The Master Reserve is Knockando's expression for those willing to wait. At twenty-one years in European oak the distillery's characteristic lightness is still present, but it has been clothed in sherry and mellowed by time into something that drinks as much of age as of place.
Knockando, it should be remembered, is primarily a workhorse for J&B — a role it has played with quiet efficiency since the early twentieth century, when Justerini & Brooks took the distillery over and bound its fortunes to the great London blending houses. That it should release a 21 year old at all is a small act of self-regard, and one is inclined to welcome it as a reminder that the Speyside village distilleries are capable of more than feeding the blender's vat.
The nose opens with orange peel, old leather and toffee, with a trace of furniture polish lending a vaguely antiquarian air. There is something here of an old country drawing room, comfortable and unpretentious. The palate is soft and rounded: dried apricot, hazelnut, honey and a measured oak tannin that asserts itself only at the close. The finish is long and dry, with orange oil and a faint tobacco leaf.
At 43% one might grumble at the bottling strength, but the dilution is handled with tact and the spirit retains its shape. The Master Reserve is not a shouty old Speysider; it is the sort of whisky one reaches for in quiet weather and finishes without remarking on it, which is perhaps the highest compliment one can pay a malt of this disposition. Those raised on the louder sherried Speysiders of the eighties may find it muted, but a little patience reveals its merits.
