Review by: The Muskox

This is a special bottle. I traveled to Windsor, Ontario a couple weeks ago to visit my grandparents, who recently downsized from the house they’d lived in for 50 years into a condo. This was my first time visiting them and not going to the old house. One item to survive the move was my grandpa’s liquor cabinet – I’ve never seen him drink anything other than wine, but he does keep a selection stocked. He knows I’m a whisky guy, so he asked me to see what was still drinkable in the cabinet.

The contents turned out to be, essentially, a decade’s worth of duty-free whiskies that he’d picked up on vacation. The amazing thing is that that decade was the 1970s! There was a small pile of blended scotch and Canadian whisky, some of which was sealed. All the open ones seemed to be in perfectly drinkable condition, too. This whisky in particular caught my eye – J&B Rare is hard to date since they haven’t changed their label in ages, but considering what my grandpa told me, as well as the fact that there wasn’t a single tax sticker in that cabinet from after 1978, so this is almost certainly from around then.

Modern J&B Rare is probably my least favourite of the standard bar-rail blended scotches. Is a 50-year time capsule any better?

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Distillery: Various.

Bottler: Diageo.

Region: Blend.

ABV: 43%.

Age: No age statement.

Cask type: Unknown.

Price: N/A

Color: e150. Chill-filtered.

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Nose: Wow, it’s old-school! Tart industrial peat, steel shavings, spiced seared pork, wool socks, wet hay, and a hint of pickled-pepper brininess. Cheap milk chocolate, stale toffee, toasted marshmallows, and malt extract. Lemon and lime zest. Sweeter notes of peach and creamy vanilla. Some brittle grain, but not very much. A hint of cool grassiness, parsley maybe.

Palate: Medium texture, slightly oily. Arrives sweet – fruity notes of pear, peach, and plum, along with vanilla, light honey, and grain. It develops to rather rich carbonaceous peat smoke, old wrought iron fences, deli mustard, along with aniseed and more parsley (coated in chicken soup fat). Hints of burnt sugar and nutmeg. Wait a minute – Banana cream pie and mustard-based BBQ sauce. Bear with me on those.

Finish: Medium-short. Earthy and industrial, with malt and grain sweetness. Orange zest, canned whipped cream, coal smoke, spicy fresh ginger, dill, and machine shop oiliness.

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Possible SMWS bottling name: “Essex County rhapsody”

Conclusion: Wow, so different from the modern product. Huge and grungy, very complex, full of old-school 60s/70s character. There’s even a nicely oily texture. The grain is present, but is way in the back compared to the malt flavours. Unironically (and unapologetically) great.

This whisky perfectly encapsulates my nostalgia for visiting my grandparents. Windsor is an industrial town and a center for the auto industry, like its across-the-river neighbour Detroit. The new place is a short drive from the JP Wiser’s complex, too, so there’s whisky history. A must-visit spot for dinner is Tommy’s BBQ, home to incredible rotisseried ribs and banana cream pie for dessert. Most of all, I remember the delightful mustiness of my grandparents’ old library. This is a fair bit more romantic than I usually get over this kind of thing, but the vibes were real on this one.

Final Score: 86.

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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.