Banff 24 Old Malt Cask Single Cask

Sipping on a closed distillery is always something special. It give you a chance to savor something forever lost in time. Something that won't be made again.

Good or bad it's an experience I cherish. And because one doesn't really come across so many of them (unless you're willing to fork out a fortune) I like to give them their due time in the glass and on my palate.

Banff Distillery opened it's doors in 1824 and was located on Banff Bay in Inverboyndie. What's quite peculiar about this distillery is the sheer number of fires and explosions it had seen over the years. Not only that it was also attacked by German bombers in WWII which blew up Warehouse No 12 and destroyed a lot of stock.

It finally shut it's doors 1983 but that didn't prevent another fire from completely destroying it in 1991.

The sample in my hand is from a single cask bottling by one of my favorite independents Hunter Laing and their Old Malt Cask series. These guys really know how to pick winners.

My sample is from a new mini which I suspect has been bottled in the early 2000s. I say suspect because there is no official literature to be found. The spirit has been bottled at 50%

• Nose: Sweet. Almonds. Hardboiled sweets. Mango. Dark chocolate. Cardamom. Cumin. Thyme. Berries. Nuts. Lavender. Get's drier over time. Dry grass. The nose is very sweet and tends to change over time. Decent even if not overly complex.

• Palate: Marzipan. Oranges. Chocolate. Cake fondant. Mild cinnamon. Bananas. Limestone. Mangoes. Extremely sweet on the palate. Maybe too sweet. The fondant has an almost sickeningly sweet resonance. And I don't mean sickeningly in a bad way. Just that maybe it's too much and distracts.

• Finish: Long. Mild spice. Wood. Sponge cake. Fruits. Mild mint. Very sweet.

I'm not sure if these are classic Banff flavors. I have nothing to compare. Overall I thought it was very sweet. I might have liked something slightly more complex. Not a bad dram, though.

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