Tasting Notes: Douglas Laing: Old Particular: Mortlach: 12 Year

Douglas Laing: Old Particular: Mortlach: 12 Year (Scottish Speyside Single Malt Whisky: 12 Year: 48.4% ABV)

Visual: Pale greened spirit with fast, thick streaks coming from it.

Nose: Oily peat. Nutty chocolate. Praline. Smooth vanilla toffee. Salt touch. Water makes peppery. Dry oak.

Body: Tangy alcohol. Tangy orange. Bready. Salt. Slightly oily. Dry oak. Water adds dry soot. Vanilla. Pepper. Pears. Oily coffee.

Finish: Soot. Sugared orange. Oak. Charring. Drying alcohol air. Water makes peppery and brings out oily coffee.

Conclusion: Mortlach is always an odd one. Well, I say always. I’ve tried it like, maybe three times before this. So, basically I say that as I am pretending to be more knowledgeable about the distilleries output than I actually am. Hopefully no one will see through this sham.

Initially oily and somewhat peaty the whisky shows decent weight and throws in a touch of what would normally be Island region salty character. Below that though is thicker oily nuts and chocolate against sweet sugared orange. It is one of those that defies easy classification under the whisky regions with Highland Weight, some Islay peat and plenty of fresh Speyside sweetness. Instead what defines it is that oiliness that takes everything else and makes it its own thing entirely.

Taken neat this is just weighty enough, has just enough Island sea feel, and just sweet enough for me. Ok, it is a bit alcohol touched and a bit rough edged, but it is very distinctive and makes for an interesting dram.

Water reduces the alcohol feel, but apart from that it doesn’t really help. It makes the whisky drier and more peppery, more astringent and loses a lot of the core oily weight. It is most notable in how the oily peat instead comes across as dry soot.

So, keep this one as one to enjoy neat. Take the rougher edges it has on the chin and enjoy. It is the unusual, oily dram that mixes in a bit from each whisky region to give a complex, rich experience. Not the best Mortlach I have had – the 16 year is still the standout for me, and that is considering I haven’t tried any particularly old or unusual expressions from the distillery – but it does enough that id say give it a go if you want to drip your toes into the Mortlach style.

Background: So, sixth time around – Mini whisky samples! Woo woo! (I’m repeating myself so much that I’m starting to feel like San at the end of a bad run on Undertale …) These were donated to me by Independent Spirit for me to do notes on – much appreciated! Being a sample this is a smaller measure than normal, so may be slightly shorter notes that usual, not that I’m complaining. A quick google suggests this may be the 2006 distilled, 2018 bottled version. I could be wrong though. I’ve not had a huge amount of Mortlach but have always been intrigued by its strange style. Went with Jack Off Jill, Sexless Demons and Scars for music with this one. Such a great mix of anger and singing talent.

Tasting Notes: Douglas Laing: Provenance: Dailuaine: 8 Year

Douglas Laing: Provenance: Dailuaine: 8 Year (Scottish Speyside Single Malt Whisky: 8 Year: 46% ABV)

Visual: Clear, light gold. Fast thick streaks from the spirit.

Nose: Honey. Caramel. Floral. Heather. Oak. Whiff of sulphur. Water adds slight lychee.

Body: Warming alcohol. Honey. Vanilla fudge. Oak. Slight custard. Water more fudge. Lychee touch. Cinnamon. Brandy cream.

Finish: Dry oak. Slight sulphur. Soot. Water adds lychee. Fudge. Slight coriander.

Conclusion: This feels gentle and slightly generic. Easy to drink, but just slightly empty. A lot less viscous that last time I encountered a Provenance bottling from this distillery, with less jellied alcohol feel – thought still slight spice, albeit more gentle than before.

Neat it is simple sweet fudge flavour with honey and light floral backing. It is slightly light which is pretty surprising considering this packing an extra 6% abv over the minimum which would usual give a bit more grip. Water doesn’t change that but does add slight extra fruity edges and drying cinnamon sweetness into a coriander savoury touch in the finish.

It is still fairly simple – the contrast is nice, but doesn’t really address the lightness at the heart of the character. It is ok, very gentle, especially with water, and the spice edge does not alter that. It does keep it from becoming too samey moment to moment, but still never really grabs me.

Understated, not bad but doesn’t really earn its place either.

