Scottish Leader Blended 12 Years

If you've never heard of Scottish Leader, there's a good reason for that. They have absolutely no distribution in North America, and are only available in Europe in obscure places like Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. Weird, right? They are also available in South Africa and parts of Southeast Asia. But this brand certainly gets the bulk of its business from Taiwan.

Although it's a blend, the brand's "spiritual home" is the Deanston distillery, which apparently isn't far from Glasgow. As far as I can tell, they only have three releases, and the 12 year old is the only one with an age statement.

Nose: Malt, cereal, toffee, grain, vanilla, honey. Some floral and citrus notes. Quite a middle of the road nose. Not boring, though.

Palate: Definitely a blend. A strong grain presence. Quite harsh and grainy. Some vanilla, honey, oak and peat mixed with some cereal and grain, with only a hint of malt. There are some nice sugary notes in here, but not enough to save it. Not the worst finish, but it doesn't linger in a good way.

Just because you have an age statement doesn't mean you're not a mixing whisky. It's drinkable, but not very good. For mixing, sure.

Obviously, I prefer to write reviews about whiskies I enjoy. It's certainly more enjoyable to give a good review than a bad one. But, this is for those of you out there like me, who might see an exotic bottle and want to nab it right away just for the sake of having something different or rare. I'd skip this one.