Stop number 83 on the SDT is Pittyvaich. This is my first review of a distillery that is currently closed (and I do not believe this one is slated for a comeback). Pittyvaich was a Diageo owned Speyside distillery and this 12 year old was part of the Flora and Fauna series. Bottled at 43%, chill filtered and has colorant added making it a mahogany color. At first the nose is fairly closed off with some light minty sherry notes. Some sweet cinnamon, a touch of clove and some raisins. After some time the nose really comes to life. Strong maple/coffee/roasted malt notes come bursting forward. A sort of bourbon-esque note emerges, or maybe a sort of Canadian profile. Toffee, burnt sugar. A strange brown sugar/bubblegum combo. Mixed nuts, red apple skins and a little bit of an herbal note. It’s really all over the place, but really quite good. The palate is...well it’s different. Honestly my first thought was “Is this a scotch or a flavorful Canadian whisky?” It really has that distinctive Canadian profile. Butterscotch, caramel and toffee. A little cinnamon, coffee and a strong nutty taste- pecans and walnuts. Raisins and dates. Very rich, but not in a sweet way. A light to medium light bodied mouthfeel, dry but mouth coating. The finish is medium short with a coffee/chocolate malt, caramel, butterscotch and walnuts. Thoughts...well it’s different, that’s for sure. I could easily believe this is a sherry matured Canadian whisky, which makes it difficult to score. The price of this bottle was ridiculously high due to the fact that it’s a closed distillery. I believe @PBMichiganWolverine paid $420 for it. So we’ll just go ahead and take that out of the equation. I’ll say it’s a 3.5 but give it a bump up to 3.75 because of the rarity and very unique nature it presented. Round up to 4 because it’s really closer to a 4 than a 3. Cheers