anCnoc 12 Year

On the nose there is a sweetness and a lot of citrus. Vanilla and sugared cereals. Taste: dried plums, caramel, citrus and liquorice. Finish: medium long with caramel and tobacco. For the price (27 euro/bottle) this is an amazing whisky that is incredibly hard to beat.

More floral than vanilla on the nose at the beginning, but you do get a hint of American wood already in the background. Once you take a dip sweet vanilla quickly disappeared and comes some dried fruit, I was expecting some raisin but I cannot find it. And yet again it was quickly over shadow by spicy and almost but not quite burn wood taste which lingers to the end. Definitely not a boring whisky but it won't be my everyday as I personally don't like way too much bitterness of that wood. I don't mind the dry tea on the finish but not that bitterness.

Round 2: Fresh, lemony - almost like lemon pine sol. Little bit of damp maltiness below the surface. Sharp leather note, green apple, cut grass. Lemon zest or orange zest. Slightly solvent, but quickly gives way to riper apple. Maybe a bit of fennel at the back, too! A little savory wood not on the tail end of the nose. Light, malty and grainy on the first sip. Becomes a prickly raw honey note through the mid palate. Some of the citrus is still there, and it feels fresh. Some white pepper, maybe a tiny bit of licorice too. Malt comes and goes, as does clove. Starts to taste like Carr’s crackers after a while. Finish isn’t too long, has some of that rock candy barley sugar to it and some juicy apple thing going on too. Piney throughout, as well, with a bit of the aniseed happening toward the end. This one has gotten better and better as the bottle’s been open longer, bumping the score up.

Great