Nose: Werther’s Originals. Rich summer stone fruits, light peat, minerals. Touch of sherry, varnish, light oak, autumn leaves, ham, sweet lemon, vanilla. Water adds some floral’s, earthiness and enhances the peat.
Palate: Very approachable even without water. A little oily. Figs, warm spices, raisins, light peat, smoked meat, minerals, marshmallows, ginger, salt, Werther’s Originals, coconut, fruit tingles. Water pushes the spices to the back palate and enhances the sweet elements, toffee/vanilla.
Finish: Minerals, toffee, marshmallows, warm spices, menthol, some ash/peat.
Last Word: Excellent! Love this one!
Rating: 92/100
I just got home & whipped the top off!
Nose: gentle smoke, sweet spice, autumnal undergrowth, vanilla oak & a hint of oloroso sherry. A lovely balance between sweet & earthy.
Palate: Aromatic spices (maybe clove & cardamom), sweet delicate peat, well balanced oak, complex – it feels full & round in the mouth.
I know what you mean by fruit tingles, as it seems to dance on the palate!
It finishes very long & beautifully balanced with a lingering aftertaste that fills your mouth with fragrance.
You would never guess that it is 62%!
I’ll be interested to see what it does after the bottle has been open for a while.
Love it!
Great report Alan thanks. After pouring another couple of drams of this one on the weekend I’m not sure it won’t score a little higher before long.
Brian, I’d be interested in your take on what happens to whisky once a bottle is opened.
The “conventional wisdom” seems to be that, once bottled, a whisky’s character is immutable & set in stone.
My instinct tells me this is wrong. It is well known that a bottle of wine changes over time once opened due to exposure to oxygen. Whisky, having had a more extended exposure to oxygen in cask won’t change to the same extent, but my experience is that you will get subtle (sometimes not so subtle) changes with time.
Perhaps you could make it the subject of a post, but either way, I’d be interested to hear your experiences.
I will one way or the other Alan
Brian
As this is more of a forum type question than a post I’ll put down my thoughts on this here Alan.
I’m not sure that even when bottles remain unopened for a long period of time that there is any absolute empirical evidence that whisky in an unopened bottlecannot change over time. There has been commentary from certain circles than light or heat can effect whisky in unopened bottles and change the basic character to one degree or another.
As to the evolution of character once the bottle is opened, my experience is this can happen, though not necessarily for every whisky. Smoke is a component that can illustrate this. I have opened whiskies where smoke has little or no presence when first opened then in the last quarter of the bottle has presented markedly. Smoke is a very singular note and not readily confused with another flavor. It is like tasting an apple and saying it tastes like apple. Then by the fifth bite you taste smoke. I have never had an apple that has done this but I have had whiskies that do.
Sounds wonderful Brian!
According to EMS my bottle touched down in Melbourne today!
Can’t wait to try it!!
Sweet Alan. Look forward to your impressions.