The Grand Tour: Viking 1 & 2 Single Grain Scotch Whisky Reviews
Two old single-grain Lowlands whiskies, both matured in first-fill Palo Cortado hogsheads; how can this be anything but delicious!
Girvan 1991 The Whisky Barrel “Viking 1” 30 Year Old / 53.6% ABV
Tasted neat
This Girvan was laid to rest in first-fill palo cortado hogshead #TWB1022 in 1991 and bottled in September 2021 after 30 years. Mine is bottle #52 of 162. The back reads:
Viking 1 spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on August 20th 1975. Its lander was the first in history to successfully land on Mars.
After an eleven month journey the Viking 1 lander separated from its orbiter on July 20th 1976. The lander captured the first ever clear image from the martian surface and its biological instruments searched for life on the red planet.
Matured in a 1st fill Palo Cortado Hogshead. Distilled 1991. Bottled 2021.
Sweet sherry antimatter, carona of pineapple and Cripps Pink apples leading to a dark chili chocolate nedbular. Gravitational toasted cereals, honeycomb halo and galactic lemon cake finish with sherbet elements.
- Color: muscat (1.3)
- Nose: honey, pine — maybe maple syrup?, molasses, dry leaves and cigar smoke; a little ethanol
- Taste: apple pie, a squirt of lemon, sandalwood, prickly waxy funk; sour spice
- Finish: medium, some sweetness, funky sherry notes; icing sugar
I like this, it’s good proof that single-grain can be quite good given time, although even at 30 years, it has the usual graininess that some find offputting.
You can still buy this from TWB for £150!
Rating: 6/10
North British 1991 The Whisky Barrel “Viking 2” 30 Year Old / 47.6% ABV
Tasted neat
This North British was laid to rest in first-fill palo cortado hogshead #TWB1023 in 1991 and bottled in February 2021 after 30 years. Mine is bottle #92 of 159. The back reads:
Viking 2 spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on September 9th 1975. Together with Viking it would search for signs of life on Mars.
Travelling for 333 days to Mars, Viking 2 lander separated from its orbiter on September 3rd 1976 making touchdown on Utopia Planitia, one of the largest crater impact basins in our Solar System
Matured in a 1st fill Palo Cortado Hogshead. Distilled 1991. Bottled 2021.
Lunar sweet sherry, popcorn clusters, planetary ripe pears, tasted cinnamon nebular, telescopic double cream with supernova strawberries. Protoplanetary runny honey circling runaway burnt cedar shavings.
- Color: burnished (1.1)
- Nose: grainy ethanol, limes and tropical fruit, freshly-sawn planks, and sea breeze
- Taste: strawberry, cream, nutmeg, and spiced wine; some butter and salt
- Finish: brief, but fruity and rich
This is a really lovely, soft and fruity grain. No real complaints, it’s great.
You can still buy this from TWB for £150!
Rating: 7/10
I preferred the lower-ABV North British because I thought it offered more flavour for less “graininess” than the Girvan, but both were bottles I’m happy I bought. I’ve never seen grain in ex-Palo-Cortado before, and in both cases, I think they got good results.
