Christmas Countdown 2020 #5: Signatory Vintage Cambus 21 Year Refill Butt (1991)

Image Credit: /u/xreekinghavocx

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Distillery: Cambus

Bottler: Signatory Vintage

Region: Lowland

Age: 21 Year.

ABV: 50.5% Cask Strength

Cask Type: Refill Butt

Price: Sample courtesy of /u/xreekinghavocx

Color: 1.3, Russet/Muscat. Natural Color.

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Nose: (according to the wife) On the sweeter side of things. There’s brown sugar, a bit of molasses, and caramel.

Palate: Much like the nose teases, it is sweet. It’s a cereal sweetness and not just pure sugar. There’s a bit of brown sugar cookie that have been lightly dusted with cinnamon.

Finish: Short. Bit more of those cookies but not a whole lot going on.

Conclusion: As I nudge closer and closer to turning 30 next year, I’ve been trying to intensify my hunt for birth-year whiskies. I’ve seen more than a few grain whiskies around that are from 1991 and figured I should take one for a spin. This bottling from Signatory Vintage is on the simplistic side of things, but it is tasty and very easy to drink even at full strength. The nose teases it’ll be sweet and it manages to deliver a lovely cereal sweetness that doesn’t overload the senses. The brown sugar cookie with a bit of cinnamon is quite nice though I wish there was more going on here. Still, it’s not a bad whisky by any means and piques my interest in what other older grain whiskies might be like.

Final Score: 76.

Scotch Whisky Review #228, Grain Whisky Review #3, Lowland Review #8, Whisky Network Review #347

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Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.