Castle Rock Blended Scotch

Nose: Initially there was an aroma like rotting gym socks and perished rubber bands. There was some vanilla, oak and sherry but those notes were buried beneath the unpleasant aroma. Palate: A slight improvement over the nose - smooth and sweet but not engaging. The nose did carry through into the palate, although less intrusively. Finish: Short and blandly sweet, but the rubbery character was there until the end. This is an inexpensive scotch blend available through various liquor store chains in Australasia, and I think also in the UK. Like others of its ilk it claims to include the “finest Speyside and highland malts”, but blends like this are opportunistic, being concocted from whatever cheap whisky is available at the time from contracted suppliers. Consequently while one batch might be OK the next one could be a blend created from bad still runs or tainted casks that the distillery was anxious to unload. Whether it’s a characteristic of this particular blend or a one-off batch fault, this whisky was definitely flawed. The aromas of decay were likely from a bad ferment and the rubbery smell from sulphur, either also introduced in fermentation or more likely from maturation in bad barrels. Once it had had time to rest in the glass for a while it mellowed slightly but it never became attractive, and even as a mixer the peculiar nose and palate were still evident. “Very Poor” : 57/100 (0.5 star)