40th birthday. Besides being my birth year, 1981 was an interesting year for Brora and you can find ones that were lightly peated, like this one, or heavily peated like some of the ’81 Signatory bottlings floating around. It […]

The post 1981 Old Malt Cask Brora 19 Years Review appeared first on The Whiskey Jug.

I opened this 1981 Old Malt Cask Brora 19 Years earlier this year to celebrate my 40th birthday. Besides being my birth year, 1981 was an interesting year for Brora and you can find ones that were lightly peated, like this one, or heavily peated like some of the ’81 Signatory bottlings floating around. It was also one of the last big years for distillation as the distillery was shut down in 1983.

1981 Old Malt Cask Brora 19 Years Review

I’ve had Brora that blew my mind, I’ve had Brora that was undistinguishable from low-mediocre, current, Clynelish and I’ve had a slew of Brora in between. It’s not a magical, mythical distillery that only produced the best whisky ever made. If that were the case it would have never closed, it was just a distillery. A distillery that ended up producing a lot killer single casks, but a distillery nonetheless. Yet, that doesn’t stop me, or many other writers, from romanticizing it just a bit.

There is something alluring and tragically beautiful about dead distilleries. The fact that what you’re drinking is not able to made again, combined with the decades since it was produced, gives it an unavoidable air of reverence. And this of course drives up the price, because we all feel it to some extent when looking at a bottle of the departed. But like all whisky, it isn’t sacred. It’s meant to be opened, drank with friends, talked about, and, in my case, written about. So let’s get to drinkin’ and do just that.

 

1981 Old Malt Cask Brora 19 Years – Details and Tasting Notes

 

Whiskey Details

Region: Highlands, Scotland

Distiller: Brora
Bottler: Old Malt Cask (Douglas Laing)
Mash Bill: 100% Malted Barley
Cask: ex-Sherry
Age: 19 Years (Sept 1981 – May 2001)
ABV: 50%

Non-Chill Filtered | Natural Color

Vintage: 1981
Bottles: 192

Price: NA – Auction, Specialty Store or Private Seller

White background tasting shot with the 1981 Old Malt Cask Brora 19 Years bottle and a glass of whiskey next to it.
“Single Cask, Single Malts are noted for the intensity and diversity of flavors they possess. Old Malt Cask range offers the finest and rarest Malts ever to be made available to the enthusiast.” – Old Malt Cask

Tasting Notes

EYE
Light copper

NOSE
Dried strawberries, candied tropical fruit, dried orchard fruit, toasted malt, lemon peel, pecans and baking spice with a light bit of smoke and a thread of OBE pulling through it all.

That musty old bottle effect was super prominent when the 1981 Old Malt Cask Brora 19 Years was first opened, but within 3-4 days it settled down to a background hum.

PALATE
Dried strawberries, roasted malt, lemon drops, dried tropical and orchard fruit, candied pecans, baking spice, and a touch of melon and brown sugar with a bit of smoke and musty OBE.

If this was the only whisky I could drink, I wouldn’t be mad at my lot in life. This is a flavor profile to celebrate.

FINISH
Long -> Complex dried and candied fruits, malt and OBE drift out to a soft olde candy sweetness.

BALANCE, BODY and FEEL
Perfectly balanced, medium-full body and soft velvety feel.

1981 Old Malt Cask Brora 19 Years – Overall Thoughts and Score

This bottle is elegant and complex but kept that musty, dusty quality till the end. It didn’t sit at a distracting level, more of a steady beat letting you know it’s been waiting 20 years to be opened. And for good reason: once opened, it had a lot to say.

It wanted to let you know it came from the last bit of the distillery’s life and that distillery could pump out complex, fruity and slightly earthy, whisky like no one else. This 1981 Old Malt Cask Brora 19 Years is a whisky to be savored till the last drop… and it was.

SCORE: 4.5/5

1981 Old Malt Cask Brora 19 Years Label

1981 Old Malt Cask Brora 19 Years Review N/A

Summary

I’ve had better Brora before, but not by much. This is an outstanding representation of what made this distillery so special.

Overall
4.5
  • Nose
    (4.5)
  • Palate
    (4.5)
  • Finish
    (4.5)
  • BBF
    (4.5)
Sending
User Review
0 (0 votes)
Comments Rating 0 (0 reviews)

The post 1981 Old Malt Cask Brora 19 Years Review appeared first on The Whiskey Jug.