New to scotch

[ahamlin111]

Hey everyone.
I'm new to the scotch world and considering collecting (as well as drinking.) I've made my first reasonable purchase. It's It's bottle of Müirhead silver seal single malt age-marked 20 year limited edition. From what I've found, there were only 5519 bottles made. I have bottle 1950. My question: was this a good purchase? How is the flavor, if anyone has tried it? I've never quite had a higher end scotch. Also, is it worth keeping to begin the collection, or should i crack her open and enjoy it? Forgive me if I sound naive, as I said I'm still new to this world lol. Thanks for the help in advance!

[opelfruit]

Welcome.

In terms of collecting, it's not something I do deliberately but Ive ended up with a small collection purely because I have bought more over the years than I have drunk. If starting out a new collection deliberately you may want to consider how you will start. Some people collect limited editions from many distilleries, others collect anything from a specific destillery, others go for regions or just buy buy buy.

This leads me on to whether to drink this bottle or not. That's up to you in the end, but for me I'd drink it. It's from an undisclosed distillery, so while it's limited it's not really collectable as you don't know where it's from, so I'd crack it open so you can see what a more expensive/older bottle is like.
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"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough."

[ahamlin111]

It does say speyside, I know that's the region but where would I find the specific distillery if it were there?

[opelfruit]

There are many (many, and then some) distilleries in Speyside. Often independent bottlers won't disclose the distillery as they have a agreement to bottle and release a whisky at a much lower price than an officially released bottled, putting the information out there can lead to a telling off from the distillery and the possibility of the bottler not being given and more stuff.

You can try searching the Web though and see what it turns up. There may be some opinion s on there or rumours.
_________________
"Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whisky is barely enough."

[Acksboy]

Crack her open and enjoy!
I say this purely due to the fact that if you want to go down the collecting route then it would be a good idea to take some time to try a few different malts and see what suits you best. I'm quite in to my islay whiskies and am looking to collect bottles of Laphroaig, Lagavulin, Ardbeg etc (doubt the budget would stretch to Port Ellen).
At least if you know that you enjoy the whisky that you're collecting and it doesn't sell at a later date then you can sit back and enjoy the fruits of your collecting labours!

[Quaich1]

ahamlin111...Here's some specific info on the expressions from Muirhead Silver Seal and taste notes for them.

https://www.bestofwhisky.com/us/independents/muirhead.html

They list 6 varieties up to and including a 16 year. No mention of a 20 year. The most expensive is only 48 Euros. I would drink it. Independent whiskies are fine but often the distillery is known too but not in this case. Whether it was a good purchase would depend upon how much you paid for it and hopefully not too much.

Good luck!

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"Always carry a large flagon of whisky in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake."
W.C. Fields (1880-1946)