Strathmill 12 Year Flora & Fauna

A light easy drinkable whisky, was my not too much impressive, Strathmill 12yo Flora and Fauna. My first dram from this distillery and it was a fair treat. Bottled at 43%abv, pale straw color. On the nose, it smells actually grainy. There are yellow apples, cooked. Like mashed. Some citrus notes, Creamy chocolate fudge. Its a little harsh and "alcoholy" on the nose. Lots of fruits, specially apples. It doesn't get easier on the nose after taking a first sip, but a remarkably clean honey note appears. Still a lot of alcohol on the nose after taking a second sip. Dulce de leche appeared. It is not that bad, it is a little harsh. After a while the burnt grass that i will later found in theaftertaste is also on the nose. I let it breath for 10 mins. The alcohol went away, but the apples stayed. On the palate is quite good. Nice creamy vanilla with apples somewhere there. Pepper and cinnamon. Second sip is dulce de leche, with apples which is actually a nice combo. It is not bad at all in the palate. It is so sweet and nice the first seconds of the palate then it shows a little roughness but not unpleasant. Remember i told you that the harshness of the nose left after 10 mins? Well it went to the palate. Nothing on the fourth sip, just alcohol and no aftertaste. Aftertaste is not the best. Burnt grass and hints of peat. Apple liquor. Old apples. Overall this is a normal whisky, which i believe originally went for $50,00 and that would be a fair price for it. It is not bad, not great either. 73 over 100.

Nose: A cereal-forward nose with a little vanilla and a strong malty background. Sweet and full, there are hints of apple, honey and caramel. Palate: Rich, sweet, silky-smooth arrival. Brown sugar and malt, vanilla, custard, hazelnuts. As it develops a little cocoa comes to the front. The texture is light. Finish: Medium. Sweet and cereal/malty. Like Teaninich 10 year, this whisky put me very much in mind of Johnnie Walker. I'd bet good money it is a component of their blends but this one probably goes into Black Label more than Red Label. It's enjoyable and easy to drink, with the only negatives being lightness of body and a faintly saccharine/mineral note that creeps in at mid-development. This lingers through until the end. Adding water is not recommended. The nose loses coherence and turns into pear-juice and the palate falls apart. This whisky can't swim to save itself. The only positive thing about watering is that the aftertaste is muted. It's rather expensive for the quality and only worth obtaining if you are aiming to taste the whole Flora & Fauna series, but for all that it is an above average malt, just. "Above Average" : 80/100 (3 stars)

We had a pour of this at the tasting bar upstairs at Oban Distillery, which has a pretty solid selection of Diageo's single malt lineup particularly their Flora & Fauna series. Strathmill is almost exclusively a blending component, and I can see why here. This is a solid malty base that will allow other whiskies to perform the starring role in a blend. Released as part of the Flora & Fauna line, this is a solid session dram but nothing more. The nose is a classic generic Highland nose of mild honey, oats, and moderate minerality. The palate is sweet, like skipping straight ahead to dessert and enjoying an apple pie and a glass of sherry.

This really is a whiskey of two halves. The good rich viscous honey and vanilla. The not so good shorter slightly bitter finish. Initially the longer I drank it the latter seemed to over power the former but then it balanced out a bit. 3.5 rounding up as I don't like to disrespect the dead (aka discontinued) :-)