Flying High with the Finn Thomson Masterclass
Flying High with the Finn Thomson Masterclass
Once a month, we head along to Scotch at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh for a Scotch Club members’ Masterclass, where Ross has become a dab hand at bringing big brands along to share some fantastic whiskies.
We’ve had Pal of the Pod Greg Urquhart dishing out some Rare Find cask samples which included a 41-year-old Tomatin and a 60-year-old grain whisky from the closed Caledonian Distillery.
Jake Adcook and Gordon Dundas took us through the fine spectrum of Glengoyne, ranging from the new 16-year-old Mizunara release to the 38-year-old Russell Family Cask release.
So when the email came through about the Finn Thomson Masterclass, I knew it wouldn’t be one to miss out on.
This was actually the third tasting I’ve been to with Finn presenting. The first one was the very popular Indy Bottler Spotlight that we did with him.
When it comes to mixing whisky with history and building a story, Finn has it in abundance.
The oldest family in whisky?
Finn is almost certain that his family heritage in Scotch Whisky makes them one of the oldest families involved in Scotch. You have to go all the way back to the 1700s to find the first generation of Thomsons who started out as illicit distillers.
Illicit distilling eventually led to going ‘straight’ and through the next few hundred years, the family would find themselves owning the Grandtully Distillery, grocery shops trading in wine, spirits and whisky, blending, creating the Beneagles brand, laying down casks, whisky distribution, and now independent bottling.
It’s safe to say that Finn has access to some very cool and interesting casks from his grandfather’s ‘forgotten’ collection, as well as the relationships forged in the industry through the generations.
As well as bringing along some very nice whisky, Finn also brings boxes of trinkets and historical artefacts from his family history. These include a first edition of Alfred Barnard’s famous book ‘The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom’, loads of ceramic eagle decanters, drink price lists from the ’70s, old sample bottles, and minutes from meetings between his ancestors and other key players in the whisky industry.
Flying high or staying low?
When Finn is standing in front of you talking about whisky, it’s a full treat of stories, visuals, and drams.
He told a great story about a couple of old boys who liked a dram talking about the old Beneagles blended whisky brand that his family once owned.
The group of pals would meet up for a drink at the end of the week and, before they started, they’d ask: “Are we flying high tonight chaps, or staying low?” This was a reference to the two different whiskies with birds in the name: the high-flying eagle or the low-flying grouse in the glass.
The Whiskies
Ross has started a bit of a competition with the brands presenting to the Scotch Club. It’s now become a bit of a thing to see which brand can outdo the next one with some of the drams being offered up.
Finn got the memo and delivered.
When the first dram of the night is 50 years old and won’t be the only 50-year-old whisky of the night, you know you’re in for a treat.
Dram 1 – Invergordon 50 YO Distilled 1974 (Grain)
Grain whiskies are becoming more and more popular with Independent Bottlers, and no wonder. It’s fantastic whisky and is usually very well priced for the age. This is priced at around the £400 mark, which when you think about the fact that it’s a 50-year-old whisky, you’re not getting a 50 YO single malt whisky for under £10k.
It was tropical, smooth, with the usual sweet and vanilla flavours from a grain whisky. Peaches and cream were one of the tasting notes, which I couldn’t not taste after hearing.
- Cask type: Barrel
- ABV: 46.1% cask strength
- Bottles: 192
- Price: £400
Dram 2 – Tamnavulin 33 YO Distilled 1991
Finn explained that when this cask was filled, it was filled with the old style of Tamnavulin spirit. This was when the distillery was being used for blended production. The distillery was mothballed in 1995 and then reopened in 2007. So this was an opportunity to try old-school Tamnavulin.
Full maturation in a refill hogshead means there’s little to no cask influence in this dram. It’s all spirit-driven flavour. Big biscuit malty flavours; cereal notes are really strong.
- Cask type: Refill hogshead
- ABV: 50.7% cask strength
- Bottles: 246
- Price: £400
Dram 3 – Longmorn 34 YO Distilled in 1991
This was the first dram of the night with a bit of re-racking and finishing. The whisky had spent 33 years in a refill cask and then about 1 year in a Ximinez Spinola PX cask.
I’ve not had a lot of Longmorn and in all honesty, I’ve been staying away from sherry cask whiskies, but this was one of my favourites of the night. The balance was spot on; there were fruity notes, sweetness, and a bit of chocolate in there as well.
Finn explained that Longmorn was one of the key components in the recipe for the Beneagles blend, and that the spirit character is where the fruitiness comes from, which is why it was used in the blend.
- Cask type: 33 years in refill and then 1 year in Ximinez Spinola PX cask
- ABV 53.7% cask strength
- Bottles: 188
- Price: £425
Dram 4 – North British 26 YO Distilled in 1998
It’s not often you get two grains on a line-up and even less often you get one in as the 4th dram. But this was the dram that walked away with the dram of the night, and four or five people in the room bought bottles.
North British, being a local Edinburgh Grain Distillery and a powerhouse of production, Finn managed to get his hands on a parcel of casks that had been maturing in sherry hogsheads.
This dram could have passed as a single malt if it had been tasted blind. But it had everything you would want from a grain whisky with the addition of sherry. When you see what was on this line-up, for this to be the winning dram on the night just shows how good this whisky is.
- Cask type: Sherry hogshead
- ABV: 45.2% cask strength
- Bottles: 110
- Cost: £125
Dram 5 – Glen Garioch 36 YO Distilled in 1988
By this point, I’m almost embarrassed writing this with how spoiled we were at this tasting. But the quality of liquid that Finn has at his disposal is just incredible.
I’ve not had a lot of Glen Garioch, but there’s something about the flavour that I really like. It’s chewy, oily, and sweet. There’s a sense of umami as well. I can’t put my finger on what it is I liked about this dram, but it was what I voted for, and there were a couple of others who voted the same way.
- Cask type: Bourbon Barrel
- ABV: 45.2% Cask strength
- Bottles: 110
- Cost: £110
Dram 6 – Glenlivet 50 YO Distilled in 1970
And here it is, the second 50-year-old whisky of the night. It was hard work getting to this point…
First of all, the colour of this dram just looked like flat Coca-Cola. It was dark and a bit syrupy. The nose goes on and on and on, I still think I can smell it. It looked old, it smelled old, and it tasted like old whisky. But not in a bad way.
We’ve been lucky enough to try some really old whiskies on the pod now. And some of them do have that old taste which can overpower the dram. This tasted and smelled like old books but in a good way (I don’t know how that’s possible).
It was bitter, it drew my cheeks in, and it felt dry but then juicy at the same time. It wasn’t unpleasant at all; it was so well balanced that it tasted exactly how it should taste, like a really old and expensive whisky.
I know I’m not going to sit and drink dram after dram of that. And if I had to do that, I would pick something a bit easier-going. But as an experience, it was everything I wanted. I’ve tried old whiskies that are younger than this one, and felt let down in the end. I didn’t feel let down after that.
What a night
The Scotch Club have been treated once again to some great drams and whisky chat. The room was open and we all enjoyed hearing Finn tell us about his whisky and his family history.
