Bonnie Charlie 70 proof Charles Kinloch & Co late 1950's

[lincoln imp]

First a bit of back ground to this particular bottle.

I purchased a book called `A Taste of Kinloch` published in 1961 to commemorate the 100 year centenary of their wine & spirits business.
It is an illustrated book of 42 pages
showing all types of wines, brandy, rum and various other things they produced with details of how everything is made and matured, only a single page was dedicated to whisky and the only bottle pictured was this one, I assume it was one of their more well known brands?
What is interesting is it clearly states that people are not interested in single malts hence why blended whisky is popular, apparently malts are too harsh, being "rather too assertive for most people to enjoy"
Looking at this bottle It could date anywhere from 1955 to 1965 but I suspect it is a 50`s bottle due
to the shape and the almost flat bottle bottom.


Nose
Honey, toffee , a hint of lime, wood varnish, orange peel, hot buttered toast, pastry, Weetabix, fruits gums.
A positive start.
After 10 minutes in the glass Belgian waffles.

Taste
Creamy, syrupy jammy, a little spicy lips smacking, bingo
A little menthol comes out, hint of barley sugar with the grain evident at the back of the tongue but this is not your average vanilla high grain content blend, there is plenty of malt on show here.
Gets even creamier with time and a little more spice and some white pepper, really good balance, absolutely no bitterness.

Finish
Good medium length, the spice lingers as does the cream/buttery notes but certainly not excessive as the fruit and spice keep it in check and more importantly balanced.

I remember being sat sat in my chair deciding whether to open this old blend or not reminded me of the phrase "once more unto the breach my friends" will it be an old unremarkable affair, disappointing like the last one I opened last week or something better?
This bottle had a good fill level and when I took the screw cap of the inside seal was almost glued onto the bottle (a good sign)

Old blends are not for everyone but I can find no negatives with this, a quality old blend, my score will probably appear very high for malt heads but I appreciate an old blend that is well put together, just like the old Huntly blend I had from the 1940`s, and it is all about the enjoyment, not hype, price, brand, price, or anything else.
I bet very few members on here had ever heard of this bottle before let alone seen one, just an old crappy blend perhaps, hell no, it`s a winner and an indication of how good some old blends can be
_________________
Pour me a glass please.

[TheWM]

These notes are always interesting reading Lincoln - thanks for posting them up.

[lincoln imp]