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

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet and fruity. At first there’s a dark fruitiness with a fresher top side mixed with vanilla and honey. It’s quite sweet and it has christmas spices coming through. It has a darker feel overall and it feels like there’s a tiny peatiness floating around as well. With time the vanilla really takes over and becomes the main feature. The fruitiness settles and it comes through as ripe plums and raisins. This is a really good nose. It does have some complexity to it even through it lacks a bit of power.

Mouth: It starts out with a coating of vanilla with a nice immidiate spicyness. In the center there’s a dark red fruitiness with overripe plums, tobacco and black coffee. It feels slightly astringent and the oakiness is already present. There’s a mild lemon note in the back and a fresh fruitiness on top. The peatiness comes through as mineral rich and quite mild. It could have been more noticable though, to make everything feel more balanced. It’s a lot less sweet in taste than on the nose.

Finish: The finish starts out with a small increase in what feels like a black pepper spicyness. After a while the dark fruits take over once again and the fresher fruits on top are now joining the lemon and the ripe fruits and creates a nice assorted fruit note in the center. The oakiness is moving in towards the center and it’s a newer oak which really doesn’t fit the dark character of the dram. The peatiness is not especially interesting in the finish. This is a really good whisky with a slightly disappointing finish.

Additional information
There is no information to be found on the aging process of this whisky but it’s a sherried expression. It’s the only standard release of Blair Athol, yet it is limited.

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