I’m going to be 50 this year. Yes, I’m that old and I don’t know how. Oh, I know the real answer but I don’t feel almost 50, although I feel 70+ some days, and it seems just yesterday I was celebrating my 40th by planning a trip to Vegas (cocktails, food, shows and day trips to unforgettable places, including Death Valley. Where I was also told that ladies don’t drink whiskey – oh yes, they do!) and felt that I was so very old but 50 is quite something and I’m going to mark it with a birth year whisky – 1971, the year of decimalisation.
I didn’t think that I’d make it to 50. I once had to ask a consultant if I would, as I needed to make plans for my dogs (two chocolate Dobies back then) and know if it wouldn’t be wise to adopt any more (four greyhounds since then). And my consultant told me that no, I wouldn’t reach that vast age… I’d be run over by a bus. I have obviously been very nervous around buses ever since! I asked because I have half of a condition where you don’t live to 50 if you have it in its purest form,. Luckily, it’s combined with another form which means I spend extra time on the sofa drinking peated whisky for pain. Fortunately, I love peated whisky.
Does that mean I want a peated for my 50th? Actually, no. My taste, like my choice of music, is broad. Looking at my SMWS bottles, I realised that I have more fruity Speyside than maritime Islay and, whilst I have distilleries that I prefer, I’m open to anything – within my budget and that’s the catch. I don’t have a spare £37,500 for The Macallan’s Red Collection 50-year-old which is the wrong year, anyway.
I discussed a bottle split when talking about this with my mum but she wisely pointed out that that would mean I wouldn’t get to keep the empty bottle. And that’s important to me, I want a bottle to open and drink, not collect or admire on the shelf, still stoppered. That’s also a factor in my budget. I didn’t expect to make it to 50, especially last year when I struggled to breath with Covid and turned blue, the colour I was born when they didn’t know if I’d make it to 18 months, let alone 50 years. I was fine after that as my heart recovered but knowing the story of my early days meant I’ve always appreciated life and marked birthdays in style. It’s another reason why this birthday is so special and I want a memento of it. That empty bottle will be kept and treasured but I will share at least a dram of it with another friend who is celebrating their half century this year. We’re from an old and rare vintage.
I thought about it carefully, I could buy a 1971 miniature from auction. Actually, I probably have some in the box under the sofa and on shelves in the cocktail cabinet but that wouldn’t be a 50-year-old dram as in one bottled in 2021. Whisky-Online have a Glenfarclas The Family Cask 1971-2014, again not a 2021 bottling but it might be what others want and there is something special about seeing the year listed so clearly on the bottle https://www.whisky-online.com/products/glenfarclas-1971-2014-the-family-cask-147-one-of-438-bottles-html?_pos=1&_sid=498ddeffd&_ss=r. And please hurry to Master of Malt as, at the time of writing, they only have one left of the Balvenie 47 Year Old 1971 (cask 2855), The Balvenie DCS Compendium Chapter Four for a mere £21, 841.32 – I absolutely love the all-important 32p at the end but at least there’s free delivery! Both out of my budget and the wrong year but still very tempting https://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/balvenie/balvenie-47-year-old-1971-cask-2855-the-balvenie-dcs-compendium-chapter-four-whisky/?srh=1
A friend suggested that I started a GoFundMe so I could have what I wanted but, to be honest, whilst I’d absolutely love an incredible aged bottle for my 50th, it’s a pandemic and others need far more vital things. But, if you are feeling generous, please donate to Drinks Trust (https://www.drinkstrust.org.uk) which is helping those involved in the drinks industry, including whisky, in these very difficult times when this blog post is, I admit, frivolous. But it’s also a time when we need to think ahead, to have something exciting in the diary and to dream of better things which, for me, is a dream bottle. It’s how I’ve got through the last almost 50 years, think of better times, escape the harsh reality of this time and have a dream, something which makes you happy. Life, like whisky, is meant to be cherished and enjoyed.
I saw a 50-year-old Armagnac for £200 recently and was tempted but I really want a whisky. One which has quietly matured through all the landmarks of the last 50 years, including the drought, Silver Jubilee, first woman PM (politics aside, that was huge for me, the idea that women could actually be elected), wars, the disbanding of the USSR and the fall of the Berlin War, creation of social media (which, whilst it has its issues, huge ones, is a good thing. It’s how I’ve met most of you, after all), the London Olympics and a pandemic. We need to mark those big years because, no matter what, we made it. And I do love excuses to pour a great dram!
I’d love to know what bottles are being produced this year. Realistically, I’m probably going to buy a grain (I adore grain whiskies – I did cave and buy the SMWS 16-year-old Invergordon, Delightful, Dreamy mentioned in a previous blog post) but some of you have much larger budgets than I have so let’s see what’s available. Please join me in my journey as I try to discover the perfect whisky to celebrate such a big year, tell me about what 1971 50-year-old whiskies you know about or about your own birth year bottles.
And Happy Birthday to all turning 50 this year. Hope we can all celebrate properly when the world is opened up again – and toast each other at a whisky festival.
Let’s talk 50-year-old whiskies here, on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Quaffed or https://www.facebook.com/fi.shoop.900/) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/FiShoop)
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