Coleburn 1979 29 Year Old (MacKillop's Choice) Whisky Review!

A 29-year old single malt, bottled back in 2008, from a distillery that closed in 1985, although the buildings still stand and the office & warehouses are now used by independent bottler Murray McDavid.

We whisky enthusiasts tend to romanticise the idea of closed and/or dead distilleries. Legendary names like Rosebank, Brora and Port Ellen are probably responsible for a large part of the allure. In fact all three of those dead distilleries are now being rebuilt and recommissioned by their respective owners. The resuscitation of Port Ellen is far behind the progress of the other two, although to be fair it's on a remote island and requires almost a complete rebuild, while Rosebank and Brora still existed to varying degrees - the latter has actually begun distilling again after almost forty years of silence, which is very exciting! Aside from those three legendary names there are plenty of distilleries that were closed in the latter half of the 20th century that have been sold, with the new owners then bringing them back to life. Benromach, Ardbeg, Bruichladdich, Glendronach and Benriach come straight to mind as great examples that were suffering from the neglect of their previous owners but are now thriving. Then we have recognisable and highly regarded distilleries that were closed in the same period and have been converted into housing or even demolished since; names like Banff, Convalmore and St. Magdalene / Linlithgow, to name but a few. Would that have happened if the (mostly) corporate owners had seen this current whisky boom coming before they pulled the plug? Who knows - it could have been cheaper to rebuild & recommission some of those rather than building brand new operations, but that's not a blanket rule since many were closed for operational reasons. Many needed major upgrades and major financial investment, or had unreliable water sources, or were logistically difficult. From there, even if we only look at the 1980s we're left with a long list of closed, repurposed and/or demolished malt whisky distilleries that were never really popular, have little-to-no hope of being brought back to life, and are now largely forgotten by all but the most hardcore of the malt anorak ranks. And of course, some of them just didn't produce particularly good whisky!

Most of those much-forgotten names produced only for blends, either for their parent company's brands or that of third parties. Here in 2022 in the continuing single malt boom it's easy to forget just how crucial blended whiskies have been for the success of Scotch whisky as a whole. While there are now dozens of independent bottlers and distilleries who only produce single malt whisky and do not sell to blenders, it's safe to say that without the demand of the blended whisky industry in the not-too-distant past many of those distilleries would have joined that list of their closed, repurposed or demolished brethren. And many of those independent bottlers would never have existed at all! Single malt whisky, particularly Scotch, is probably the "sexiest" aged liquor around these days, and it's been growing in leaps & bounds for quite a few years now. But while blends have not received the same level of attention or glory they are still a far, far larger market than single malt, and are the backbone of nearly all of the large whisky companies in Scotland. So what about those closed & dead distilleries that only really produced whisky for the blenders, and seldom (or never) released their own single malts? Are they worthy of your attention now? Well, maybe. These days most of them are only seen in independent bottlings that also have substantial age under their belts, and they're often single cask releases. Which says a lot really, because they're often freaks of nature. Single casks represent the exception rather than the rule, and they may not be a representation of the distillery's 'original' whisky which for whatever reason was never given much attention. 

There's no denying the emotional response that is invoked by drinking a single malt that will never be replaced, or one from a distillery that will never exist again, or one from a distillery that had shut its doors long before the drinker had even been born! But that certainly doesn't mean they're objectively great whiskies. My point here is that the few closed distilleries with now-legendary reputations have that status for a reason - although even then there are no guarantees with any particular bottling - while many of the unloved forgotten, repurposed or demolished distilleries have been forgotten, repurposed or demolished for good reason. But sometimes they're given the attention that they need to become good or even great whiskies, whether that be through the right cask selection or re-racking, or proper presentation (cask strength etc.), or just being from an unusually good spirit run, or more likely a combination of all the above, they can certainly be a great experience. On the other side of that coin, don't make the mistake of excluding or ignoring old blended whiskies purely because they're blended whiskies! So buyer beware. My advice is to do as much research as you can before dropping your hard-earned on an obscure dead distillery's whisky. 

The above precursor probably sounds like I'm about to absolutely destroy the whisky that I'm reviewing here. Not so! But this is certainly an example of a closed distillery that has been almost completely ignored and/or forgotten by the majority of drinkers, despite the original buildings being intact and having been repurposed within the industry rather than being converted into apartments. As far as I can tell the only real official bottling of Coleburn single malt was released back in 2000 as part of Diageo's Rare Malts series, which was the precursor to the company's annual Special Releases. There are still independent bottlings of Coleburn around, mostly from Gordon & MacPhail (including a recent 38-year old refill sherry cask), but the stock does seem to be drying up without so much as a single 'thoughts & prayers' post appearing on social media. Coleburn Distillery was founded in 1897 near the village of Longmorn in the heart of Speyside. The distillery's main claim to fame was being designed by Charles Doig, who invented the Doig Ventilator - more commonly known as a "distillery pagoda". Actually a practical structure that aids in the drying of barley in the kilns, these now-iconic shapes have become synonymous with whisky distillation in Scotland, and can even be found fitted to many modern distilleries that were never malted their own grain. 

