Black Bottle 2013

It had been a couple of years since I had last tried the Black Bottle. Thanks to a buddy I was also able to try the 10 Year Old version, which is much better, but at the Spirits in the Sky festival in Belgium, I was offered to take home a sample of the newly formulated Black Bottle. Let us face it, the new packaging looks stunning. The recipe is completely renewed, increasing the ppm with no less than 30%.

The nose initially offers soft caramel on a bed of wood shavings. It has got a sweet element that reminds me of cherry candy, you know, the hard, red candy. Which brings us to a somewhat artificial sweetness, which I do not believe to be a plus.

The attack is soft, merely mildly oily. The mouthfeel is better than the previous bottling, more robust. But it lacks the palate. It tastes a lot less Islay, if you know what I mean. Sure, the smokiness may be bigger (not sure about that though), the heather honey and sweet oak have too much influence.

Only in the medium long finish do I detect some spices. Think nutmeg and pepper. The smokiness lingers nicely.

This is more like a smoky Speysider. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but I do prefer the old Black Bottle. Only the packaging looks better.

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