Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2022.

A Septuagenarian Scotch is named Single Cask of the Year While A Staggering Bourbon wins the Bible’s World Whisky of the Year Title.

One of the oldest single malts ever commercially bottled has this year been named as the World Finest Single Cask Whisky in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2022.

Distilled in 1948 – the same year that the Big Bang theory was first hypothesised – Jim Murray considered the 72-year-old Glen Grant, Cask 440, from Gordon and MacPhail to be truly stella, giving it 97.5 marks out of 100.

Said Jim: “This whisky has had 72 years for something to go wrong with it. Instead, we have the near miraculous situation of a whisky sitting for 72 years in oak and everything going right with it. The chances for a whisky to reach this type of antiquity and hit this level of excellence is mind-blowing: it has to be one-in-a-million or more.”

The score equals the highest-ever recorded in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible, which has now been published each year for the last 19 years, with over 20,000 whiskies tasted by Mr Murray during that time.

As well as being named the world’s finest single cask, it has also picked up the title of Scotch Whisky of the Year.

However, the actual World Whisky of the Year was again won by a bourbon, George T Stagg, from the Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky. This is a “big bang” whiskey in its own right, bottled at 65.2%abv, more than half the strength again of a standard bottle of whisky.

It was named World Whisky of the Year in the first-ever Whisky Bible, back in 2003 but had not won the coveted title since 2006.

But it means bourbon has been named World Whisky of the Year for five of the last 6 years.

Mr Murray explained: “Bourbon is going through a golden era right now with distilleries taking extraordinary care in many of the bottlings they produce. The high-end products, like George T Stagg, are individual works of art and it takes hours in the glass to fully unravel their secrets and mysteries.

In his notes on it Jim concluded: “Stagg hovering around about its ultimate. And we know what that means: one of the greatest whiskey experiences of your life. This is one of those whiskies where it is not a case of whether it is good enough for you. The question is whether you are good enough for it? Staggering. Quite literally.”

Stagg’s, stablemate from the Buffalo Trace Distillery, Thomas Handy Sazerac Barrel Proof Rye was named the World second-best whiskey, repeating a 1^st and 2^nd placing last achieved in the 2013 edition.

A Scotch single malt came in Third. Again it was Glen Grant, this time with their 18-year-old, the third top three placing it has achieved in the last six year.

Of it, Mr Murray wrote: “You know that moment when the last notes fade on Vaughan-Williams’ A Lark Ascending, or you are in a hilltop meadow and a real lark sings sweetly above your head for its mate before fluttering and parachuting back to its grassy home, and you sit there quietly pondering on what you have just experienced. And so the nose, the best I have experienced all year, has the same effect here.”

This year Jim Murray tasted over 750 different whiskies from around the world.

Said Mr Murray: “We set a target of 750 this year instead of excess of 1,000, should I not be to travel because of Covid. Well, much of the book was written during Lockdown, travelling was impossible and so it was truly amazing that we hit our target. Hopefully next year I’ll be back travelling and we’ll be back to over 1,000 whiskies again.

Editor’s Notes Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2022 contains tasting notes for nearly 5,000 drams from around the world. This is the biggest selling whisky guide, now in its 19th edition. Available from 25/11/21 at all good bookshops, retailers and whiskybible.com, priced £14.99. Press enquiries: Jane Garnett +44 (0)117 317 9777; jane@whiskybible.com