Coleburn was sold to Clynelish Distillery Company in 1915, which later became part of DCL, which itself became part of United Distillers, which is now part of Diageo. The distillery survived the wholesale slaughter of 1983 which saw DCL close a whopping eleven Scotch whisky distilleries, but fate caught up with Coleburn two years later, and the stills were never heated again. While the buildings were largely left alone the site sat silent, occasionally being scavenged for equipment, with the distilling license expiring in 1992 and the site being sold off in 2004 to two brothers who had plans to turn it into a luxury hotel & entertainment precinct. Eighteen years later that still hasn't eventuated, but as mentioned above the warehouses & offices have been leased to independent bottler Murray McDavid. Coleburn was a large contributor of many lower-shelf blended whiskies, most famously Johnnie Walker Red Label. That probably won't tug at anyone's heartstrings, but I'm sure that demand kept the doors open for much longer than they would've been otherwise. Production at Coleburn wasn't particularly noteworthy and was typical of these quieter Speyside distilleries: unpeated, with two pairs of copper pot stills that were converted to internal steam heating in the 1960s, shortly before the malting kiln was decommissioned. And that's about all she wrote! The Coleburn single malt that we're looking at today is a single cask 29-year old from Mackillop's Choice, a small privately owned independent bottler based in Glasgow. I've had the chance to try a few Mackillop's Choice bottlings to date, and they've all been quite impressive. This one was distilled in February 1979 and bottled in May 2008, and while there are no cask details on the labelling I'd presume it was a refill ex-bourbon cask. What the labelling does tell us though is that it is non-chill filtered and natural colour, and bottled at a cask strength of 44.3% ABV. Let's get to it, shall we?

Coleburn 1979 29-year old, MacKillop's Choice, 44.3%. Elgin, Scotland.

Distilled Feb 1979, bottled May 2008. Single cask bottling but no cask number, cask type or number of bottles listed. Presumably refill ex-bourbon cask. Natural colour, non-chill filtered. 

Colour: Gold. 

Nose: Dusty, malty, dry. Black pepper and red apples that are starting to brown. Some sawdust, aniseed and dried citrus around the edges. A bit of a nose prickle to it as well, which is surprising for nearly three decades of maturation and "only" 44.3% ABV. Dry grass and sweeter maltiness (e.g. Horlick's) with more time. 

Texture: Medium weight. Nicely oily, drying. Mild spirit-y heat that is a little distracting but not overly harsh. 

Taste: More dusty red apples, dusty gristy malt, sawdust, and a hint of dried lime. Machine oil, black pepper & a subtle earthy note. Touch of liquorice and dried raspberry.

Finish: Medium length. That mild-but-numbing spirit-y heat comes back through, before the black pepper and machine oils beat it back. Some charred wood & dried lime before the sawdust and that dusty red apple note finish things up. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. 

Notes: Lovely "old school" whisky. It's not the most complex or challenging whisky out there, and that mild spirit-y heat - still present after nearly three decades of maturation, remember - would mean that the spirit was probably quite rough to begin with. Which is what you'd expect from an unloved workhorse distillery that was really only producing filler for it's owners' blended whiskies, so timely output was more important than quality. But that lovely dusty, oily, fruity and malty character is quite charming, and very enjoyable. At times this Coleburn is reminding me of a Hazelburn, or maybe a heavier & younger Rosebank in a way, with the "old school" oiliness, earthiness and maltiness, but it's still firmly planted in Speyside with that dusty red apple character. 

Since this is my first Coleburn I don't have much of a frame of reference here, but I would assume that the distillery was rushing things, cutting a few corners and pumping out spirit to keep the owners & the blenders happy. And this almost-certainly would've been a rough & harsh whisky at a young age. It's important to remember that while a few had other reasons, a lot of these 1980s-era dead distilleries were targeted for closure / released from service for a reason! Still, this 29-year old single cask Coleburn from Mackillop's choice is great introduction to this dead distillery. It's a nice "old school" whisky experience without the need to break the bank on one of the more famous names that also met their end in those dark times. Thanks again to the owner for the sample!

Cheers!