Nose: White plums, sweet glazed orange slices, burnt pie crust, a fair amount of oak, apricot conserve, butterscotch, hint of nutmeg. Again, you have to work hard to find all that.
Palate: Strawberry, burnt pie crust, grapefruit, rhubarb stalks. Once more, water makes this very unbalanced and on the bitter side.
Finish: Okay but not something you’d want to hold onto forever. Water slaughters anything remotely pleasurable
Rating: 75/100
Nose: Quite simple. Raisins, oranges, lemon, vanilla, hay, rubber, oregano, burnt pie crust. Fairly benign overall for 61.7% abv.
Palate: Taken neat, there is a little raisin, bubblegum, rhubarb, strawberry, but you’ve gotta work hard to find it. Actually too brutal at full strength to reveal any complexity. With water, there is a lot of bitter tannins. Way to much really. Extreme bitter dark chocolate, some bitter orange peel, grapefruit and a smidgen of vanilla (thank heavens).
Finish: Either too brutal without water to be complex or bitter to the max with the water added
Rating: 72/100
Nose: Earthy peat, oak, soy sauce, oyster sauce, seaweed, sandalwood, malt, maple syrup. Lovely.
Palate: Sweet lemon, earthy peat, leather, oak, soy sauce, malt, dates, maple syrup on lightly burnt pancakes, marzipan, nougat
Finish: Medium with the flavours onthe palate. Ends with ashy dryness and gentle oak.
Rating: 86/100
Nose: Malty. Freshly baked apple pie, lemon meringue, cloves, freshly cut timber, a little sherry, vanilla.
Palate: Again, nicely malty. Nutmeg, cloves, popcorn, apple pie with a white sugar dusted crust, vanilla custard, mango.
Finish: Short to medium and continuing the flavours from the palate and the freshly cut timber.
Last Word: A liquid desert
Rating: 87/100
Nose: Dry sherry, oak, raisins, dark cherry chocolate, figs, Arnott’s mint slice biscuits, leather, blackberry jam, bran, ginger.
Palate: Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, brown sugar, figs, brazil nuts, leather, a mix of dark jams, mint, dry sherry, bran, oak. Nicely punchy.
Finish: Medium length. An excellent balance of sweet and dry flavours.
Last Word: I’ve had the 2009 and this is a few points better. A superbly crafted whisky.
Rating: 90/100
Nose: Sherry, honey, malt, dates, raisins. No grainy notes that I can pick up.
Palate: Light bodied. Sherry, some nuttiness, toffee, dates, and a little nougat.
Finish: Short on dry sherry, toffee and nuts.
Last Word: A simple, untaxing whisky that works best mixed or on the rocks, as the makers intended.
Rating: 70/100.
Nose: Sherry, match heads, preserved plums, honey, toffee, medium oak, thickened cream, oats.
Palate: Toasty. Match heads, honey, banana leaf, dry sherry, toffee, candied nuts, nutmeg.
Finish: Short-medium on dry sherry. Matchheads, toffee, honey. Flinty.
Last Word: This reminds me of Highland park 12/18 or Glenfarclas 21. Not really my style of sherried whisky but nothing particularly off either.
Rating: 80/100
Nose: Luscious. A huge hit of apricots. Ginger, soft leather, Seville oranges, lemon barley, toffee, vanilla, stewed rhubarb, lime juice, gentle pepper, a little pine nut, pineapple, walnut, licorice, and a waxy element.
Palate: Smooth and rounded. Big toffee, apricot jam, pepper, stewed rhubarb, Chinese 5 spice. Can oak be creamy? Sweetened corn, pistachios, leather, frangipani, strawberry compote, walnuts, licorice.
Finish: Medium-long. Balanced on a sweet/dry combo then a little minerally.
Last Word: A stunning, elegant whisky of great complexity.
Rating: 93/100
Nose: Quite simple on pears, green apple, lemon, malt, freshly cut timber, yeast. A little waxy. Reminds me of Glen Moray NAS.
Palate: Slightly bitter. Flat sprite, pears, freshly cut timber, malt, pepper, grapefruit.
Finish: Short on timber, pepper, grapefruit, malt.
Last Word: The label says it is blended with “new type” malt whisky. If that means it young, it certainly tastes it.
Rating: 69/100
Nose: Bran, wheat, oats. Lemon and lime. New oak and potato skins.
Palate: Toffee and grain. Golden syrup on pancakes with a light squeeze of lemon.
Finish: Medium on golden syrup, oak, a little poppy seed and cinnamon.
Last Word: Solid blend in the Scottish style. Kirin blends have often used Scottish whisky in the mix.
Ratings: 78/100
Nose: Immediately reminded me of its younger brother the Special Reserve Aged 10 Years. Apple custard, stewed pears. tinned peaches, banana, sawdust. Very creamy with a big dollop of Demerara sugar.
