Sheep Dip Old Hebridean 1990

WHEW!!! A few weeks ago I adopted two new bottles and brought them home with me. One a sweet candyshop delight bourbon called Hogs 3 and the other one a smokey fired blend called Sheep's Dip Old Hebridean 1990 vintage. I guess I must have just been in a farmyard kinda mood that day.

Now Sheep's Dip Old Hebridean 1990 vintage is a pretty cool blend. It's made up of 19 year old Dalmore, 21 year old Fettercairn, and 25 year old Ardbeg. Two Highlands and one Islay, three well known distilleries. On top of all this only 12,000 bottles worldwide. Pretty cool!

As I open the bottle I am SMASHED in the face! BAM!! It's like the 1960's Batman. POW! Smoke, lots of smoke! Charcoal, tobacco, Peat! FWAP!! A hint of spices comes through the smoke, a little bit of sherry and vanilla. SLAM! Burnt bacon?! Ok that was different!!

I now stare at my Glencairn with something not short of amazed respect. Batman is indeed lurking in this bottle. I slowly and RESPECTFULLY take a sip of this awe inspiring whisky. I taste smoke, charcoal, campfire smoke with a hint of tobacco. I feel like I'm in the middle of some sort of bbq or cookout. It's pretty awesome. A little bit of see air comes through. Just a hint of fruit flows through the smoke, cutting it a little bit for me and making it an easier whisky for this bourbon man to drink.

The finish is surprisingly mild for me with peat smoke flowing through me.

This is a smokey whisky, no doubt about it and it probably sounds like the smoke overpowers it, but weirdly enough it doesn't. The sherry cuts through the smoke a bit and allows you to enjoy this marvelous whisky. This would be a bottle that I might introduce someone who is new to smokey whiskies to. It doesn't feel as overpowered by smoke as so many of the Islays I've tasted.

At $100 AUS and with so few bottles out there if you can be sure you snag a bottle or two. As soon as I can afford another bottle I'm grabbing it for my collection!

This is an awesome awesome whisky and I am very glad I bought it. Thanks Systemdown for the heads up regarding it at Dan Murphys. I wouldn't have thought to grab it without you. Thanks Mate!