Dram tasty for a £1,000 a nip

Published on Tuesday 3 July 2007 00:23

WHISKY purists look away now. I have just sampled what is possibly the last word in limited edition whisky - on sale at £1,000 a measure - and I confess now that I rarely touch Scotland's national drink.

I took my palate, brutalised by years of lager drinking, to the main bar at Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire where the rare Johnnie Walker 1805 has just gone on sale. It is claimed to be a very limited edition: only 200 bottles have been made to celebrate the birthday of the label's founder.

That scarcity value has been enhanced, the makers claim, by the fact the majority of the nine malts used are from distilleries which have since shut down. None of the bottles are on sale to the public: the Gleneagles hotel has one, and another is behind the bar of Fifty, a members-only club in London.

Gleneagles is of course accustomed to guests with well upholstered wallets.

Like some historic trophy, the 1805 is kept in a walnut lacquer box in a display case in the hotel's main bar.

Johnnie Walker says it has given bottles of this limited edition to "individuals deemed to have made the most significant contribution to modern life". The company isn't saying who.

The ritual for tasting the 1805 is suitably reverential. The recommended method is to take the whisky in a brandy balloon made by renowned Austrian glass manufacturer Riedel rather than the traditional tumbler - the whisky's makers believe the thin lip of the glass and its shape bring out the accent of its taste.

A chilled glass of Highland Spring water - complimentary as you have, after all, just handed over 1,000 - is poured in a separate glass. The whisky cognoscenti of course differ over this. Some argue that a few drops of water actually in the whisky release the flavour, but the master distillers of the 1805 suggest this whisky is best left to hit the tongue undiluted.

And the taste: as a man who has been known to convulse in paroxysms of coughing after trying whisky, the 1805 - 46.3 per cent proof - is remarkably smooth. At the risk of lapsing into wine-tasting hyperbole, there was a hint of peach and a suggestion of vanilla. Smooth, warm, and with only a light lingering "smoke" to it.

Gleneagles is confident there will be a market for the 1805, perhaps from the burgeoning wealthy Russian market or the tables of golfers who occasionally celebrate a hole in one with a bottle of expensive malt. No doubt P Diddy or other members of rap's aristocracy could not leave the ultimate in whisky bling on the shelf should they call at Gleneagles.

However, the 1805 is unlikely to be chalked on a blackboard with tonight's specials. The Art Deco bar has specially trained "whisky ambassador" staff whose job it is to get to know customers' appetites and suggest new tipples. Guests staying for a couple of days may find themselves guided to the malt elixir of the 1805 if they show a keen interest in rare whiskies.

But what if some ignoramus like me asks for ice in the 1805? "We merely make a recommendation on how it is served. They can have Coke in it if they want", said a hotel spokesman.

• CAN any whisky be worth 1,000 a measure? The answer may be that a malt is worth what any enthusiast is prepared to pay for it.

The Johnnie Walker 1805's nearest competitor in the Gleneagles bar is a 40-year-old Bowmore malt at 550 a measure. The hotel has sold six bottles of it in the past four years.

David Sinclair, the bar manager, says of the 1805: "It's really a part of history - that's what the customer is buying into, and it's hard to put a price on that. It's always surprising how many people are interested in rare malt whiskies."

Gleneagles has exclusivity on the 1805 because it and the Johnnie Walker company are both owned by drinks giant Diageo.

However, one whisky expert yesterday sounded a note of caution over the cult of cost around some malts. Kevin Erskine, of the Scotch Blog website, said: "There are purists willing to pay but this brand is marketed to status-seekers."