Berry's Ronnie's Reserve 1969 CV

Tasting Notes

Andrew's Tasting Note

Nose: gooey old rum notes (1940s Long Pond...); musty old oak, polished church pews, window putty, and latex primer; fruit punch, Scottish tablet, and Christmas cake; Glosset Raisins and Eatmores.

Palate: still with the old rum notes... curious; more Christmas cake, fruit punch, Glosset Raisins and Sunrype Fruit Source bars; treacle sauce, mixed berry compote and soft old leather; Armagnac, leather, cigar tobacco, and Eatmores; more old wood and musty warehouse notes.

Finish: light, fruity, and surprisingly fresh for a 50 year old single malt; thick with treacle, leather, tobacco, and chocolate.

Comment: this is an ancient whisky that simultaneously highlights its age without straying into the bitter notes that many over-the-hill single malts possess; now to go find that heel of G&M Long Pond 1941 to do a comparison!

Ronnie Cox’s Tasting Note

Nose: "Speaks maturity; gentle wood polish, dunnage warehouses, intriguing, fruit preserve, linseed oil, lemon marmalade wrapped in a coat of gentle wood resin. 

Palate: Elegant in its weight it gently delivers the flavours of wood spices, nuts and fruits in harmony and with extraordinary balance. 

Finish: Of great length the tannins and wood resins softly remind us of its years in cask. A slight hint of delicious bittersweet treacle heralds the end... and another sip.”

More About the Ronnie's Reserve Range

"Lizzie Rudd our Chairman was behind the idea to create a range of Ronnie’s Reserve to mark 30 years of my association with Berry Bros & Rudd and the distillery from which the selection of casks originated. They have been bottled as a result of collective investment: Berry Bros & Rudd Funds and my Understanding!

"In selecting these casks I used the criteria of good taste. Whilst this is, obviously, subjective, I always look for exceptional attributes in maturity, balance, flavour, complexity, texture and delivery. The difference between the good and the great is the magical combination of all of these. Then, there is the character of the distillery; there is no point in disguising the natural elegance of this noble and, what I like to call ‘Premier Cru’ distillery spirit, with sherry or wood. Enhance, yes but disguise, no.

"To become familiar with the best that this Speyside distillery could produce, I have had the enviable task, over 30 years, of nosing several hundred casks. These seven casks are truly outstanding - superb examples of the excellence of the bloodline in each of their decades.

"I didn’t need the keys to the distillery, a bung remover and a nosing glass. I had had my eye on these casks for many years. They are but a very small offering from thousands of casks in our possession. My tasting notes of drawn samples would change from time to time as they matured in their wooden homes and I was determined that the style of whisky should reflect the changing styles of production and cask marriage over the four decades."

Independent Bottler

One of our favourite independent bottlers, Berry Bros. & Rudd is a stored London based firm which has resided at #3 St. James Street, a stone's throw from St. James Palace, since 1698. Primarily a wine merchant, they have also played a prominent role in the Scotch whisky industry. In addition to founding the Cutty Sark Blend, and managing the Glenrothes brand for 30 years, BBR is also an independent bottler. We have long been impressed not only by the quality of their independent bottlings, but also their value! 

Berry Bros. & Rudd in Their Own Words

With two Royal Warrants and more than 300 years of history, Berry Bros. & Rudd is Britain’s original wine and spirits merchant. 

We can trace our history back to 1698, when an enterprising woman called the Widow Bourne started an “Italian grocer’s” at No.3 St James’s Street, selling tea, snuff, spices and the most fashionable drink of the day, coffee. The sign of the coffee mill still hangs outside our premises at No.3 today, in tribute to our roots.

In due course, our focus shifted to something a little bit stronger. As wine became important to the business, so too did spirits, and we started bottling casks under our label in the early 19th century, making us Britain’s oldest independent spirits bottler. Three centuries on, the family business continues to flourish, with its heart still very much at No.3.

While much has changed over the years, we are still owned and managed by members of the Berry and Rudd families, and we continue to supply the British Royal Family, as we have done since the reign of King George III. We still, from time to time, weigh customers on a giant set of coffee scales, a tradition which began in the 1760s, with Lord Byron, William Pitt and Beau Brummell among those who have had their weights recorded in our ledgers. Most importantly, we still believe that everything you should look for in a wine or spirit comes down to one simple question: “Is it good to drink?”