ABV: 56.9 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet and very fruity. At first there’s a fruitiness coming through with mainly green pears and red apples. The fruitiness is surrounded by a sweet layer of vanilla and honey. As it opens up in the glass the sweetness increases in intensity and baking spices start to emerge. It takes a long time before it reaches its peak but when it does, it’s very rich, sweet and pleasant on the nose. It’s very dessert-like with vanilla cream on top of the fresh fruits. There are also notes of age within but it feels very fresh and sprawly. This is a great nose. It’s not especially complex but there’s a lot of easy access flavours to enjoy.

Mouth: It starts out with a bitterness in the back and the fruitiness up front. It’s really powerful and the age shines through from the get-go with dust, leather and old oak floating around in the middle. It’s thick and malty and it has a complex array of flavours in between the easy access ones. It delivers a fantastic mix of fresh juicy fruits, vanilla sweetness and old casks. There are floral notes as well as spices and even an umami note in the back. There’s also a hint of lemon in the back which takes the edge of the sweetness and creates nice contrasts between sensations.

Finish: The fruitiness surges through the transition together with the ABV spicyness, but it never gets too powerful. It just adds to the experience. When the spicyness starts to fade the juicy pears and apples take over and become the main attraction. There are still baking spices and floral notes floating around and orange peel is now added to the mix, which lead the finish into the oakiness. It’s an old oakiness which is bitter and fragrant. There’s almost a perfumey note attached to it. This is a fantastic and complex whisky as long as it’s given enough time in the glass.

Additional information
This whisky is a cask strength release. It was finished in a mix of ex-PX and ex-Oloroso casks. 7692 bottles were filled. The bottle tried has No. 0129/7644.

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