Strathisla 15 year 2008/2023 Single Cask Distillery Exclusive

Strathisla Distillery post-tour tasting, 1st May 2024, whisky#2 Nose: Raspberries, cranberry juice, strawberries, red apples, green apples, pear juice, vanilla, cinnamon. Palate: Sweet, rich and creamy when neat. Huge strawberry note, milk chocolate, white chocolate, stewed red plums. The texture is creamy and oily. Finish: Medium/Short. Berries stewed with mild spices and served with chocolate. This distillery exclusive expression was distilled and filled into an ex-bourbon barrel (cask 211804) on February 29th, 2008 and discharged on September 11th, 2023. The barrel produced 312 half-litre bottles of which my tasting was from bottle 157. The whisky was not chill-filtered and although I cannot say if it had any artificial colouring added, given the pale straw colour I don’t think it did. It is a deliciously luscious and decadent whisky with impressively contained alcohol. I would never guess this had mid-50s strength abv. It does not need water but a drop or two brings out white pepper and ginger and makes the texture even creamier. It is delicious either way. I was a just a fraction disappointed in the new 11 year old expression (the first we tasted) but this cask-strength 15, the second tasting in the lineup, completely restored my faith in Strathisla. It is simply delicious and more importantly … fun. It is a cellar-door exclusive but you can buy it online as well. When it came to our favourite dram of the afternoon the tasting group of 8 from my tour were split between this and the distillery exclusive 16 year old (which I’ll be reviewing next). Personally, I thought they were equally delightful. “Very Good” : 86/100 (4 stars)