St. Magdalene 19 Year (1979) Rare Malts Selection

Review by: TOModera

So here we are again with another Feather’s Pub review. For those of you who have missed the past two ones, basically for either my buddies birthday or my own I go out to Feather’s and drink about 4-6 drams, ensuring I have tons of water and bread, taking my time, and reviewing them. It’s something that happens every so often, and I typically ask for the communities input.

So I have some good news: I was able to try 2 of the drams that were recommended to me, however I was slowly informed that my choices were a little… Spartan, and I should go more expensive, as it was my birthday.

So I love Lowlands, and recently, some jerk tried a Lowland I haven’t tried yet. What a dork, am I right? Seriously though, a big thanks to gaxkang for reviewing this one, as I was always a little skittish. A little pep and competition helped me out on trying something new.

St. Magdalene 19 1979 Rare Malts Selection is a dram from the now defunct St. Magdalene distillery, which closed up shop in 1983, aka a bad time (as it was the 80s). Built on an old hospital and started in 1798, the site once housed a leper colony, a convent, and a hospital.

Well… here’s hoping dead nuns and pieces of dead people helped out one of the last drams.

Distillery: St. Magdalene Distillery.

Bottler: Rare Malts Selection.

Region: Lowland, Scotland.

ABV:  63.8%. Cask strength.

Age: 19 years. Distilled in 1979. Bottled in 1998.

Cask type: Unknown.

Price: N/A

Color: Dark Honey

Nose: Melon, smoke, lemon, wet wood, candy, honeysuckle, fresh linen

There’s quite a bit of wood, a little bit of smoke, and tons of floral notes here. Very sweet smelling.

Also noticed a little bit of cork in the glass, which is worrying. This old beaut may be on its last legs. Thick legs, none the less.

Taste: Lemon/Lime, chilies, wood, orange, plum, umami, salt

Different than other lowlands, there fruit is there, however it’s quite light and the umami taste comes out of nowhere. Not bad, though could stand for a little more… I don’t know, strength? Starting to wonder if my tastebuds are off, however it’s been an hour since I ate anything and I’ve cleared my palette quite a bit.

Insert easy joke about me sucking dick here.

Finish: Cumin, burnt butter, mushrooms, lemon rind, tobacco

Very earthy and somewhat bitter finish, none of the sweetness from the taste or the nose.

I think the bottle may have been corked. Shame too, this has great potential.

Conclusion: So I’ve now started off the night with a little bit of a dud, however I’m not saying it was bad. For something I think has corked, this was actually pretty tasty. Yes, the taste was weak, the finish wasn’t the best, and the nose could have been more, however I’ve had a lot worse drams this before, and I’ll have a lot worse to come. It’s stronger than your average lowlander you’ll find, it still has guts, and the nose is still going strong.

All in all, I want to find an uncorked bottle and re-review this at some point, as I’m pretty sure it’ll be amazing.

Final Score: 80.

Scoring Legend:

  • 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
  • 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
  • 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
  • 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
  • 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
  • 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
  • 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
  • 50-59: Save it for mixing.
  • 0-49: Blech.

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