Bought – Online Whisky Auction, 22nd December 2013
Last year I was all set to buy the latest version of the Knockando 12-year-old from Waitrose for £28 when I read Jim Murray’s review in his Whisky Bible. Scoring 76/100 his first word was “disappointing”. The 12-year-old distilled 2 years earlier got 86/100. I don’t know about you but when I’m clutching £28 in my hand, all set to buy something, and I hear it’s “disappointing” I decided to put my money elsewhere.
It was when I started following whisky auctions that I noticed lots of old Knockando bottings with dates on them – 1974, 1975, 1976, etc., available in both 70cl and miniature form. How interesting! According to my book on distilleries, Knockando started these ‘annual’ bottlings in the 1970s, mentioning the year of distillation rather than a specific age statement.
When I bought this miniature 1986 there were several other Knockando dated whiskies on offer. 1973, 1974, 1977, 1978 and 1980 to name but 5. I have to wonder if the idea behind doing this was for collecting. I can imagine getting bottles from several different years and wanting to find the ones I’m missing. I must resist! Thankfully I think I can. I’ll save my pennies until the 70cl 12yo gets a decent review again.
Whisky Den 