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Adventures in Whisky

By Richard Goslan

The Elgin Marvels

Don’t worry, we’re not taking any sides in the long-running dispute over the removal/theft (delete as appropriate) of Ancient Greek sculptures from Athens by the 7th Earl of Elgin in the early 19th century. The Elgin Marvels we are concerned with are liquid in form, with two outstanding bottlings from the lovely wee town at the centre of Moray Speyside

The Elgin Marvels come from the same town, but they tell two vastly different sides of the whisky creation story

A TALE OF TWO MARVELS

These Elgin Marvels may come from the same town, but they tell two vastly different sides of the whisky creation story. At 33 and 37 years old, they are both graceful elder statesmen of Elgin, and are united not only by lengthy maturation but by their intense fruitiness.

But it’s in their maturation journeys that our Marvels have taken entirely different paths to what they have developed into today.

Cask No. 35.405: Statuesque elegance has had a lot more of our input into what it has become over the course of 38 years. It started out with two bourbon hogsheads, one from 1987 and the other from 1988. When they reached 31 years of age, we transferred each one separately into first fill Pedro Ximenez barriques, where they remained until they were 34-years-old. At that point, we added the contents of the 1987 whisky into the 1988 cask to marry, then at 36-years-old we moved the entire contents to a second fill bourbon barrel, where this whisky has spent the rest of its time marrying in that cask.

The result of that complex journey is a beautifully complex whisky, with a range of flavours ranging from bread and butter pudding through to Belgian dark chocolate-coated brazil nuts and spiced poached pear with blackberries.

Cask No. 7.286: Fruit bomb frieze has been left undisturbed in a refill bourbon hogshead for the past 33 years

Cask No. 7.286: Fruit bomb frieze, by comparison, has been left very much alone since it was distilled back in 1992 and given 33 years of undisturbed maturation in a refill bourbon hogshead.

The result? A no-nonsense, obscenely luscious old fruit bomb, featuring the kind of juicy extravagance you'd associate with earlier eras of this make; with luscious notes of cherry, mango, pineapple jam, fizzy refresher sweets and fruity cold-brew coffee, along with all manner of notes from sweet coconut cream, mint toffee and aged pipe tobacco to overripe papaya, gentian and more passion fruit.

A SOCIETY WORK OF ART

You can appreciate these Elgin Marvels entirely guilt free and without concerning yourself with themes of looting, cultural identity or repatriation. They don’t belong in any museum. Their true beauty lies in their destruction – the breaking of the seal, the twisting of the cork, and the deeply satisfying glug of sublime aged single malt into your glass.

Or you could choose to display them as your own Society work of art on your whisky shelf – at least for a while.