Black Bull 40 Year Old a Well-Aged Blended Scotch Whisky

Scottish independent bottler Duncan Taylor recently announced the release of the latest batch of one of the older blended whiskies on the market these days. Known as Black Bull 40 Year Old, it is pricing at £750 a bottle, or about $980 USD.

Black Bull 40 Year Old is so named to reflect the spirit’s creation. In 1864, one George Willsher called for “a high strength, high malt content blend that was bold and different,” including a bottling strength of 100 proof. The 40-year-old variant doesn’t quite hit that, but at 47.6% ABV, it’s still pretty strong for a whisky of this age.

Information put out on batch 7 of this Scotch indicates it blends a range of single malts, including Aberlour 1975, Macallan 1969 and Glenlivet 1968, in a ratio that’s 86% malt to 14% grain whiskies. Only 1,500 bottles are being made available, and you’ll find limited official tasting notes at the end of this story.

“Black Bull 40 year old is a world class whisky and it has been worth the wait to add it to our portfolio,” said Duncan Taylor CEO Euan Shand in a statement. “We are confident that it will take its place amongst the best luxury whiskies available today and cement our position in the market place.”

On the palate, the tasting notes for the new Black Bull 40 year old reveal a style that is rich, beautifully sweet and full bodied in character. Infused with toffee apples, milk chocolate, grapefruit and mango it gives a very smooth and gentle taste with a warm syrupy finish. A truly indulgent, perfectly balanced whisky, which is a gorgeous amber colour.