Limavady Single Barrel Single Malt

Nose: crusty artisanal bread, yeast, unripe apple, apple skins, unripe banana, berry, vanilla, cinnamon, spearmint. Palate: toasted barley, fruit, vanilla, barrel spice. There’s a slight savory note in the mix that keeps it just interesting enough. From what I understand, this is only about five years old, between first fill ex-bourbon and PX cask finishing, but it’s a well-made spirit. Single barrel, so will be curious to see if there’s any significant difference between barrels. Since it was on clearance at $18, I bought 8 bottles from barrels 81 and 82, although I’ll give away all but two as holiday gifts. Update: Opened bottle from Barrel 81, which has a little more ethanol and lacks the interesting savory note in the bottle from Barrel 82. So I expect there’s a fair amount of variation between barrels.

Dry fruit, toasted vanilla.