Highland Nectar

Appearance: Pale gold. Aroma: Honey, orange, clove, cinnamon (and other baking spices), toffee, vanilla. Flavour and Texture: Sweet honey and spices, vanilla, candied citrus (particularly orange). As it rests in the mouth more spice notes emerge – cardamom, clove and cinnamon in particular. There is also a light background of scotch whisky with an elusive ashen quality. The mouth-feel is like diluted honey. This very enjoyable whisky-based liqueur is a fairly recent product from Elixir Distillers. It is an excellent example of the “honeyed/sugary” style of whisky liqueurs, and like other good examples of this style you can actually taste the scotch whisky component in it. It bears comparison with Gordon and MacPhail’s very fine Dunkeld Atholl Brose which is the highest compliment I can pay to any whisky-based liqueur as it is my all-time favourite. It is not quite as good because Athol Brose has unmistakable Benromach whisky at its core whereas this has generic scotch. However as Atholl Brose is currently not in production (and Gordon and MacPhail have given no indication of when it will be made again) this is currently the best scotch whisky liqueur available. The texture is rich and honeyed but not cloying and syrupy, and it does not have the teeth-clenchingly sweet quality of Drambuie or Glayva. It is more similar to the texture of Pavan or St Germain elderflower liqueur. Well recommended. “Excellent” : 88/100 (4.5 stars)