Pure Scot Virgin Oak 43

Rating: 14/23 I hated the regular Pure Scot. It was an absolutely miserable bottle to work through and a fair amount ended up down the drain. I unfortunately bought this bottle at the same time, so I can only hope that it's a little bit better in some way. N: I get a lot of toasty grain blending into wood. There's a dash of malty sweetness in here and a rich (but not at all floral) vanilla scent. For anyone who struggles to differentiate vanilla from floral scents, this is a great nose to practice on. There's something lightly tart in here too. I wouldn't say there's a ton going on here, but it's rich with some solid notes and it's just interesting enough. I'm (very) cautiously optimistic based on this nose. P: Wow! I can really taste the virgin oak in this. It makes me think of something like Kavalan where a big focus is clearly on sourcing first fill barrels. I get some of that bland lowland character from the regular Pure Scot in here, but I also get tons of robust, sweet vanilla. Surely, this must be American oak. The flavor tends slightly toward maple even at times, reminding me of a smoother, mellower, less tart, and less bitter Balcones Single Malt. The Balcones is more interesting, but it's hard to object to the terrific smoothness here. This is far smoother than the regular Pure Scot, despite being slightly higher proof. It also really reminds me of Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Barrel. Usually, bourbon barrel aging doesn't change the spirit a whole lot (at least compared with something like oloroso or PX sherry), but for these two the American oak really comes through. The sweet vanilla woodiness is stronger here, whereas the spice and tartness are a bit diminished in comparison. There's more going on in the Glenfiddich and it tastes a bit older, but it's hard to argue with the decadent smoothness here. Digging in deeper, I get a little dusty earthiness from the barrel that goes nicely with the bit of toastiness I get from the grain. There's also some nice spiciness that helps cover for the little bit of harshness. I really don't get much in terms of raw alcohol flavor coming through. There's a faint tartness that borders on waxy helping to complete the profile and keeping it from being too sweet. That leads into a little bit of brine, which is connected nicely with the subdued smokiness via a faint herbal flavor. F: It's a mellow finish that continues to emphasize the sweetness along with the wood. The complexity drops out, but it's still pretty enjoyable. - Conclusion - This is a big improvement over the regular Pure Scot. I wouldn't call it great by any means, but regular Pure Scot is young with not a lot of barrel influence. This may still be young, but the fresh oak influence brings in some much needed vanilla sweetness and richness. Scotch isn't usually aged in new oak barrels, so this is actually additionally enjoyable because of how interesting the experience is. This is an easy sipper. I'm looking at a 12 to 16 here. I think that this is probably not as good as the Glenfiddich 14 Bourbon Barrel, which I gave a 16. There's plenty of stuff below a 14 that I think this beats though. I think I'm probably going to land on either a 14 to 15 here. Based on my personal experience blending, I can attest that it's hard to highlight the oak sweetness like Bladnoch has done here without also adding a lot of undesireable bitterness. It really tastes like they cycled rapidly through multiple new oak barrels and so I think "luxury" every time I taste this. The underlying spirit isn't anything exciting and the whole product really is a one trick pony, but it's unique and very tasty. Considering the youth and lack of complexity, I think I need to start with a 14, but I'll be trying this again later and I very well may go up from there. For $25, this is a steal!

Very enjoyable and definitely good enough to sip neat, particularly considering the very reasonable price. Taste provides a nice balance of many aspects; a little smoke, oak, brine, sweet, fruit.... nothing to excess but a pleasant bit of everything.

Great even as a beginner. Easy to enjoy.