Background: So, fifth time around – Mini whisky samples! Woo woo! (I’m repeating myself so much that I’m starting to feel like San at the end of a bad run on Undertale …) These were donated to me by Independent Spirit for me to do notes on – much appreciated! Being a sample this is a smaller measure than normal, so may be slightly shorter notes that usual, not that I’m complaining. From a quick google I think this is made 2010, bottled 2019, and aged in a sherry butt. I have tried a Provenance Dailuaine before, last time was a 10 year though. Put on Television Villain‘s self titled album while drinking – still a blinder of an album, and I’m not just saying that ‘cos they are mates. Seriously, give it a listen.

Tasting Notes: Douglas Laing: Longmorn: Old Particular: 15 Year

Douglas Laing: Longmorn: Old Particular: 15 Year (Scottish Speyside Single Malt Whisky: 15 Year: 48.4% ABV)

Visual: Pale greened clear spirit. Very thin puckering comes from the spirit.

Nose: Clean. Sage. Alcohol tingle. Water adds cereal grains, strawberry and honey.

Body: Vibrant alcohol. Lime. Vanilla toffee. Water adds strawberry crème. Alcohol jelly. Honey. More water adds sweet apricot.

Finish: Slightly meaty. Touch of smoke. Lime. Alcohol jelly. Water adds strawberry crème. Honey. More water adds cake sponge and lychee.

Conclusion: Ok, neat this one really lost me. It has a lot of alcohol character, not harsh but very present. It results in a whisky that is kind of closed, with just very basic lime and vanilla notes that are obvious, with hints of something else around that which are hard to pin down. So I gave it some time, took a few more sips, but I just couldn’t get a feel for anything deeper from it.

Water, well water starts breaking through the shell around this whisky and changes it completely. It is very sweet, almost sickly levels of honey comes out along with gentle strawberry crème. It is still not complex, and still alcohol touched but now radically different from both itself neat and most other whiskies I have encountered.

More water lightens the sweetness, losing some of the interesting and unique notes, but it does balance things out a bit better in response.

So, in my experience this varied between closed with too much alcohol, and stupidly sweet. The thing is, there are such unusual elements here, and it is a fair chunk stronger than the base 40% abv, that I figure it is likely there is something worthwhile hidden in there, it just needs more experimentation to find the perfect water level to unlock that.

From my experience then I cannot recommend it. However I can acknowledge that there may be more to be found that my quick dalliance with it may have revealed.

Make of that what you will.

Background: So, fourth time around – Mini whisky samples! Woo woo! These were donated to me by Independent Spirit for me to do notes on – much appreciated! Being a sample this is a smaller measure than normal, so may be slightly shorter notes that usual, not that I’m complaining. Only had a few encounters with Longmorn before and I don’t feel I quite have a handle on what to expect from this distillery yet so thought this would be an interesting one. Googled for more info on this bottling and can’t find anyone selling this particular expression yet at time of writing, so may not have hit the shelves yet. If anyone knows more please let me know. Went with The Kominas – Wild Nights In Guantánamo Bay for music while drinking. One of those albums I still love but wish the world would change so it wasn’t still so bloody relevant.

Tasting Notes: Douglas Laing: Old Particular: Linkwood 21 Year

Douglas Laing: Old Particular: Linkwood 21 Year (Scottish Speyside Single Malt Whisky: 21 Year: 51.5% ABV)

Visual: Pale greened grain. Very slow thin streaks come from the spirit.

Nose: Noticeable alcohol. Soft lime. Vanilla. Floral. Crushed digestives. Pencil shavings. Water makes gentle and slight rocks.

Body: Smooth but warming. Cake sponge. Vanilla. Soft lime. Marzipan. Crushed peanuts. Water adds vanilla custard. More marzipan. More water adds light cherries.

Finish: Key lime pine. Vanilla. Soft caramel. Alcohol air. Lightly nutty. Marzipan. Water adds cake sponge and more nuts. More water adds cherry pocked biscuits.

Conclusion: Well, a lot more going on with this than seemed at first glance. Despite being over 50% abv, the alcohol character is not the issue that prevented me from getting into it right away. There is no burn to this, despite the alcohol being evident in the aroma and warming in the body it actual works out fairly restrained overall for this.

Initially it comes across floral with vanilla sweetness – very smooth for the abv, but nothing special in the flavor. Slowly, over time a gentle nuttiness comes out – which reminds me of my previous experience with Linkwood where it seemed like a more gentle Strathisla.

Water play adds many layers though, taking it away from that simple impression. The nuttiness merges with the sweetness to give more body to a marzipan note that was hinted at previously. More water allows cherry and digestive notes to come out that add range and more varied sweetness around the nutty character.

