ABV: 40 %
Origin: Highlands
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 1
Impression: 2/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet and fruity. At first there’s a mild vanilla and and mixed fresh and dried fruits. There’s a gentle and sweet minty layer on top as well. It’s malty in the middle and it grows sweeter over time. The fruitiness feels less fresh once it settles. It’s a mix of red berries and oranges and maybe a hint of violets. There’s a lemon note in the back as well. The sweetness feels a bit sticky and everything feels a bit top heavy. The oak shines through with the vanilla notes too. The distillate comes through and it feels ethanol driven behind the madeira curtain. This is a decent nose but it’s not without faults. The cask finish makes for a nice cover-up.

Mouth: It starts out with a mild, slightly watery sweetness but it doesn’t take long for a spiky spicyness to arrive. There’s a fresh fruitiness building up in the back at the same time but the spicyness is a bit unpleasant and takes the focus from it. It’s a nice background with mixed fruits, vanilla and malt as well as a honey sweetness. The distillate is still shining through and it’s not the greatest thing in the world. The whole displays a weird mix of being watery and unpleasantly spiky at the same time.

Finish: The spicyness calms down a bit through the transition and reveals the fruitiness at its fullest. It’s once again a nice mix of oranges, red sweet berries and some lemons. There’s a floral side to it as well. The vanilla and the sweetness slowly changes and becomes the oakiness while the fruitiness is hogging all the attention. The distillate is not as protruding anymore and the finish is the best part of the journey. It’s a nice mix of fruits and a decent oakiness. There’s a sweet liquorice note in there as well. This is a decent whisky for the price point. Corners are cut but the cask finish does a good job of hiding the less desirable sides of it.

Additional information
This whisky was aged in american oak casks for an undisclosed amount of time and then finished in ex-madeira casks for about 6 months.

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