Cambus 40 Years Old Limited Release 2016 52.7% nv

Professionele reviews

Serge Valentin (89)

One of the old closed grain distilleries, Cambus stopped working in 1993. The bottle is superb, I have to admit.

Colour: gold.

Nose: medicinal alcohol on croissants and coconut cake, plus a lot of custard and herbal tea. Dog roses, perhaps? Notes of mirabelle pie. A rather elegant grain whisky, I especially enjoy all this white chocolate that comes through after two minutes. With water: toasts and marmalade, in all softness.

Mouth (neat): really very good (yes, S. speaking), full of mangos and papayas, plus plums and hay jelly. Hay jelly’s excellent, try that on foie gras! What’s really excellent as well is that it’s not too dominated by vanilla and coconut. Well it’s not dominated at all. Great surprise. With water: a little grenadine, rhubarb, and more rhubarb. Rhubarb pie with a little cinnamon, and drizzles of lime juice. Perhaps wacky guavas too.

Finish: medium, clean, limy, soft, with a little lavender (sweets) and violet drops.

Comments: seriously, this is an excellent surprise, on second thought there are even nods to high-end tequilas. Now could grain whisky, even when old. I don’t quite know, but what’s sure is that I like this Cambus just as much as last year’s Caledonian.

Gal Granov (91)

Nose: Oh lordy, this is a thing of beauty. starting with big sweet ‘Bourbon-y’ notes, shouting – Grain! there’s tons of old wood, wood varnish, leather and thick maple syrup, there’s also a hint of exotic fruit (mango, kiwi, pineapple, red grapefruit). Lively, kicking and just plain lovely. Really well aged grain at it’s best.

Palate: The palate is a direct continuation of the nose, with loads of spiced wood, more sweet nectar, and on second wave of sensations there’s a gorgeous note of tropical fruit salad, mango, papaya, pineapple, lychee, with bitter red grapefruit pith, quite a lot of wood spices, and more maple syrup. Heavenly.

Finish: Sweet caramelized banana in maple syrup, wood spice.

This, my friends, is one delicious dram. Rich, complex, and the wood and fruit combination is just perfect. Highly recommended. I hope people will buy this and enjoy, it’s not meant to collect dust on your shelves.

Words of Whisky (90)

Nose: fairly gentle start, a little ethereal with eucalyptus and glue notes on a background of sweet fruit gums (pineapple and strawberry). Growing thicker. Dried coconut and green almonds. Plenty of minty notes. Oak dust and varnish. Something of caramelized white chocolate as well (delicious). Mouth: oily, with the classic notes up front (vanilla, leather, coconut, maple syrup) but in a second wave also great tropical fruits. Mango, pink grapefruit, guava. Not unlike some old BenRiach or Irish whiskey – not that common in a grain whisky. A slight rummy note too. A little pepper and fruit tea towards the end. Finish: medium long, on darker fruits (cassis), chocolate and lime.
This grain shows quite some complexity. It’s an excellent example of the classic profile, but in a particularly smooth way and showing some tropical extras. Very sumptuous.