Average score from 4 reviews and 9 ratings 76
Difficult to get excited about, but this is a good malty highland, very soft on the palate. Easy drinking, no hard edges. Nose: Touches of peat and heather hidden in malty aromas. A slight whiff of smoke is present too. Taste: Cereal malt and sweetness dominates with some herby themes, a touch of spice and the odd sultana thrown in. Finish: Soft malty finish, a touch bitter towards the end. Medium length.
This 15 Year Old is no longer part of the core range since the overhaul of the brand in 2009. This is a somewhat older bottling at drinking strength. The label still shows the proud stag, which is no longer featured on the new bottles.
The nose is a lot grassier than recent releases. Loads of caramel and heather, but also something that reminds me of rotting fruit. Not bad, but not entirely pleasant either. Good trace of smoke.
It is light and dirty on the tongue, with vanilla, toffee, light honey and even some peat, but little fruit bar some stone fruit like apricots and peach. Oranges if you try really hard. Obvious sherry influence. I get clear hints of cardamom, the queen of the spices. But try as I might, I do not really like this.
The finish is long, with oak and smoke vying for attention.
It is a little too dirty to my taste and shows too little character to really stand out. I much prefer the new 12 Year Old.
On the nose there is some vanilla but this whisky is dominated by floral aromas. Standing head and shoulders above them all is the smell of heather though, and its very enjoyable. in the background to these floral notes is the slightest hint of smoke like a distant camp fire. To the palate I find that much of the early floral flavours dissipate to leave a stronger sense of the vanilla with a lingering touch of white pepper (ever so slight). The light smoke that was on the nose is no where to be found and perhaps to the detriment of the overall score. I'm left with a very long sense of spirit on my tongue which is slightly unfortunate but every time I breath out for the next few minutes I get a resurgence of heather with perhaps some soapy lavender too. When reading this back it doesn't seem like I enjoyed it tremendously but I'm really quite a fan. This has nothing on the 1986 I've tried nor the 1990 but it is very enjoyable and too easily drank!
Well as I sat doing it I compared to some of the most incredible whiskies I had. That made me realise that in my opinion why have 25 points if we are oft reduced to the 19 - 25 range. To try and explain two of my favourite whiskies are the Lagavulin 16 and the Laphroaig Quarter Cask. I love them, always have a bottle and it was those two, the Lagavulin in particular that got me hooked. If I scored them like 90+ then where do the whiskies like Black, white and gold Bowmore, Auchentoshan !957, Glen Garioch 1968 and a few other go? They really were the 95-100. It seems to me that its an easier way for me to make direct comparisons with the hundreds of whiskies I've had. I was thinking if it was not offensive to be 55+ then we have a bigger scale and an easier ranking system as it were. I know what you mean about my review, I said the same myself but it was hard to articulate. It was not perfect and I wanted to be honest. But then, honestly, I started with this one because I really enjoy it. I hope I have explained what I mean, and I do at least stand by the sentiment. As to the actual review, I'll hopefully improve!
Not a bad review! A couple times it sounds like you didn't enjoy the whisky, but reading it made me want to go out and try it. It sounds quite delicious!
I'm a wee bit curious on how you would compare this whisky scorewise to another one. For me 68 would be quite a low score and I'd probably give it to a whisky that I had no interest in trying again. But like you said you enjoyed this one.
I'm curious as to what you would rate say your Glenfarclas or Talisker or Lagavulin just so I can have an idea on how this whisky might stand up.
Like I said though sounds delicious and a good first review!
Nose: Heather, dulce de leche, trace hints of smoke Palate: Clean palate with honey, vanilla, peat, cardamom, and what I could only assume is sherry. Finish: Medium-long finish. The peat asserts itself here with a little alcohol and vanilla. Comments: A very respectable Highland Malt. Fairly typical, which is to say good. My buddy Richard sent me this, so I don’t know much about it. I’m assuming that it spent some time in a sherry cask based on the flavor and color. Among the broad spectrum of all whiskies, I would say this is slightly above average, but does not quite stand out. Rating: Average
Nice review! One I can say I agree with completely. I do keep a bottle of this malt at all times.
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