Caperdonich 14 Year Old 1999 Gordon & Macphail Connoisseurs Choice

Caperdonich is no more. The distillery closed in 2002 and was demolished in 2010. She started life as Glen Grant No 2 and initially produced solely for the blenders. Chivas Regal, 100 Pipers and Passport Scotch were among those who got a lot of their character from Caperdonich. Official bottlings are non-existent (bar one official release in 2005), but independent bottlers are quite fond of Caperdonich. Take, for example, this Gordon & Macphail release from 1999.

The nose is rather light and very fruity, as we have come to expect from Caperdonich I might add. The fruit translates into apricots, pineapple, a touch of banana and some mandarin. It also shows some marzipan and milk chocolate. From the spice rack, I can identify aniseed and some vanilla. Leave it to breath and marzipan will become the main aroma.

It caresses the tongue. All the fruit from the nose returns from the start, joined by orange zest. The spices are more robust. The banana from the nose got the company of brown sugar. Midpalate, it becomes a tad drying, but remains juicy enough to please the senses.

The finish is fairly long on more of the same, but the spices seem to have most stamina.

A rather docile, but no less nice Caperdonich. Ideal summer dram. Around 70 EUR.

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