Now vs Then

The full line up

For June's tasting, Martin chose a theme of 'now versus then' with an opportunity to compare older style bottlings from three well-known whisky brands, with their modern equivalents, all tasted blind.

Auchentoshan

With a crowd packed into one of the cosy downstairs rooms at the Britons, we got started with the opening duo. Number one initially came over as more savoury, with the second notably sweeter. The first dram gave us a strong breath of smoke, but two was more fruity. One certainly had stronger wood influences: floorboards, furniture polish, sawdust, even the very specific tasting note of chestnut furniture.

These two were from the Glasgow distillery of Auchentoshan. The older dram (two) was from sometime between 2002 and 2008 (judging by the packaging), while the new whisky (one) was the Auchentoshan Three Wood - widely available and often for a decent price on offer in your local supermarket. They cost us £75 and £40 respectively, both very good value.

Aberlour 12

There was a definite change up for drams three and four. Three initially got us thinking of pear drops, bubblegum and cream soda, while its cousin dram four also smelt creamy. Both were very drinkable, with notes of custard and custard cream biscuits, bananas and even sticky cough syrup. Four was a little salty.

This time we were looking at - and drinking - two expressions of Aberlour 12. The older dram (four) was from quite some time ago - the early 1980s in fact. The newer version is again widely available for about the £30 mark, while the older bottle we secured for £150. As with the Auchentoshan, it was notable how well the new whisky went down in the room during this blind tasting, suggesting it's well worth taking a closer look at some of the more familiar drams on the shelves.

Glen Grant

The final pairing of the evening featured something very old indeed: a bottling from 1973 (which, as it was a 12-year-old, featured spirit distilled back in 1961). That was dram number six, which on the nose was very citrussy: organic, grassy, even a bit of fruit salad in there. A really great, distinctive whisky, with juicy tangerines another tasting note thrown out there during our chat. The modern bottling, five, was also fruity, with lighter notes and apples too.

Speyside? Campbeltown? We had no idea, but it did turn out to be Speyside again, with Aberlour followed here by Glen Grant. The older one probably had some sherry influence in there but was mainly bourbon, and would also have been made using coal-fired stills. Despite the age, we got the older bottle for £180, while the modern Glen Grant retails for £35.

It came to the dram of the night voting, and it was very evenly split, with all whiskies getting at least three votes each. But the clear winner was the last of the night, the 1973-vintage Glen Grant 12yo, with nine votes.

Thanks to Martin for sourcing and then presenting such a great range of paired whiskies, to the Britons Protection for hosting us once again, and to all club members and guests for attending.