Wolfburn Small Batch Release No. 128

An odour was soft, not smokey. Content was quite oily. The taste was aromic. The after taste was a little bit vanilja.

Good amount of complexity. Sweetness on the nose - honeycomb and cinder toffee - which builds on the palate from fresh grass to heat and smoke with hints of orange and apple. What’s left is a wispy peat-smoke finish and lingering toffee apple.

Subtle and tasty, lots of depth!

Nose: Assertively oily and malty but enlivened by a brisk menthol note. Orange rind, hessian bags, tobacco, butter pastry and vanilla essence, and with water and some time to rest the nose produces floral aromas led by frangipani and honeysuckle. There is a smoky note but it's an oily, subtle, almost fruity kind of smoke - quite unlike most peat-reek. Palate: A sweet and spicy herbal arrival. Pepper and smoked lemon preserved in brine. Vanilla, apple and stone-fruits. As it develops, a sweet malty note emerges together with a brisk minty/aniseed tinge. A very satisfying texture. Finish: Medium/long. Hot gingery spices slowly fade into a sweet citric aftertaste. A fresh and lively malt with considerable muscle that only shows its youth through a lack of complexity. There is very little smoke or oak and what is there is soft and subtle. It's a distillate driven whisky and too young to have received much barrel influence, and I'm keenly interested to know what it will be like with another 6-8 years of maturation. The watered nose is notably different to the neat profile. This whisky swims very well (usually a good sign) and changes its character markedly as water is added. A small dash reveals greater spicy notes whilst adding only moderate softness, however you can take this right down to 50/50 strength (around 23%abv) without hurting it. At that point it is a delightfully easy summer drink that still retains a forceful character, and a host of fragrant and sweet floral notes are revealed. Most impressive, the official score here is much too mean. If Wolfburn can maintain this level of quality then in a couple of decades people will be speaking about them in the same respectful tone they currently reserve for Springbank. "Very Good” : 86/100 (4 stars)