Knockando 1995 12 Year Old

The nose is filled with old leather and tobacco, with hints of malt, wood and salt. It smells like someone dipped a well-loved pipe-smokers tobacco pouch into a dry savoury whisky.

The taste is smooth, gentle and subtle, with continuing notes of leather, tobacco and salt.

The finish is mild, warm, and gentle. Notes of well-used leather. Not terribly long-lasting, but is still around as much as a minuted after swallowing.

This is unique in a way that you have to have tried a few whiskies to get (I think). It's an utterly savoury whisky without any traces of either smoke or peat. I can't think of another malt off the top of my head that fits that description. I didn't expect much (having heard virtually nothing about the Knockando before trying it), but in the pantheon of whiskies, this is genuinely unique. But if I hadn't tried several whiskies before this one, I wouldn't have appreciated this nearly as much, as it isn't amazing or very complex, but it is a genuinely good dram in its own way that has filled a unique niche.

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