Here's a Scotch I'm not familiar with.... Scotch aficionado help?


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My pal, Lt Col Jim Govin (just retired!) got this as a retirement gift yesterday.  His SARM picked it up or received it as a gift in Japan years ago.  He's a big Scotch fan (I'm more of a bourbon guy), but neither of us have seen this one.  Its quite old and the cork has dried out and actually dropped the lower half into the bottle.  Maybe no good, who knows...  

Anyone know this one?  

 

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Thanks @SirVantes.  Good information. 

Not sure it's physically possible to drink more Scotch this weekend....  Our eyeballs are floating and yellow with jaundice already....  Have put down at least two full bottles among only a few of us since yesterday.  A Laphroig and a The Balvenie 12 double wood have been played "Taps" and there are two other bottles suffering significant losses....   

And he's gratefull for the well-wishes.  :buddies:

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9 minutes ago, sarkozy said:

According to David Ridgway the chief Sommelier at La Tour d'Argent in Paris this is a bottling from Bruichladdich

More great info.   Thanks!  He's duly impressed.  Told him I was a dolt when it came to Scotch, but that I "knew some guys"....  B)

Think he's planning on straining it through some cheesecloth into an old decanter that belonged to his grandparents.  There's some cork bits down in the bottom as well as the half still floating.  It it's bad maybe it will look good in the decanter. 

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I have been a dedicated Single Malt Scotch fan for over 30 years and I can tell you I've never heard of such a bottle, but I will ask those more in the know than me and hopefully have an answer shortly.

If it's labeled as a Highland then it cannot be a Bruichladdich, which as another poster mentioned, is an Islay distillery, known more for their gimmick bottlings in the last few years, plus a somewhat-tolerable 10YO. At only 40% ABV it also doesn't sound particularly enticing, either. Flavour is generally better at 43-46% ABV, and Cask Strength (~57%) bottlings are usually even tastier.

EDIT: One reply I received is that this is likely a private bottling for the La Tour D'Argent restaurant (Paris or Tokyo). The Paris restaurant is a Michelin Starred legend so this probably isn't a horrible whisky, but finding an exact provenance to this bottle will be difficult. If I hear anything definitive I'll follow this up.

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