Wemyss Malts Pastille Bouquet 1998 Mortlach

Wemyss Malts bottles its single cask range usually at 46% in stead of cask strength. But the whiskies kept their natural colour and are non chill-filtered. The name reflects the prominent flavours of the whisky. This 1998 Mortlach is described as 'This Hogshead has floral pot pourri on the nose, with sugar coated fruit pastilles'.

So we are talking about 14 - 15 year old Mortlach from an ex-bourbon hogshead with flavours of sweet fruit candies with a sugar coat.

Tasting Notes Colour: Citrus, white wine.

Nose: The start is rather subtle yet sweet. At the first nosing I got a flashback to Highland Park's Freya. Cake with dried fruits. Figs and citrus. The obvious fruit candy and some red fruit with a hint of pot pourri. Apricots, lemon marmalade and almonds. With water the whisky sweetens even more. Vanilla and sugared lemon candy. A light floral evolution. Geraniums. Dusty notes towards the end.

Taste: Dry and peppery. I'm getting lots of wood and spice. Cinnamon, apple, vanilla and nutmeg. The usual ex-bourbon suspects: bananas and coconut. A freshly brewed ginger tea. With water it is dry, sweet and spicy. Cinnamon and pepper.

Finish: Quite long. Bananas, almond flakes and cinnamon.

Conclusion A tasty and affordable Mortlach and yet somewhat different from the usual one. Mortlach build a reputation as a sherry beast but proves to deliver an equally high quality product when matured in ex-bourbon casks. Its lower ABV makes it easy drinkable.

It costs approximately € 82 in specialist stores.

The sample was offered by Wemyss Malts for a Tweet Tasting organised by The Whisky Wire (#WemysTT3).