Apart from the 12yo and anCnoc 16yo, there’s always a vintage in the core range (around 14 years old).
anCnoc 1996 (46%, OB 2011)
Nose: clean but definitely more sherried than the 12yo or 16yo – especially more nutty notes (hints of peanut butter). There a dry and slightly musty side to it, but there’s still honey and garden fruits from the bourbon casks (nice red apples, peaches). Vanilla. Pollen. Over time it shows a little mocha and toffee. Quite assertive as well.
Mouth: sweet to start, then developing a unique fruitiness (pears, a little raspberry). Creamy mouthfeel. Slightly candied (lokum). Demarara sugar. Again a few nutty hints. Some fruit tea and soft spices.
Finish: quite long, drier with a spicy kick and citrus notes.
This is simply a well-made malt – the best of the current range in my opinion although the 12yo is better value for money. They may not cause a lot of fuss, but anCnoc makes high-quality no-nonsense whisky.
Ah allright, didn't know that the colourdescription was added by Connosr, by selecting it from a "tiny" colourbar. Thought you where using this as an actual colour description, So forgive me my comment, I'm (quite) new here and while I'm using my own blog for my tasting notes, I haven't post it a note here yet.
Ruben, For me it is due to the nuttiness more of a wintery dram, but hey, taste differs and we both seem to like it as our scores are almost the same. But I have a question for you : What do you mean by the colour = Chardonnay ? In my humble opinion Chardonnay isn't a colour, but either a grape or a type of wine, both of which can vary in colour (for exemple grape: unripe to overripe; the wine : young metal cask matured to old(er) oak cask matured, even the region defines the final colour of the wine) so as a description of a colour it is to me not very usefull. I'm allways struggling with the description of the colour, so what do you think about this discussion ?