Gentle, smooth, works well with water and feels like a smooth Strathisla made sweeter, and very rewarding and easy to drink. Not the most complex, but complex enough for an easy going 21 year spirit.

Background: Mini whisky samples! Woo woo! These were donated to me by Independent Spirit for me to do notes on – much appreciated! Being a sample this is a smaller measure than normal, so may be slightly shorter notes that usual, not that I’m complaining. Only had one Linkwood before, I think, brought up my notes on it while trying this so I could compare. Not much else to add – put on Getter – Visceral to listen to while drinking. Nice electronic kind of chilled tunes. The only pity is the only reason I found out about the album is because of the hate and online and offline abuse the creator was getting due to it being so different to their usual work. People are scum sometimes. It is good, check it out. If you don’t like it, that is fine, but don’t send artists, or in fact anyone abuse just because their work is not to your tastes.

Tasting Notes: The GlenAllachie: Cask Strength: Batch 2: 10 Year

The GlenAllachie: Cask Strength: Batch 2: 10 Year (Scottish Speyside Single Malt Whisky: 10 Year: 54.8% ABV)

Visual: Bright gold. Spirit comes down in a slow, solid sheet across the edges of the glass.

Nose: Brown sugar. Alcohol warmth. Golden syrup. Blueberry crumble. Stewed apricot. Madeira cake. Custard. White sugar dusting. Water smooths. Adds Calvados and apply jelly.

Body: Smooth front into an alcohol burn. Apple pies. Dry honey. Water adds custard notes and smooths. Adds lots more apple. Still some alcohol evident. More water adds Calvados. Strawberry jam. Madeira. Pinot Noir.

Finish: Numbing alcohol. Sour dough. Oak chips. Dry. Apples. Water adds raisins. Strawberry jam. Blueberry. More water adds Calvados and sulphur.

Conclusion: Ok, two big things to address here. One there is lots of barrel ageing influence in this. Like … tons. Dark fruit in blueberry and strawberry jam style, lighter sweetness, wine notes. Lots going on. Second thing – there is a lot of apple in here, from apple jelly to Calvados, to everything in-between.

Oh, wait, I missed one. Three – the alcohol in this thing is immense! Not surprising as it is over 50% abv, but taken neat this goes from tasty to burning pretty fast. It means that you only really get the edge of the flavour profile before your tongue gets numbed. The first few seconds are surprisingly smooth, then the potent alcohol booms. Definitely experiment with water for this one.

So, as you may have guessed, taken neat it is just a bit too booming, going into a dry and oaken finish. Water however really brings out the range of the experience.

As indicated before, there is a lot going on. The barrel ageing brings many spirity notes – Madeira being the most notable, more red wine notes come out as you add more water – now smoothed out by more vanilla and custard notes which I’m guessing are from the bourbon and virgin oak. No idea where the apple comes from – maybe the base spirit? – but it becomes more and more evident the more water you add and really is the backbone of this varied spirit.

It is complex, but very barrel ageing led – I like the apple character of the (maybe) base spirit, but there are also slight sulphur, slight muggy notes and rough edges. It feels slightly like it is relying on the barrel ageing to override the existing rough edges.

Still, despite that it is a tasty experience, with lots going on – so as an examination of the oak influence this is very good, but it has a a few off notes under its charms.

Background: Time to try a distillery I have not tried before! Wooo! Though is it just me or does GlenAllachie sound like one of those knock offs where they try and mash two famous whiskeys together to fool you – like if you saw a bottle of Jim Daniels or something. Possibly just me. Anyway, grabbed this from the whisky exchange. The cask strength grabbed me eye as it would give more room to experiment with water and see what it could do. It has been aged in a mix of PX and oloroso sherry, first fill bourbon and virgin oak casks. That also caught my attention I have to admit, that is some sweet barrel ageing going on there. Not much else to add – put on some Mclusky to listen to while drinking, music as varied and mixed up as that barrel ageing selection.

Tasing Notes: Tamnavulin: Double Cask

Tamnavulin: Double Cask (Scottish Speyside Single Malt Whisky: No age statement: 40% ABV)

Visual: Burnished bronzed gold. A few thick and fast streaks form from the spirit.

Nose: Thick. Alcohol touch. Mild Baileys cream. Pencil shavings. Brown sugar granules. Rock dust. Water adds cake sponge and cherry pocked digestives.

