Secret Orkney Distillery 2005 12 Year (The Maltman)

Up until now I've been a bit hesitant to explore releases of Independent Bottlers. The standard brands seem to give more an assurance of quality and availability. My local shopkeeper agreed on the part of availability, but found the guarantee of quality, at least in some cases, well, ... debatable. He invited me to a private (small circle) 'Independent Bottler' event, were we could try and tast several bottlings, mostly limited releases and small batches. I couldn't try them all, so I stayed with the peated whiskies, and since I was by car, I limited my line up to two drams (but got a third taste for free): - The Maltman (Secret Orkney Distillery) 2005 12 Year Old (Sherry Hogshead) - Hunter Laing's The Old Malt Cask Caol Ila 2009 (9 Year Old) Red Wine Finish - Hepburn's Choice Caol Ila 2009 5 Year Old (Quarter Cask) The first dram was bottled by The Maltman, with a distillate of an undisclosed 'secret' Orkney Distillery - obviously Highland Park. I've tried a few Highland Park's before (12 and 18 years old) and found them to be pretty good, but it's said that they don't compare to the brand's superb releases of a decade ago. The more recent marketing bottlings seem to pay more attention to packaging than it's content. Luckily - according to the expert that was hosting the event - there are still some very good bottlings available from time to time by Independent Bottlers. This 12 Year Old liquid was matured in a Sherry Hogshead barrel and being a single cask release, only 391 bottles are available. Non chill-filtered or colored, it's color is nothing short of impressive: dark gold-orange (On a more official scale I would judge it to be 'chestnut oloroso sherry 1.2') The Sherry influence was clearly noticeable. On the nose, there's not so much peat, but the sherry-notes are accompanied by sea influences and fruits. The first sip immediately finally reveals some moderate smoke and peat in addition to the initial sherry and nuts, while after a few moments some raisins and dried fruit reveal themselves, toghether with a hint of sweet coffee and dark (salted?) chocolate. The aftertaste lingers on for a decent amount of time, and is mostly fruity in the start, and goes slowly to coffee-chocolate. This is a dram that simply delivers from bottle to stomach. It's full and balanced, and while rather complex very easy to take in. Full 4 stars for me!