INVESTMENT WHISKIES

ISLE OF JURA 1966 - 40 YEARS

On my first visit to Berry Bros in London, I met Ed who works with Doug in the spirits department. Ed very kindly told me the history of the company, showed me around, and we discussed the plans for Grainmash, and the potential of some collaboration - interviews, thought pieces, etc - for a new website at whisky.com.

As we were talking, i noticed this bottle of Jura 40 year old in the cabinet in their spirit department, and asked Ed if i could have a look at it. He showed me the bottle, and i noticed that it had been bottled on November 12th - which was my father’s birthday - in 1966 - which was the year of my brother’s birth - and there i was aged 40 myself.

So i decided that this accident, this coming together of circumstances required some action on my part. I duly bought the bottle, making this the most expensive in the Grainmash collection.

Now, of course i am bound to claim that this makes it a great investment. The truth is, i have absolutely no idea. I do know that, as always, this can go one of two ways -

Business projects can go well and this whisky can be enjoyed one day with some thank yous, or the recession lasts 16 years and Grainmash hopes for a serious collector to emerge and make a serious offer to acquire. There is one more bottle available online in the UK - at Arkwrights - for £1200 sterling, whereas Spirits Corner (clearly trying to get premium returns) are asking £3000 for their bottle!!! Somewhere between the two then?!?

One bottle was put up for auction at Harrods sometime between May and August 2008, with a reserve price of £2000 sterling. We have done our research but have not been able to find out how much it sold for - if anybody knows, please feel free to drop us a line and let us know. We would be interested to hear from any owners of this bottle, with their back stories - why they bought it and whether they have opened it.

So, bought clearly as an investment and a member of the Grainmash whisky collection, this one has yet to be sampled or drunk by any of us here, therefore no Grainmash tasting notes are available. However, some of these bottles have been opened - making it more rare of course. And, we have found some professional reviews. Below are the tasting notes we could find on this bottling:

Tasting Notes by Charles MacLean :
Appearance: Polished rosewood with magenta lights
Aroma: (straight) Unusual nose: at first maritime (salt crystals, hot sand, dessicated bladder-wrack). Overall rich and nose-drying, with moist fruit-cake, maraschino cherries and dried fruits swollen in liquor. Later almonds and almond oil, then cloves and boat varnish.
Reduced (@40%) Maritime and mineral notes persist. Water adds a sewing-machine-oil note; cloves come to the foreground, and a scorched-cloth (ironing board) note behind, which also reminds me of treacle toffee.
Flavour: (straight) Oily, unusually salty, with distinct cloves. Sweet and somewhat acidic; centre palate; dries slightly in the medium-length, warming finish. Lively, and leaves a tingling sensation and a mineral-like after-taste.
Reduced (@ 40%) Smooth and soft mouthfeel. Thick texture. Sweet start; dry finish. Cloves lingering in the after-taste.
Comment: Complex, unique and very interesting. It retains some of Jura’s distillery character – or its spirit of place – while the wood adds layers of depth. The finest Isle of Jura I have ever tasted!

Tasting Notes by Ian Wisniewski :
Nose: Vanilla, raisins, gingerbread, rich and intense, plums and red fruit with a background waft of oak, then apricots and peaches.
Palate: Rich vanilla with peaches, apricots, raisins, with rich red fruit, carefully poised rich-dry balance, then a wave of digestive biscuit maltiness.
Finish: Malty, oaky, fruity.

Tasting Notes by Dave Broom :
Colour: Amber with pigeon blood.
Nose: Fruity, almost PX like, but with a hint of the farmyard (silage) that you get from mature whiskies. Nutty (roast almond) with some spice (mace) and as it opens a balsamic/rancio note that brings to mind dried porcini mushrooms. With water, there’s coffee and liquorice and thick-cut Old English marmalade.
Palate: Lighter to start than you expect, but very open allowing you to see into the dram more easily. Sweet at the start and the finish and nutty on the centre with a lightly gripping almost peppery edge. Pungent and earthy. Armagnac like.
Finish: Softens into a mix of grass, nuts, bung cloth.

Producer’s Tasting Notes :
Colour: Rich golden amber with shimmering sandy bottom, glassy highlights.
Nose: Close your eyes and feel a gentle breeze of pine nuts, gorse and crushed apples drifting into play. Subtle hints of soft creamy fudge, pineapple and freshly baked bread swiftly follow through. A whisper of dried salty seaweed and lemon tea completes this breath taking experience.
Taste: Individual yet assertive the hand of time has made its mark on this exceptionally rare Jura. Complex flavours of dried fruits, hazelnuts and ripe bananas initially emerge and slowly give way to the elegance and charm of the great American white oak – Quercus alba.
[These tasting notes are by Richard Paterson, Master Blender]

© 2009 GrainMash.