AnCnoc 32 Year (SMWS 115.29 "A Vision of the Basque Country")

 

I've been holding off on publishing this for a month, because I've had such a difficult time classifying this whisky ... it's an odd bird for sure. But I think it's more or less settled down, so it's time to alert the world. 

AnCnoc ("an-nock," also called Knockdu) is a Speyside/Eastern Highland distillery that is outrageously rare to find from an independent bottler. I've seen maybe one independent Knockdu (the distillery seems to use the names interchangeably, although the most recent rebrand leans heavily on AnCnoc) in all my years of drinking scotch. Even that, I may be misremembering.

I did very well at the annual Scotch Malt Whisky Society's annual online trivia event, and decided to take a chance with my gift card on this 32 year old AnCnoc expression. It was the cheapest of the "very old bottles" that SMWS was offering, which is slightly worrying but also puts it in striking range. Here are the official notes:

Our noses offered visions of Basque tart, mango cubes and mandarins drizzled with linseed oil and decorated with a fan of exquisitely thin red apple slices and quince paste. The palate was cocoa nibs, tobacco, quinine and a citrus Thai salad. Water provided fresh floral notes on the nose, along with lime leaves in a linen-lined cigar box. To finish, the palate was a sweet vermouth, hazelnut cream and tarragon.

OK, so far so good. Coming from a single refill ex-bourbon cask and bottled at 47.4% ABV, let's explore this old 1990s AnCnoc/Knockdu:

Nose: When I first cracked this, it was very strange. I remember thinking "What am I smelling here? What ... is this?" and being really challenged. 

This emphatically did not scent like a 32 year old whisky... it smelled young and fresh, and had the aroma of an 8-10 year old whisky (!). I initially got shades of apples, orange rind, grapefruit, the merest hints of buttery pastry.

I also got a handful of tropical fruit (mango, pineapple, kiwi) mixed with bitter cherry stones,  along with a thick layer of viscous oil: I would say olive oil rather than the linseed oil of the official notes, but I get the linseed reference because it's very raw and unprocessed smelling, unadulterated - surprisingly so. You'd expect something like this to be tempered, rounded, softened after three decades. The nose on the neck pour was brash and almost brutish with one fistful of fruit and the other of raw olive oil. 

Underneath that was a very little amount of oak - surprisingly little for the age - and also a very faint dry, musty "old books bound in leather" scent comes and goes. Some malted barley here and there as well. 

I thought maybe this just needed a lot of time to come into itself... and after significant time to unwind, the neck pours DID mellow out a shade and the brightness was dialed down. Then I got baked fruit or even burnt fruitcake, unripe fruit in syrup, and so on. And then with some water, it gets a bit floral. 

The overall impression is a little unusual - there are a lot of subtle fruit notes here, but it's offset by that healthy swipe of raw oil, and some dry dry leathery oak. 

So my initial impression was: weirdly muscular and assertive for 32 years old. I would never have guessed from the nose that it was 32 years old. It's so heavily distillate-forward - that second fill bourbon cask must have been absolutely exhausted, because almost no cask flavors are present - no vanilla, no caramel, no spices, very little oak, etc. This is almost what I would imagine you'd get if you put new make in a steel drum for 32 years. 

After a month and a half of cocktails and beer - almost no whisky - I revisited the bottle and was pleased to find it much, much more mellow and relaxed. The first thing I noticed was how fragrant it was - orange oil and a pronounced floral quality burst from the glass and filled the room in the same way that Islay whiskies will fill a room with medicinal scents. 

The nose nose scented significantly older - I got lots of fruit (especially citrus), only a hint of that olive oil/linseed note, more malt than before, still almost no oak, and a nice fruitcake-type scent. Far more pleasant now. 

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, oily. 

Palate: The neck pour was all tobacco, orange, chunky dry chocolate, that raw olive oil note returning, apple skin, orange rind, some oak, raw pineapple, leather. It's oddly far less sweet on the palate than on the nose, with all the fruit scents mingling strongly with the oily/leathery aspect. 

With water, it does open up - although you have to be judicious, since the proof is already so low. (Burnt?) apple pie, orange and mango smoothies, crushed flower petals in a garden, pineapple brulee, lime wedges. Interestingly and helpfully, water lessens the olive/linseed oil note. 

This is, frankly, a pretty temperamental whisky - it varies a lot from one sip to another. Sometimes nothing about this tastes "32 years old." Other times it tastes like ancient chocolate oranges in a library (lovely!). 

In a blind tasting, half the time I would have said this is 8-10 years, probably. It can be rather astringent and bitter without water, if you get a sip with all the linseed-ish oil. 

On the other hand, other times it sweetens right up, especially with a few drops of water are added to the equation. Again - the cask here must have been completely worn out, because there are virtually zero "ex-bourbon" flavors here. 

After all those weeks away, giving it time to settle and oxidize, it was much smoother and less astringent - orange, apple, some gentle tropical notes, malt barley sugars, soft old leather, and crushed flowers. It's still on the dry side, but mellow and dry. Still virtually zero cask influence of any kind on this. The cask must have been essentially dead. 

Finish: On the neck pour, this was probably the best part of the dram (!) because it went on and on and on and on - without water it was an endless (although rather dry) finish - overbaked apple, old oak (finally), orange pith, tobacco, unripe mango, dark chocolate. Nutty, as well. 

With water, also long but sweeter and calmer: ripe apple, orange candy, wet shag tobacco and candied nuts, and ... yes, sweet vermouth. Lasts for minutes on the tongue and in the cheeks - maybe the longest finish on an unpeated whisky I've ever experienced.

After the finish has largely subsided, there is a bitter orange aura left in your cheeks. 

This was largely the same weeks later, although the earthier flavors subsided noticeably - less tobacco, less oak, less pith. 

Verdict: A real curiosity. The cask imparted so little character of its own that after 32 years, this is really still quite fresh and vivacious - pretty unusual. It's far more pleasant once it has mellowed out in the bottle, and the fragrant nose and endless finish are absolutely stunning. The palate remains a bit of a letdown by comparison - it's pleasant and interesting and full of nice things, but has much less depth than the start or finish. A truly interesting whisky.