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I've got some people coming over in mid-December for a mini-scotch tasting and I realized that most of my bottles were biased to Islay, so I've spent the last few weeks trying to expand my Highland exposure, including adding the Glenmorangie 18 year old and the Dalmore 12 year old. This got me to thinking about what is the perfect age for a scotch. Obviously the first answer is "it depends", but I think some scotches lend themselves to perfection, or nearly so, at certain ages. I've convinced myself of this in the last few weeks as I have had the opportunity to taste some older (20+ year olds) scotches, and not always been that impressed.

I used to think that 18 was a perfect age, but then I started to taste some other scotches that were wonderful at younger ages and then tired or woody even at 18. For instance, the Bowmore 15 year old is a beautiful malt, the 18 is excellent, but the 25 is very woody. The Highland Park 18 year old is close to perfection, but the now bygone 15 year old Laphroiag is a fantastically balance malt. And the Dalmore 12 year old is amazing; I would think more age would detract, rather than add, to its flavor profile. The Ardbeg young whiskies were amazing examples of young malts that had plenty of character.

Many distilleries have started to migrate towards no age statements on the bottles, which eases the burden of having enough of particular aged stocks. Some turn out really well, others not so much. I don't know how much of that is a commercial decision and how much is a decision based on the quality, but I have read and heard that many age statement blends (e.g., Johnnie Walker Black 12 year old) often contain much older whiskies (by law they can't contain younger whiskies). In the end, though, it comes down to what you like and want to drink, not the age on the bottle. Some people love Glen Grant five or eight year old; others think the Macallan 53 year old Lalique is the pinnacle of taste. The great thing about scotch is that there is a malt for every taste and wallet. Slainte!