The last time the gold price shot out the lights was 1980 when Jimmy Carter was US president and the ongoing hostage drama in Iran transfixed the world. It was also the year in which two Sherry hogshead casks full of golden whisky were laid down at Bunnahabhein on the windy isle of Islay, off the west coast of Scotland. Move the clock forward 30 years and 357 bottles of that spirit have been released, 17 of which are earmarked for South Africa with a single bottle, worth R3800, available to the reader who sends the best memory of 1980 in 100 words or less to wine@sundaytimes.co.za.

The whisky is un-chillfiltered, has a natural cask strength of 45.4% alcohol by volume, and is released in its most pure form, the way whisky would have been produced at the hands of Bunnahabhain’s distillers many years ago. That man’s successor, Ian MacMillan, will choose the winning entry.