Rating: 15/23
N: Malty and sweet with some sort of dried fruit in the red to black range (figs?) blending into the maltiness. I get a hint of youth, but not much actually. Theres some spiciness with sort of a dry woodiness.
P: Disappointingly watery. It has some nice fruity sweetness that blends into the slightly youthful malt. There's some vanilla and spicy wood to go along with that. There's almost a flavor of white cake here. The balance here is terrific, but the flavor is kind of flat and weak, as well as a tad youthful. I bet that this would have a lot more definition and be a lot better at around 45% ABV.
It has a nice balance of bourbon and sweet sherry character to it though. This is in a way the most approachable scotch out there. It really needs to be bottled at a higher proof though.
This doesn't fare well side by side with high quality scotch, but it does taste pretty nice after taking a break from scotch for a while.
F: Heat from the spice mixes with a slightly more bitter version of the vanilla, a little bit of mellow wood, and some kind of youthful maltiness.
- Conclusion -
I don't remember the exact circumstances of my initial tasting, but I wasn't able to do a side-by-side with it and anything else, and it had also been a while since I'd had another scotch, so I always knew that I might have overrated it. I'm disappointed to confirm that worry correct.
This is just too weak and boring. It's a great example of a typical, approachable scotch, but it's not great. This is about on the level of Old Pulteney 12 (14) and Aberlour 12 (14). The Old Pulteney is funkier and the Aberlour is fuller, but this has better complexity and just...quintessential scotch character...with its balance of bourbon and sherry characters, along with some lightly malty but not offensive base flavor. I'd take this over the Old Pulteney, but Loch Lomond 12 is better than this by what seems like a more substantial margin.
I think that puts this in the 14 to 15 range. I think that considering that the Old Pulteney and Loch Lomond are high for their ratings, this lands in the 15 bucket. As another check, this is better than Pure Scot Virgin Oak (14), but not as good as Mortlach 15 Six Kingdoms (16), so about a 15 makes sense.
This is certainly better than Highland Park 12 (12), but I wouldn't shell out the money for this considering that there are very competitive alternatives at lower prices. I'll keep my bottle around to share with any whisky novices who wander in though.
Coming off of a wine and beer phase, my palate is fresher than usual and I can better understand why I originally gave this a 17. That said, it is in no way a 17 now. I could imagine boosting it up to a 16, but I can also imagine going down to a 14. A 15 it is.
46.0
USD
per
Bottle