Old Perth 18 Year Old 1998

According to several sources, the blended malt Old Perth NAS – depending on the version and in different measures – contains mostly Aultmore, Mortlach, Tomatin and Ben Nevis. I have no idea if that is also the case for this 18 Year Old, as only 328 bottles were released, making me wonder if that was not just a single cask. It was released in 2017.

Nope, this is something completely different, for the nose – which starts closed and takes quite a bit of patience to be discovered – gives off a lot of mineral notes like chalk and jute, but also white fruit and caramel. A sandbox in summer. A medicinal note with some smoke seems to hint an Islay whisky in the vatting. Something milky that I cannot quite pinpoint too. Not bad, but I am not yet convinced.

Oily and mildly spicy on the palate with white pepper, ginger and a hint of liquorice. Immediately some citrus fruit kicks in (lime, lemon but mostly grapefruit) with a bit of caramel. The sweetness is a bit like aspartaam. Mint and more white pepper from the second sip forward.

The finish is medium long, bittersweet and peppery.

This was not too bad, but it certainly is a different vatting from the NAS Old Perth. I’m going to go out on a limb here and claim this was spiked with quite a bit of Bowmore.