ABV: 49.4 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet and fruity. At first there’s a thick layer of sticky sweet dried fruits and just a hint of nail polish remover. There are raisins and raspberries. There’s a complexity sitting within the dark fruitiness with notes of prunes, coffee and very dark chocolate. As it settles in the glass there’s a slightly chalky note floating around on top. The whole is quite rich and lively despite its age. There are some old wood notes coming through towards the sides. The red fruits are joined by strawberries and a squeeze of lemon as well. A hint of black liquorice can be found underneath everything else. This is a great nose with a lot to offer for lovers of sherry cask matured whisky.

Mouth: It starts out with fresh sherry notes with a floral note on top and a lemon sourness in the back. It’s very mild but there’s a thin peppery layer on top. It’s not as rich as on the nose. The age shines through with notes of leather and dust all over the palate. There’s an espresso bitterness in the back which sits together with an old grey oak note. The fruitiness is in there but it sort of falls back and becomes a secondary feature together with a cinnamon note. It’s quite complex even though it consists of very traditional sherry flavours.

Finish: The peppery spicyness spreads out over the palate. Underneath, the floral notes are first to come through and they spread out over the whole palate. The darker notes slowly rise from the back with coffee, raisins, leather and dust. The mix of fresh and dark stays balanced for quite a while before the oakiness starts to take over. It’s a slightly astringent old grey oakiness with a bitter side to it. It really feels old and dusty at this point. In the late finish there’s a lot of different spices popping up connected to the oak. The late finish is a very long continuious strong of old bookshelves and dust. This is a great whisky with a lot of subjective notes attached to it. The nose is quite different from the rest of the journey.

Additional information
This single cask release was distilled on 22nd of April 1976 and bottled on 28th of February 2007 which makes it ~30-31 years old. It was aged in a refill sherry butt. Cask No. 3111. 595 bottles were released.

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