Kategoriarkiv: Mortlach

Mortlach, Speyside

Mortlach 12 YO – The Wee Witchie

Lämna en kommentar

ABV: 43.4 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 1
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is fruity, sweet and floral. There’s honey on top of green apples, ripe green grapes and some fresh red berries. There’s a tiny hint of menthol. Vanilla and some liquorice comes through after a while in the glass. There’s an earthy note of dry soil sitting in the back together with dust and some heather. A savory note sits in the heart of everything making it quite complex but still very clean and easy on the nose.

Mouth: It starts out honey sweet and spicy. The fruitiness rolls in like a wave with the ripe green grapes in front, but now there’s some darker dried fruits in the mix. The oak arrives pretty early and brings a nice bitterness. There’s walnuts, dust and the savory note is still found in the middle of everything.

Finish: This goes immediatly to the oak. It’s grey weathered oak planks and walnuts. The heather and the dry soil come back for a couple of seconds. The savory note keeps on making appearances and there’s now a hint of peaches peeking through the oakiness. It’s not astringent, but it is somewhat dry on the toungue. The spicyness follows along.

Additional information
”Wee witchie” comes from the nickname of the smallest still in the Mortlach distillery. This 12 YO was first released in 2018. It’s distilled 2.81 times and aged in both american ex-bourbon barrels and european ex-sherry casks.

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

Small Donate Button

Mortlach, Speyside

Mortlach 21 YO – 2020 Special Release

Lämna en kommentar

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.

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

Small Donate Button

Mortlach, Speyside

Mortlach 20 YO – Cowie’s Blue Seal

Lämna en kommentar

ABV: 43.4 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 5/5

Tasting notes
This was tasted at a whisky festival. No tasting notes were recorded. The impression was that this is a malty and rich whisky with a mix of dark fruits and butterscotch with a nice texture to it. It has a lot of notes which come from spending 20 years in casks.

Additional information
This whisky is aged in ex-sherry casks for the full maturation. It’s distilled ~2.81 times. The bottle tried was No. 2019/29656.

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

Small Donate Button

Mortlach, Speyside

Mortlach 16 YO – Distiller’s Dram

Lämna en kommentar

ABV: 43.4 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 1
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is rich and fruity. At first there are dark and dried fruits overpowering everything else. There are raisins, dades, prunes and a dried tropical fruit mix with pineapples and nectarines. After a few second a top layer forms with oak, vanilla and a sprinkle of dust. It feels very thick and it almost feels savory behind the fruity exterior. This is a fruitcake whisky and there are baking spices coming through to accentuate that. This is a lovely nose, but it lacks a tiny bit of depth.

Mouth: It starts out with a sweet and malty core and a fruity outer layer. The dried tropical fruits remain, but they are more integrated in the sweet core with vanilla and honey. The darker fruit notes have moves towards the edges where they interact with notes which could be described as leather-bound books on a dusty shelf. There is a hint of butterscotch coming through for those who are patient. The spices are more and more leaning towards cinnamon.

Finish: The first thing to pop up is the leather-bound books and dust. There’s now also a hint of tobacco. Inside it’s now a much fresher fruitiness with the dried tropical fruit mix very much in focus. It stays like that until the oakiness arrives. It’s a dry and quite pleasant oakiness which isn’t making a big impact, but brings a soft nuttiness and a mild bitterness to the otherwise fruity finish. This is really a great whisky, but all the flavours feels like they are sitting close to the front and it leaves a slightly empty space in the background.

Additional information
This ”Distiller’s dram” is a part of the Mortlach core range. It was released in 2018. It’s aged in a mix of first fill and refill ex-sherry casks.