Mortlach Distillery has quite the cult following, mainly thanks to its weighty, meaty, sulphurous character, which is quite unusual for a Speyside distillery. Mortlach is located in Dufftown, a couple of minutes down the road from Glenfiddich & Balvenie, and was actually the first legal distillery in the town when it was officially founded in 1823. A century later Mortlach was purchased by the John Walker & Sons company, which was publicly listed in the same year, and would become part of Distillers Company Limited (DCL) two years later, which then became United Distillers, and is now part of Diageo. The name Mortlach (pronounced "mort-lack") stems from the village and abbey of the same name that preceded the current town of Dufftown, which was established in 1817. Interestingly, in the 1880s Mortlach's distillery manager was none other than William Grant, who in 1886 decided to leave his place of employ of over 20 years to found a little start-up distillery by the name of Glenfiddich...
Mortlach's main claim to fame is its unique distillation regimen. Since 1897 or so, the distillery has carried out 2.81-times distillation through its six stills, each of which is different to the next. So not double- or triple-distillation, but 2.81-times distillation, and it makes Springbank's 2.5-times distillation method seem simple in comparison! To help us along, wash still no. 3 and spirit still no. 3 work as a pair like they do in most other distilleries, where the low wines produced by the wash still are sent to the spirit still for their second distillation, and the foreshots & feints from that run are recycled back into the wash still for the next run. So we can discount those two stills for now, but I'm afraid it gets much more complicated from there! If you're not feeling it so far, I suggest you skip the next paragraph...
The short version (because it's actually even more complicated) is that the hearts (middle cuts) from wash stills no. 1 and no. 2 are combined and filled into spirit still no. 2. Then the foreshots and feints (heads and tails) from those two wash stills, no.1 and no. 2, are mixed with the combined foreshots and feints from spirit stills no. 2 and no. 3, and filled into spirit still no. 1, affectionately known as "wee witchie". But just to make things more difficult, that "wee witchie" still is actually run twice per spirit run, but no cuts are taken from the first go around, the whole distillation is fed back into the same still to be distilled again. So some of the final spirit has only been distilled twice, some more than three times, and some has been distilled four times, and someone more intelligent than myself has calculated the end result to be a 2.81-times-distilled spirit. That meaty, weighty character is also helped along by short fermentation times, downward-angled lyne arms on all stills (some more than others), and the use of worm tub condensers for less interaction with copper, which in turn removes less sulphur from the spirit. Phew!
Like many of Diageo's distilleries, the vast majority of Mortlach's three million litre annual production capacity goes into blends, and for quite some time the only way to taste Mortlach as a single malt was to source an independent bottling, most often from Gordon & MacPhail, who's 15- and 21-year old regular bottlings are both very tasty. Until a few years ago there had only been a handful of official bottlings of Mortlach, most notably the 16-year old Flora & Fauna bottling, but a range of new expressions debuted in 2014. That range was and still is controversial, largely because all expressions were only sold in 500ml bottles at steep prices, and the only expression bottled at a strength higher than 43.4% ABV (an odd choice to begin with, but a traditional strength for the distillery), named "Special Strength" was exclusive to travel retail (duty free) stores. What also didn't help is that the only age statements in the range were an 18-year old priced at $285 AUD, and a 25-year old priced at over $1,000 AUD. And they're only 500ml bottles, remember! But Diageo aren't silly, and they've recently discontinued that range and re-launched Mortlach for a second time, while addressing a few of those issues.
In comparison though, Gordon & MacPhail's 21-year old Mortlach sells for around $220, and the 15-year old can be found for around $130 AUD, both in full-sized bottles. Since independent bottlings were largely responsible for the distillery's reputation, in my opinion they're still the way to go to experience Mortlach as a single malt. I've also tasted a couple of very good cask strength bottlings from Signatory Vintage, but the subject of today's review will be a little different to those, since it was bottled at 43% ABV. This is a 14-year old bottling that was distilled in 2002, matured in two ex-bourbon hogshead (250-litre) casks, and was bottled in late 2016 without added colouring, and apparently without chill filtration, although you won't find that stated anywhere on the packaging. The sample for this review came from the Australian importer & distributor for Signatory Vintage, The Whisky Company.
Distilled 9/2002, matured in two ex-bourbon hogsheads (refill, I would say), casks 12598 & 12599, bottled 12/2016. Natural colour, unknown chill filtration.
Colour: Pale gold.
Nose: Loads of sweet, runny honey, sweetened lemon juice and a little dry oak. Vegetal sulphur - meaty, slightly waxy over-cooked steamed root vegetables. A little spicy & lightly floral cologne, and a few green apples around the edges.
Texture: Nice for 43% ABV. Medium weight, lightly meaty, and a slight touch of heat.
Taste: Quite a bit dryer here, with more spice and dry oak, and that lightly meaty vegetal sulphur, particularly the root vegetable note. The honey & lemon juice are still there, but they've been pushed into the background.
Finish: Short length. The sulphur note carries through, with a little black pepper added to the mix, and the lemon juice returns. Then a little dry spice, before the honey returns alongside some nutty oak and powdered aniseed.
Score: 2.5 out of 5.
Notes: That may not be a huge score, but it's still a passing grade remember, and this is still an enjoyable whisky. The nose is definitely the highlight, with that sweet runny honey and lemon juice working very well together, and the sulphur doesn't dominate. Also bear in mind that this isn't the nasty rotten egg, vulcanised rubber and burnt match-style of sulphur that can easily ruin a whisky, it's lighter and much more pleasant than that. It's also there by design, it's not an accident or an oversight, and it's what Mortlach is known for! It definitely adds weight and depth to the experience as well, and it sets this distillery aside from most of its Speyside neighbours.
That said, in my opinion the palate and finish on this whisky do let the whole show down. Being matured in refill ex-bourbon casks gives this dram a very different character to the big, meaty and savoury sherry cask-matured whiskies that Mortlach is renowned for, and I would say there's more of the actual spirit character on show here. But I must admit, given the choice between the two, I would go for the 15-year old Mortlach from Gordon & MacPhail, which is largely matured in refill sherry casks, as a good example of the distillery style, despite it being a little more expensive than this Signatory bottling. But it's always fun to try a different take on a distillery's style, and that's what you're getting here.
Cheers!
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