The Pittyvaich 28 Year 2018 Special Release

Tasting notes:
Wow, on the nose, this one opens with gummy worms–and in white chocolate “soil.” Bordered by a little stream of crème fraîche. And they’re feasting on an apricot and strawberry meringue in the shape of a lighthouse, because it’s bright as it can be. Oh, and a cherub is atop that lighthouse about to climb up Jacob’s Ladder, only it’s made from amber and fresh mango skins. And on advice of legal counsel, we must be clear that there were no additional hallucinogenics involved in those initial notes: it’s really just that bright and evocative. It’s the first whisky we thought should have a lumens rating, even though that rating would have to be “Sun God.” And it would nonetheless earn an Energy Star rating.

The mouth is the kind of goodness bomb that would prompt people on hallucinogenics to see the unity of all being immediately. It’s warm and enriching like the endorphins released as one dies. It’s a hug from all four grandparents and a cherry pie at the same time (they’re all master pâtissiers). There’s licorice, improbably, without a whole lot of anise. There’s talcum powder from the aforementioned cherub’s bum. Starfruit in a pleasure star chamber. Jesus’s own white sangria blend. Incomplete sentences. Is a word thief. Where words?

On the finish, it hit us, exactly what’s wrong with this whisky: nothing. It’s a gorgeous smorgasbord of spice and fruit and herbaceous savoriness, all rolled up into a dense umami burrito. Good Lord. This would be amazing with chocolate or cheese–or honey, nuts, or marzipan, for that matter. It’s the universal dessert dram. This dram induces so much wellbeing, it makes you a better person. It forgives the sins you have yet to commit. And even at 52% abv, it’s so lovely, we didn’t dare add any water. That’d be like reflexively adding salt to your first meal upon arriving in Heaven. 

   

Rating:
On the scale of jaw-dropping drams–

The Pittyvaich 28 Year Old 2018 Special Release is for us, right up there–To say that it’s a pity that Pittyvaich Distillery has been demolished is the punny understatement of the century.

   

   

                                                   —Stephen

   

   

–Our thanks to Diageo for the sample!