Scallywag 13 Year

The nose starts off with a lovely wine sweetness mixed with barley. Honey and straw follow along, with a certain creaminess that also appears. It almost smells like a slice of cake with a side of dessert wine, absolutely pleasant to experience. The palate is soft and gentle, filling the mouth with wine sweetness and sweet barely. A bit of baking spices warm the mouth up, as cream and oak come in at the end. It doesn't exactly fill all corners of the mouth, but its got a pleasant, subtle richness to it that makes it quite enjoyable to sip on. The finish is medium long and incredibly smooth, leaving the mouth with a creamy mouthfeel and slight hints of cinnamon and wine sweetness fades away.

A rich, 13-year-old variation on Douglas Laing's spectacular Scallywag blended malt Scotch whisky! Boasting a selection of Speyside malts within its recipe (all aged for at least 13 years for this expression). It has a Sherried birth with notes of steamed berry pudding, ginger & vanilla-rich malt; while life adds notes of brown sugar, blackberries & chocolate fudge; that led to a long & warming death with notes of granola bars, milk chocolate & a hint of cinnamon. February 2018 / January 2019 / August 2022

Vanilla and strawberry jam roly-poly on the nose. Tastes of fudge, chocolate and muscavado with cinnamon coming through at the finish.

First sip definitely made an impression. Strong diesel like sherry. Reminds me of Fettercairn although that's a highland region dram then I thought aha it must be Aberlour stock. It's quite a tidy dram all round. Burnt sweet toffee predominantly once it opens up, the finish is a bit drying and astringent however. Metallic note was observed initially but then seemed to fade into the background until the finish. I'm swinging between a 3.75 a 4 on this one. I love the sherry oomph up front but like a lot of aberlours doesn't have that nice oily full body which translates to a thinner mid palate and bitter finish. It's funny as it's a dram best swirled around your mouth as as soon as you let it settle and swallow the experience diminishes a fair bit.

Nose - Sweet fruity caramel, vanilla, caramel apples, raisins, hint of dried cranberries, spicy fruitcake Taste - Spiced/mulled apple juice, juicy dark raisins, dried apples rehydrated with brandy & white wine, hint of dark chocolate, cinnamon, light metallic fruit, bit thin mouthfeel Finish - Lingering fruity metallic sweet, light dark chocolate bitterness, metallic lightly sweet raisins, apple juice Score - 82/100 Final Thoughts - This was a fairly pleasant blended Speyside with a good amount of sherry influence. Very pleasant nose and good initial hit on the palate, although it suffers from this metallic sweetness on the back palate that lingers into the finish. This one was better than the NAS mini I tried in the past, but the metallic notes on the back end into the finish are a bit distracting. Overall not a bad dram, but I think this would be best in a highball or something that would help mask the metallic finish. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - No Would I buy a bottle? - Not another

Balanced