You’ve probably been at a whisky event amongst a bunch of people and you were tasting a whisky from a particular distillery when someone near you remarked, “Ah, it’s not as good as it used to be…their whisky was so much better 20 years ago!” Or words to that effect. It’s a sentiment I’ve heard a lot lately. Mostly because I’m the old fart repeatedly saying it. We all look back on the rare and special whiskies we’ve tried in the past, and it’s hard not to wish that current incarnations were the same.
But I know I’m not alone – it’s an observation shared by many, and particularly amongst some of the pals I’ve been dramming with for 15-20 years. We’re often accused of wearing rose-coloured glasses or getting caught up in sepia-toned memories. That being said, we can be objective about this, and you should perhaps read our feature article, Is whisky better or worse today than it was 20 years ago?
To be clear, I’m not referring to all whisky per se … it would be folly and a blatant mistruth to suggest all whisky was generally better in the past. However, there are some distilleries that, on the whole, are releasing whiskies today that are a far cry from the bottlings they released in years gone by. I hesitate to suggest that their quality has gone downhill, since quality or flavour preference can be a subjective thing.
But, having said that, if you’ve been enjoying single malt whisky for over 20 years, there are a few benchmark drams that some of us hang our hats on. You may have heard of these drams in the past and wondered what all the fuss is about? Why are they so revered?