Glentauchers 7 Year - Battlehill (Duncan Taylor)

Tasted at Michael and Devons. Hardly any nose. Little forward taste then salt. Decently smooth but nothing remarkable.

A rainy, damp and dreary Friday November evening. Working my way through the backlog of samples. This one provide by @GenerouslyPaul. A bit of warming I can use and hopefully this will help. In the glencairn, the nose is faint, almost no detectable aromas. You need to dig and let it open. Lemon peel, orange bitters, honey and wax. Very sparse. The palate slightly thick and is initially sweet. It slowly fades and becomes hot, woody and spicy. Vanilla-honey that becomes black pepper with ginger root and pinewood. The finish is long and highly bitter and course. Lemon zest remains and turns into the sour remains of a bitter Hall lemon cough drop. A warming sensation works it way deep down remains for a fair length; the most redeeming quality of this dram. This is evidently young and still forming. From beginning to end, it’s rather underwhelming; nothing that would make you wanting more. [78/100][Tasted: 11/9/18]

Stop number 93 on the SDT is Glentauchers. Yet another unknown Speyside distillery, Glentauchers is nearly exclusively used for blends. Only once (at least in the modern era) did they release an official distillery bottling, a 15 year old back in 2000. To find any single malts of theirs you need to look to the independent bottlers. This brings us to Duncan Taylor and their Battlehill series. This 7 year old is a vatting of at least two, if not more casks. I have no official info on this, but based on the high ABV and the fact that there were 1200 bottles released I would say it is most likely the case. Bottled at 56% ABV and is non chill filtered and natural color (both are assumptions) of yellow gold. The nose has lots of fresh berries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. Vanilla, nougat, chocolate, powdered sugar, very confectionary. Honey, malty, oak with some candle wax and a cooling menthol feel. Green grapes, raisins, kiwi, baked apples and, strangely enough, watermelon gum. With water there is a strong note of Grape-Nuts cereal, olive oil and grainy bread. Lemony citrus and a touch of sulphur. Letting it sit a good long while after adding water there are some tropical fruits that appear in the form of pineapple and mango. I spent a number of nights tasting this one and each night seemed to produce a different experience on the palate. The first night was sweet, confectionary, blueberries, banana chips and light sherry notes. The second night brought odd and unpleasant notes I couldn’t quite identify, along with some light, green oak, allspice and almonds. The third night was more of the same. The fourth night brought the sweetness back I enjoyed it. Today was a little of both. Water brings pepper and it comes across like an unpeated Talisker. Barrel char and a hint of cantaloupe. A medium bodied mouthfeel that is oily and mouthwatering. The finish is long, semi dry with berries and cereal/malty notes lingering on. Quite the chameleon this one. One day it’s good, the next it’s, not quite bad but let’s just say less good. Maybe it was just me and the mood I was in or whatever I had eaten that day, but whatever the case may be, it was an overall pleasant experience. At $55 it’s not that bad of a price considering the high ABV. The good days could have pulled a 3.75 or a 4, but the bad days were more like a 3. Total experience is worth a 3.5 here. Cheers

Uh oh, sawdust is the first note I got, which led to cardboard. Slight lemon/oranges and floral notes, but nothing else makes me want to try a taste. The palate has some nice honey and vanilla up front but subsided into a clash of hot alcohol (even with time and water) and just other mineral nastiness. Someone that likes a nose full of perfume, with a similar taste might get into this, but it’s just not for me. I HAVE had a nice Fettercairn from Battlehill, so I don’t think it’s an independent issue. The theme of this is going to be “The Lumberjack” by Jackyl. Yeah, I went there. Sorry @Generously_Paul, at least we get to cross it off our list as completed. 1.5.

As we roll closer to the distillery finish line, our sample group has saved most of the oddball, obscure distilleries for the end run. It’s time for Speysider, Glentauchers. Founded in 1898 by James Buchanan & Co, this distillery produces 4.5 million liters a year used in blends for Buchanan’s, Black & White and Ballantine’s. They only bottle one single malt in house, a 15 year old. Sadly, this is not that bottle. This is from the Battlehill line for Duncan Taylor. It’s a 7 year old that’s bottled at or near cask strength of 56% ABV. It’s pure gold in color, is most likely NCF’d and natural in color while making no legs and leaving tiny droplets behind when you spin it up (obviously not much water in this one). The nose is harsh grains up front, with pepper and oak swirling around as well. There’s a tiny bit of honey that comes in after a little time, but it doesn’t smell hot for such a high ABV. The palate is hot with some slight sweetness reminiscent of vanilla and honey, but it’s not enough to overcome the heat and harshness of the young spirit. The finish is long, warming and turning dry and biting. It’s tough to find any complexity or smoothness at all. Overall, this obviously belongs in a blend and there’s not much to enjoy as a single malt. Thanks to @Generously_Paul for supplying this one, but I think we need to just keep moving. 2 stars. Cheers.

I’m 0-2 tonight in our SDT sampling tour. This one courtesy of @Generously_Paul . Another one that I struggled for a sip or two, and then gave up. Hot, astringent, more like a grain under 15 yrs old rather than a single malt. Needed more time in the barrel. Or just better barrels. One unholy mess.