ABV: 43 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 3/5
Tasting notes
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Additional information
This whisky was aged in american oak ex-bourbon barrels. It’s a travel retail exclusive release.
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ABV: 40 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 1
Impression: 1/5
Tasting notes
Nose: This is young and spirit driven. At first there’s a rather flat fruity pear note with some vanilla and malt attached to it. The distillate is young and very pronounced and it comes with an unpleasant cardboard note. With time in the glass the fruity note grows a bit more noticable and a tiny sweet liquorice note comes through around the edges. The vanilla turns into a thin toffee note after a while. This is a rather thin and uninteresting nose.
Mouth: It starts out with a generic sweetness taking up most of the palate and the distillate sits up front. It really tastes like cardboard and it’s very flat. The fruitiness is coming through as ripe yellow pears but it’s beaten down by most of the other flavours. The oak is already present and it’s a very bitter and unpleasant oakiness in the background. The sweetness do turn into the same vanilla and toffee note as before but they are still overridden by all the other unpleasantries going on.
Finish: The distillate pushes through once again and it brings the cardboard note with it. It’s very young and harsh. The sweetness and the fruitiness flickers by but fortunatly it completely falls apart rather quickly and it doesn’t take long before the (not in a good way) bitter oakiness is all that’s left. To be fair, after a couple of minutes the oakiness settles down and becomes a bit nutty, which is a good thing. This is a really bad whisky and it certainly presents itself as a budget alternative.
Additional information
Bradan Orach means golden salmon in Gaelic. It’s aged in american ex-bourbon oak barrels and was added to the core range in 2009.
ABV: 46 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5
Tasting notes
Nose: This is malty and fruity. This is apples and pears with a base of maltiness and a thin note of honey. It’s quite perfumey and fresh. There’s a thin layer of vanilla sitting on top of the fruits. After a while the sherry notes start to appear. The apples and pears gets accompanied by fresh raspberries and ripe plums. A thin note of cardboard comes through in the back.
Mouth: It starts out very mild and sweet. Honey and vanilla is dominating and the maltiness is still working as a base. A pepper spicyness builds up over time. A bitterness creates an outside layer and it’s connected to a slightly dusty oakiness. It’s not as fruity as on the nose and it’s leaning more towards ripe fruits.
Finish: The peppery spicyness flare up and then quickly subsides. The fruitiness returns as apples and pears once again, together with vanilla and a hint of fudge. Then it quickly turns to a bitter oakiness. When it arrives it takes over completely and the late finish is nothing but the oakiness. It’s dry grey oak planks with notes of coffee and walnuts. This is a nice solid experience with the extra ABV helping it along the way.
Additional information
This version of the Speyburn 10 YO was released in 2018 as a travel retail exclusive. It’s stated that it’s a limited edition. The maturation is done in both american ex-bourbon barrels and ex-sherry casks. It’s unchillfiltered.
ABV: 46 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 3/5
Tasting notes
Nose: This is young and fruity. Ripe grapes and apples together with vanilla and honey create a quite thick layer. Behind that, it feels a bit shallow and a little cardboardy. It grows sweeter with time in the glass and the honey is dominating heavily. A hint of cinnamon comes through together with a miniscule hint of earthiness after it opens up in the glass.
Mouth: It’s quite spicy at first before the fruitiness kicks in. It’s very fruity with green apples and pears, much more so than on the nose. It’s dry and dusty and the oak comes through early. It’s a nice oakiness with some bitterness on the sides. It feels a lot more mature on the palate and there’s more depth. Butterscotch comes up after a while as a nice little twist for those who wait.
Finish: A small cloud of menthol pass by. It’s still very fruity now moving towards ripe pears. A very nice note of almonds appear before the oak takes over. The oakiness makes it a touch astringent and it comes through as newly cut wood with inlays of watermelon and hazelnuts. The honey sweetness returns together with a slight touch of butterscotch. There’s maybe a tiny veil of peat in the late finish otherwise the cask influence is not very prominent.
Additional information
The Hopkins Reserve is a travel retail exclusive release. It’s aged in american ex-bourbon barrels which previously also held peated scotch single malt. It’s unchillfiltered.
William’s Whisky Database 