Today’s review of the Thompson Bro.s Mystery Malt, a 29-year-old Speyside Distillery from Batch 1, marks a major milestone. It is the final chapter of what the original Road to Dram set out to do: share my exploration of whisky, from my first steps to where I am now, close to two and a half years later. Through 14 chapters of this story, I have explored many distilleries, learned loads (but never enough) and noticeably changed as a whisky geek. I am proud of the journey so far, and it is time to look ahead to the next chapter.
No worries, I am not leaving whisky blogging. I will take a deliberate pause of a couple of weeks as I decide what direction to take next for the blog. The Road to Dram doesn’t end here. The next adventure is just around the corner. The choice of the whisky is deliberate and symbolic of my journey. I started back in November 2023 with the review of the three most popular single malts on the mass market. To wrap things up, I am picking the oldest whisky in my collection, rare, aged and independently bottled. If I needed a reminder of how far things have come, the contrast between the start and now is the strongest evidence I could ever need.
TL:DR: A very lucky draw.
Score: 8, something special
Mystery Malt?
Before I jump into the review of the Thompson Bro.s Mystery Malt Speyside 29 yo, I want to spend a few words on what, to my marketing-trained eyes, is a real stroke of genius from the Thompson Bro.s team. If you have not come across these releases before, maybe because you mostly buy distillery bottlings or because you live in a part of the world where the Thompson Bro.s do not distribute yet, let me provide a brief introduction. If you know what the Mystery malts are, feel free to skip ahead.
To me, the Mystery Malts are the equivalent of collector card packs for whisky. Every series contains a variety of whiskies, different styles, cask finishes and ages. They all come at the same price (a very fair one in my opinion, but more on that later), but the number of bottles for each specific whisky in a series varies. Luckily, you can go to the Mystery Malt website and see what your chances of getting a specific one are. The bottles all look the same; there is no way of finding out what you bought until you open it. The label gives away nothing, and the ABV is the same for all: 48.5%. Only once you break the seal and reveal the paper seal on the cap are you finding out what you bought.
The Genius of Mystery Malt
There are a lot of things I like about the Thompson Bro.s Mystery Malts. The gameification side of it certainly adds a little thrill. A thrill that is mostly possible because of the reputation the Thompson Bro.s have developed. Whisky fans know that they can expect something interesting even if they end up with one of the less exclusive bottles in the series.
There is the inevitable appeal of the chance of getting a great deal. Are you going to get something worth significantly more than the 65£ bottle price? I would be lying if I did not admt that crossed my mind.
But what I personally like best is that the smart packaging design forces you to open the bottle to know what you have in your hands. Whisky is meant to be enjoyed and, hopefully, shared. The trick of not revealing what the whisky is until you open it is a great way to discourage flippers and collectors who stash bottles as investments or shelf decoration. I suspect this might offend some, so let me be clear that I have no issues with collectors who drink the stuff at some point. I probably qualify as one. But the need to open the bottle is a clear message: this is a whisky made for drinking, to be enjoyed and shared.
So, without further ado, let me jump into today’s review of the Thompson Bro.s Mystery Malt Batch 1 I managed to secure, with luck definitely on my side.
Thompson Bro.s Mystery Malt – Speyside 29 Years Old
Specs
Price paid: 65£
Series: #1
ABV: 48.5%
Natural colour: Yes
Non-chill filtered: Yes
Casks Used: Refill Sherry Butt
Tasting Notes
Colour: Golden warm amber.
Nose: The first hit is rancio, that typical, nutty and slightly oxidative aroma of old sweet wines. Then some fruit notes. Baked apples, stewed with plump rum-soaked raisins, and a hint of baking spice. There are noticeable oaky notes, old, slightly dusty wax-polished furniture. A touch of camphor gives a nice, refreshing accent. Then it turns more towards toasted notes: a little dark chocolate, drip coffee mixed with caramel syrup. Even some walnuts and cola. As it breaths more, it start developing a very unusual note of gooseberry or, maybe, tomato leaf. Something I would expect in a crisp Sauvignon Banc wine, not a 29 year old single malt,
Taste & finish: The mouthfeel is very silky, truly smooth ( a word abused in whisky, but appropriate here) with some structure given by very fine wood tannins. I was slightly concerned the wood might have taken over after 29 years. And while there is a noticeable contribution from the oak of the cask, it does not smother the other taste components. Intriguingly, more than on the nose, this manages to taste both mellowed down by age and still carry some youthfull brightness. Again, there is some rancio, but more toned down. Then a very rich and complex taste. Baked white fruit, white chocolate, cinnamon, cardamom, honey, and cocoa.
The finish is warm and deep, definitely a bit more oaky. The aromas are very recognisable Sherry-cask notes, much more than on the nose or palate.
Score*: 8, something special
Bagging this bottle was incredibly lucky. The first stroke of luck was managing to get a bottle from Series 1 of the Thompson Bro.s Mystery Malt. Series 1 never made it out of the UK and was sold out almost immediately. By pure chance, a friendly Scottish shop I had called for an order was able to set their last available bottle aside for me. The even greater luck was when I realised I had managed to bag one of the only 26 bottles of the Mystery Malt in my review today, the Speyside 29 years old. Not the rarest bottle of the first series, although just by a narrow margin, but the oldest.
Old in itself does not translate to better. While a lot of old single malts are indeed delicious, I have tried my share of older whiskies that had either gone flat, or were completely suffocted by the wood influence, turning into a less than pleasant experience in the glass. That’s not the case here.
For someone like me, used to drinking whiskies in the 10-18 years of age range, tasting this 29-year-old Speyside immediately makes some stark differences very clear. While I wouldn’t say this smells “old”, there is a general sense of mellow ripeness which is particularly evident when trying this side by side against a younger whisky. And the complexity that you get from the ageing builds and builds as the whisky breathes in the glass. This Mystery Malt Speyside 29-year-old is one of those special drams you can spend a couple of hours easily with, just enjoying how it changes in the glass.
* Scores are based on the scoring scale used by Dramface, slightly modified to allow half-points
Interested in my take on a specific whisky style? Check the full Journey here and jump to the relevant Chapter.
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