Day three, on which I got another nice 40 points. For the age this time. I had that spot on. The distillery guess was another massive failure and a regrettable one. Why regrettable? At some point during yesterday I imagined this could be Mortlach but I decided not to change my entry. I guessed Springbank at first, mostly because I hoped it would be Springbank. Don’t know why, though. It had some of the flavours but not the saltiness that goes with the Campbeltown distillery.

Mortlach 18 by Malts of Scotland. Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Light and dusty with an Oloroso like sweetness. It takes a while for it to loosen up. Some sweetness, with raisins and charcoal. A slightly bittery note like peach stones. Apricot too.

Sip:
Slightly drying on the palate and pretty sharp. Bitter and sweet together again. Peach and apricot, raisin twigs and oak.

Swallow:
The bitterness is mostly gone here and the not overpowering sweetness remains. I get fruit syrup and a fruity way of charcoal.

This is an absolutely tremendous whisky. The balance is stunning (which helped me pick Springbank too, they’re good with Sherry casks like that) and the combination of gentle notes of bitter and sweet works very well for me.

There probably is a lot more to discover in this whisky (like that Mortlach meatiness…), and I hope to do that at some point, when I can scratch this off the wish list, ’cause that’s where this one went!

Mortlach 18yo, 55.2%, 1994-2012, Malts of Scotland. No links found, but it should be around € 90