Here’s another obscure distillery we were able to add to our sample group tour: Fettercairn. This eastern Highland distillery was founded in 1824 by Sir Alexander Ramsay and loosely translates to “foot of the mountain”, based on its location near the Grampian Mountains. It was originally called Nethermill, as it was transformed from a corn mill to a distillery on Sir Ramsay’s estate. It was owned by Whyte and Mackay from 1973-2007 and used primarily for their blended whisky lines. It was sold to Indian businessman Vijay Mallya in 2008 and he has since tried to rebrand the distillery as a luxury producer- offering 24, 30 and 40 year bottlings. The distillery produces 1.6 million liters per year. This particular bottle is a 7 year old, sourced from Duncan Taylor’s Battlehill range and is offered at 56% ABV. It’s light gold in color and produces lots of tiny legs and water droplets when you swirl it in the Glencairn. The nose is highly sulphuric and buttery. I get loads of oak, youthful spirit and heat. After a decent amount of time the sulphur subsided and I get more friendly notes of chocolate and toffee. The palate is hot and slightly harsh, but there’s some nice vanilla and toffee to be found if you can work through the heat. I actually liked this one being quite hot as the creamy aspect keeps the heat from being too overwhelming. Sadly, the flavor profile does suffer a bit. The finish is short to medium, dry and mostly bitter. The creamy aspect doesn’t last and that ends the enjoyment I was having quite abruptly. Overall, something tells me the older, luxurious bottles they are after may indeed be quite good, but I’m probably not going to shell out what they may end up asking for them. This 7yo is a tease that I’ll be happy to oblige and just move on. Thanks to my buddy @Generously_Paul for this pour. 3.25-3.5 stars. Cheers.