ABV: 40 %
Origin: Highlands
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is dark fruits and honey. At first there’s a dense sweetness with malt, vanilla and honey with a thick layer of dark ripe fruits on the outside. It’s raisins and overripe, almost molten plums together with a black liquorice note. It’s got a dusty and damp feel to it and after it settles it also produces a slightly fresher fruitiness as a nice contrast. It’s fresh, but still dark, berries like blueberries. This is a really nice and rich nose, but it presents itself a bit too mild due to the low ABV.

Mouth: It starts out with a mild and sweet approach. The sherry notes with raisins and plums are next to arrive and they bring a thin layer of sulfur along. After that some kitchen spices and a nice bitter note come through. The dusty feel is still in there, but it’ not as dense as on the nose. The oakiness is detectable and it brings a hint of walnuts to the table. The fresh fruits are not present anymore.

Finish: The first impact is somewhat muted and it’s a seemless trasition to the finish. There is a mild spicyness on top but the main flavours are still the sweet honey and vanilla mix in the middle and the dark fruitiness and sulfur on the outside. It stays that way until the oakiness starts to push through. It’s a nice, slightly astringent oak with hints of walnuts and black coffee. It never turns over to become bitter though and the finish is quite long and rewarding. This is a fantastic whisky, but it’s hurting a little bit by the low ABV. It puts up a fight against it though and delivers quite a lot of flavours.

Additional information
This is made by the Macduff distillery and was released in 2013 as a part of their travel retail exclusive range ”The Royal Burgh Collection”. It’s aged in ex-sherry casks.