Palate: Yum. Very creamy mouth feels. 5 spice, mashed bananas, apple custard, tinned peaches, smooth oak.
Finish: Fresh cream-covered peaches, stewed apples and banana, sprinkled with sweet spices.
Last Word: Never loses its composure. Excellent blending. I`m giving the same score as the 10-yo version.
Rating: 87/100
Nose: Preserved plums. pomegranate, merlot infused oak, nectarine and a little menthol.
Palate: Sweet red grapes, preserved plums, light oak, cranberries, marzipan, butter, ginger.
Finish: Short on red grape, cranberries, marziapan then quite some ginger.
Rating: 80/100
Nose: Very oaky(grand age). Varnish, toffee, bran and hay. Not particularly inviting.
Palate: Improves on the nose. The oak tones down and there’s lots of sweet spice. Quite nutty. Clingy mouth feel. Some ginger ale.
Finish: Toffee and ginger ale. The oak makes a big return but a little too big unfortunately. The spicy sweetness remains.
Rating: 72/100
Nose: Oak, engine oil, a little dry sherry, orange, cola, caramels.
Palate: A little oily. Cola and caramels. Some rasberry, nutmeg and licorice.
Finish: Short with the flavours of the palate and dying to dry oak.
Rating: 72/100
Nose: Again, lots going on with fresh young notes of fish oil, tequila blanco, sump oil, lemon, hops, rubber floor mats, cooked pork fat, light peat.
Palate: Zesty. Salt, chilli spice, candied nuts, lemon sherbert, chocolate, hops, malt. Easily drinkable at 60 per cent. Water flattens the palate.
Finish: Long on chocolate, malt, hops, lemon, peat and ash.
Last Word: As with the heavily peated version, you can tell this is a relatively immature spirit but there are no harsh acetone notes. Very promising and, at this stage, the zesty/spicy palate puts it just ahead of the heavily peated for me.
Rating: 79/100
Nose: A surprising amount going on. Fresh young notes of linseed oil, shoe polish, leather, sump oil, honey, lemon cough drops, burnt corn kernels, flat soda water, wort/hops.
Palate: Peat, of course; chocolate, lemon, sump oil, malt, hops. Surprisingly drinkable neat at 60 per cent. Water brings out some toffee.
Finish: Long on the flavours of the palate with an ashy dryness. If this was a new make Scottish single malt, I’d say Caol Ila.
Last Word: Although you can tell this is a relatively immature spirit, there are no harsh acetone notes. Very promising stuff.
Rating: 78/100
Nose: Smooth grains, big sherry, fine aged rum, eucalyptus throaties, pine, creamed corn, leather, warm flapjacks. Inviting! Water adds maple syrup.
Palate: Again smooth grain, candied nuts, dry sherry, a less sweet/dryer Ron Zacapa 23. Pine, gentle oak, fresh roast java. Quite smooth and drinkable at 65.5 per cent. Water brings out sweet spiced rum of the highest quality.
Finish: Very long, one you feel you can still taste the next day. Dry sherry, fine rum, pine, licorice, creamed corn, oak and pine.
Last Word: An excellent spirit that never lets me down.
Rating: 90/100
Nose: Marmalade, fruit cake, malt, oak, menthol, brown sugar. Sounds sweet but there is a bitter element as well. Water enhances the menthol and oak.
Palate: Cherry ripes. Blackcurrant jubes, menthol, nutmeg, brown sugar, bitter oak, marzipan. Water brings out a lot of hot chili spice.
Finish: Long, but a little unbalanced and on the bitter side.
General comment: Water helps balance this somewhat, adding milk chocolate and blackcurrant that fades to menthol.
Last Word: I like this more some days than others. Score below reflects today’s tasting, which wasn’t its best. I could be 2 or 3 points better on a good day.
Rating: 86/100
Nose: Rich oak over bitter tannins. Pine, dry sherry, varnished wood, a little camphor. Water brings out orange and grapefruit.
Palate: Savoury shapes, clean sherry, slightly bitter orange, pepper, a milk/dark chocolate combo. Water adds fruit tingles.
Finish: Well-balanced chocolate over fruit cake and oak. Drying. Water adds the fruit tingles again which lessens the dryness.
Last Word: Well resolved for a 10-year-old.
Rating: 87/100
Nose: Rich sherry, banana, caramel, butter menthols, brown sugar, wood stain, oak, apricot. Some struck matches.
Palate: Huge hot spices, mixed peel, oak, cocoa, struck matches. Water adds coconut, nougat and ginger.
Finish: Mint chocolate, mixed peel, toffee, tangerine, ginger, struck match, apricot.
General Comment: Bottled on the 6th of september 2011, this may well be the last official bottling from the distillery.
Last Word: Amazing colour for an 11-year-old.
Rating: 86/100