Body: Slick. Honey. Raisins. Vanilla toffee and vanilla custard. Rock dust. Light malt drinks. Smooth. Alcohol jellied feel to the middle. Figs and plums. Water adds more honey, golden syrup. Light menthol. Soft cherry. Sherry trifle and orange zest.

Finish: Malt drinks. Rock dust. Raisins. Heavier oily alcohol notes. Figs. Spotted dick. Vanilla toffee and vanilla yogurt. Dusty.

Conclusion: Hmm, I’m about to add water to this, but before I do that I’m going to get some thoughts down first. This seems decent so far, but I have a feeling that it is leaning very heavily into the barrel ageing to achieve that. The dark fruit notes from the cask are distinct and pleasant – figs, raisins and the like are laid over a smooth body with honey sweetness at its base. Similarly the vanilla toffee of bourbon ageing gives a sweet and simple backbone to this.

So when I say that it leans heavily on the barrel ageing it is because, under that there is something slightly heavier and rougher tasting in the alcohol notes, if not giving rough mouthfeel to match. Elements you would expect from a heavier, shorter still but here in this lighter and smoother whisky. This being my first Tamnavulin I’m unsure if this is due to young spirit being used in this, or if the heavier, more oily viscous rough notes are part of the house character. Either way these rougher and sometimes dusty notes are off notes that feel like they should not be present in the whisky.

Water brings a lot more out – zesty orange notes that are delightful, against softer cherry notes that give body. It uses both ageing barrels to shoot flavour out, but even now there is a kind of heavier, oily off note underneath everything.

At twenty quid for a bottle I’m not complaining too much, but for all its flavour range it feels like they are trying to paper over the cracks of the base spirit. I would be interested to see what they do with older expressions – if that cleans it up at all or if they still show there.

So, not super great, but packs in a lot at a lower price than most.

Background: Another first set of notes from a distillery. Though not my first time encountering this distillery, or even this whisky. I first tried this at a mates house as part of a whisky night at theirs. Later I saw in in Sainsbury‘s going for just over twenty quid a bottle, so decided to give it a proper try as well, at the whisky night I may have been a tad drunk. Looks like this was their first official bottling for a while, an expression aged in both bourbon and sherry barrels. Prior to that it think it was predominantly used in blends. Put on The Youngins – The Youngins Are Hardcore while drinking. Fairly short album of stripped down punk so I put it on loop so I didn’t feel the need to rush the whisky to match.

Tasting Notes: Cardhu: Gold Reserve

Cardhu: Gold Reserve (Scottish Speyside Single Malt Whisky: 40% ABV)

Visual: Honeyed gold with thick streaks from the spirit.

Nose: Caramel. Thick. Stewed apple. Sugar dusting. Honey. Menthol touch. Cake sponge. Water brings out lemongrass.

Body: Apples. Honey. Pears. Light alcohol sheen. Cake sponge. Toffee. Water makes thinner and lightly grassy.

Finish: Honey and pears. Cinnamon. Alcohol sheen. Raisins. Water adds menthol and peppermint. Grassy. Light pear drops.

Conclusion: Huh, this is actual one of the rarest things I can encounter in drinking. A whisky where water did not improve it. That really is a rarity. In fact it really is fairly weak with water. Thankfully the base without water is pretty solid. A good thing or this would have been a right wash out of a whisky.

Neat it is fairly simple, but pretty joyous in what it does bring. It is honey struck layered over green fruit in the form of apples and pears. Feels wise it has a light alcohol sheen – not really a burn, more a hint of blended whisky style sheen. Now this is not a blended whisky, it is a single malt, so at the risk of sounding like a total whisky snob I can but attribute it to some young whisky having been used to make this no age statement whisky.

So anyway, to finish the notes I’ve gone and poured myself another measure – it is better this way – the original measure had been so thinned by the water that it had lost the bright flavours and become just a grassy, menthol touched thing. Not terrible, but kind of empty.

Now with a neat measure back in my hand it has a bunch of big flavours, a nicely thick feel – though with slightly young spirit style rough edges. The grassy and menthol notes still come out over time, but now just as backing notes.

Overall, better than my previous expedience with Cardhu – some simple, crowd pleasing notes, but rough edged. Not worth the RRP of 40 quid. At the significantly cheaper price I dropped on it – yeah , it is a simple fun whisky at that cost. Nowt special, terrible with water but an ok general drinking experience neat, with a few rough edges.

