ABV: 43 %
Origin: Highlands
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 1
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is mild honey and coconut. It takes a while for the heavier flavours to really come through, but when they do, it’s honey, vanilla and sweet liquorice with the coconut resting a long way back. There’s a thin floral layer, which leans towards violets and there’s also a fruitiness which feels like it sits somewhere in between sweet citrus fruits and green apples.

Mouth: It starts out with a thick layer of honey. There’s a spicyness, but it’s really fine tuned and integrated within the whole. The coconut is very pronounced again and now there’s a very nice butterscotch note. The undefined fruitiness is now coming through as oranges and orange peel. There is a hint of age coming through as a fine layer of dustiness sitting in the back. It’s a very mellow, but not boring, experience.

Finish: A big surge of coconut and black pepper comes through before it lands in the honey jar once again. The dusty layer is still there and the fruitiness is now settled as oranges. After a while the oakiness starts to develop. It’s a very nice oakiness, not dry nor astringent. It just sits there for a long time before it charges to a undefinable nuttiness. The whole of this whisky is not a powerhouse, it’s just a refined gentleman with good manners.

Additional information
The Tullibardine 20 YO was released in 2013 as a part of the distillery’s core range. It’s aged in a combination of first- and second-fill american ex-bourbon casks.

If you like my reviews and wish to offer a small donation, please click the ”donate” button below!