So, an ok fallback drinking whisky, but nowt special.

Background: I had tried Cardhu 12 year along while ago, and wasn’t really impressed with it – been looking for a chance to do notes on something from them recently, but was a tad nervous about investing a chunk of change into something that I may not enjoy. Thus, this no age statement which I think is one of their new core range, which was on sale cheap at Morrisons, seemed like a good chance to give them another try without breaking the bank. Being childish that I am, the fact the bottle says “The Cummings of Cardhu” in reference to its founder John Cumming, and the Cumming family who have run it since, did make me snigger. I will grow up one day. Put on a random bunch of Madness when drinking – nice light ska tunes, nowt too heavy (heavy monster sound, the nuttiest sound around..etc..etc.).

Tasting Notes: Independent Spirit: The Hideout: Aberlour

Independent Spirit: The Hideout: Aberlour (Scottish Speyside Single Malt Whisky: 17 Year: 46% ABV)

Visual: Light gold with thick streaks from the spirit.

Nose: Pencil shavings. Honey. Warming alcohol. Nutmeg on apple. Vanilla. Pears to pear drops. Almond slices. Water adds light sulphur, more pears and slight raisins.

Body: Warming and slightly waxy. Sugared apples. Cake sponge. Water makes very smooth. Salted caramel to fudge. Sherried raisins. Iced Christmas cake. More water adds subtle orange to blood orange notes.

Finish: Waxy. Cake sponge. Lightly oily. Almonds. Malt chocolate and toffee drinks. Water adds salted caramel, apple pie and light choc orange. Rum and raisin. Slight red wine. More water adds marzipan over fruitcake. Sugar icing and tangerines.

Conclusion: It always seems odd to encounter an Aberlour that hasn’t been sherried to within an inch of its life. This, which does have some sherry influence I think – a refill cask maybe? – does a lot more in showing the native Aberlour elements that are often hidden behind that (admittedly tasty) sherry shell.

For one thing this is more fruity, with soft pear and apple notes – lightly spiced, but coming out in a way that calls to the bright fruit of a young whisky. However this is smooth, warming when had neat but not burning and that is soon soothed with a drop of water. This more natural, more open Aberlour character allow a more waxy and oily character to show themselves, giving a nice thickness for a matching salted caramel and fudge sweetness to back the fruit.

The sherry influence comes later in, especially when you add water. It brings raisins and vinous notes into fruitcake like imagery – starting sultana like and building over time. Here is feels like more traditional Aberlour, but it never gets so heavy as to hide those more intriguing characteristics below.

Finally, the capstone on this is a moment that allows a cake sponge to almond slice like flavour and feel to come out – a delicious savoury to sweet mix that becomes marzipan like by the end – A solid, hefty point to give the whisky some grip.

As you can probably guess by now, this uses the often hidden side of Aberlour to create a smooth and complex whisky – I am impressed.

Background: So, another independent bottling from Independent Spirit – this one done in conjunction with the excellent whisky bar – The Hideout. This one is an Aberlour – one I’ve been a fan of since I encountered them doing their excellent distillery tour with their incredibly friendly guides. On the eye this looks sherried, but less sherried than most Aberlour releases which should make it an interesting one to try. Drunk while listening to Testament -Low. It was only a few quid and gave me a chance to listen to more of Testament’s stuff before seeing them live. A very solid album as well.

Tasting Notes: Douglas Laing: Scallywag: 13 Year

Douglas Laing: Scallywag: 13 Year (Scottish Speyside Blended malt Whisky: 13 Year: 46% ABV)

Visual: Deep bronzed gold.

Viscosity: Fast thick streaks.

Nose: Plums. Some alcohol air. Vanilla fudge. Honey. Treacle. Water adds grapes to the mix.

Body: Smooth but warming. Honey. Raisins. Grapes. Some tannins and oak. Golden syrup. Water makes silky smooth. Adds grapes, quince rakija and pears. More water adds plums and dried apricot.

Finish: Light oak. Slightly peppery. Fig rolls. Tannins and tea bags. Honey. Water adds tart white grapes and pears.

Conclusion: Ok, with and without water is like night and day for this whisky. By which I am not saying that one is good and one is bad – just that they are radically different in emphasis while still having slight reflections of the other in some circumstances.

Neat it is very sherried, from a plum aroma to a tannins and grapes filled body layered over honey sweetness. There are hints of green grapes as well as the more expected red grapes in the there, but generally it is heavy sherried spice added to the native speyside sweetness. Water releases that green fruit so it can come to the fore, still matched with speyside sweetness, now with the plums and raisins at the back as mere sherried hints.

Time lets the two sides come to a compromise – the sherry raisins, pepper and tannins merging with the clear vanilla toffee and green fruit to give a very satisfying and silky smooth whisky. The slight raw alcohol it has neat, while never heavy in the first place, now has completely vanished.

This is a very good example of both the wide range that different Speyside distilleries can bring, the range you can get from blending the malts, and the smooth package that such blending can result in. No real rough edges, but manages to keep a lot of the individual malts character, and give room for water experimentation. I’m impressed.

Background: The first age statement release of the Speyside blended malt from Douglas Laing – this one matured in sherry butts in its entirety. So far their blended malts have impressed me highly – generally keeping the smoothness of the blended malt, without completely losing the character that their malt components bring. This was another of the rarer releases that Independent Spirit had a minis, so I, of course, grabbed one while I could. Felt like some straight forwards metal for music while drinking after being more experimental recently – so went for Shadows Fall – Fear Will Drag You Down.

Tasting Notes: Banff: Rare Malts 21 Year Cask Strength 1982

Banff: Rare Malts 21 Year Cask Strength 1982 (Scottish Speyside Single Malt Whisky: 21 Year: 57.1% ABV)

Visual: Clear gold.

Viscosity: Fast thick streaks.

Nose: Very oaken. Notable alcohol. Grapes and grappa. Water brings out musty grapes.

Body: Smooth and creamy. Sherry trifle. Rapidly becomes burning alcohol strength if held. Cherries. Vanilla toffee. Grapes. Water brings brandy cream. Cinnamon. Fudge. Rich red grapes.

Finish: Shortbread. Alcohol air. Quince rakija. White grapes. Oak. Slight tannins. Water brings brandy cream. White grapes and red grapes. Malt chocolate.

Conclusion: I tried this first a few days ago – It, erm, it wasn’t very good. It was insanely oaken, insanely tannins filled and the alcohol was very heavy. Of course that last one was a given considering the abv, but playing with water just seemed to bring out more tannins which didn’t help it.

Bad start eh? But now let me be fair – I now nearly always do my notes a few days after opening as I’ve found whisky can be a bit rough until it has had time to air. Also, I only had the local water to use – which, while ok for drinking, is very hard water, and doesn’t work well in whisky. So, now I return to it with a bit of time to open up, and with some much softer water to bring it down to a respectable abv – so I ask, is it still a disappointment? Or does it recover?

Well, even with the intense alcohol neat it does seem different – creamier for one, with sherry trifle and grape notes. It still goes to numbing levels of alcohol heat too quickly, and leans very heavily on tannins as a main flavour, so I’m going to go straight to adding water and see if that helps.

Water brings out all the goodness hidden beneath the alcohol – the sherry trifle becomes full force, mixed with sweet vanilla toffee and more evident grapes. The tannins still head out but now are balanced by brandy cream and cinnamon. It never changes too much from this point, even with more water – it just becomes creamier and more easy to drink, oh and maybe sweeter in the grapes. It really is led by those sweet cherries, cream and grapes.

So a) This is a very good whisky now – nearly as good as its very high reputation with the oak and tannins balanced against sherry trifle and red fruit. Creamy and very full bodied, with green fruit notes keeping it fresh. Also b) Yeah, this is very expensive, and especially now where it is significantly more costly then when I grabbed it.

If you are going to go for an expensive dead whisky – this is one where the quality is very high indeed – however – the, say, 21 year sherried Timorous Beastie blended malt gives similar notes at way, way less cost. As an experience, and to have been able to have had whisky from this distillery – I am glad I have this. However if you want a similar quality whisky, albeit without the room to experiment of the cask strength – I would say go for the Timorous Beastie.

Background: I’ve had this in the cupboard for a blooming long time now, I kept saving it for a special occasion, but nothing seemed special enough. So one day I just randomly broke it open. As mentioned in the main notes I gave a few days for it to air, as I have found this generally helps get the best experience rather than doing notes on the first pour. This is a dead distillery – I try and grab a (relatively) cheaper example of these when I can afford them, and drink them later, as frankly they ain’t going to get any cheaper if I wait to when I’m just about to drink them to buy them. To really get in the mood I put on my favourite of the past decade(ish) of Iron Maiden – A Matter Of Life and Death. Freaking fantastic album.