Anon. (with the period, apparently) is an undisclosed single malt from Abbey Whisky’s ‘The Rare Casks’ releases. It’s been available for a while now and they sent me a sample a little while ago. It’s about time I reviewed it.

There’s no indicator to where it comes from apart it being from ‘one of Scotlands finest distilleries’, which could mean anything. It’s been bottled at 13 years old, at cask strength. Of those 13 years, the last half year was spent in an Oloroso sherry cask.

There are only 90 bottles available at £ 54 (€ 75), which is quite an acceptable price for a 13 year old single cask whisky.

Sniff:
Quite high on the alcohol at first and (therefore) smells a bit younger than it actually is. There’s some spices on the nose, but in a slightly weird way. European oak on the nose and the slightly yeasty Oloroso scent. Some peach and apricot.

Sip:
The palate is a lot more gentle than the initial whiff from the glass. It’s also a lot sweeter than the nose made me expect. Peach and apricot again. Quite sweet with soft oak notes. Quite straight forward sherry notes.

Swallow:
The finish ramps up the sherry a bit. It’s a tad short with peach, apricot. The Oloroso is present again, but in a more sweet, fruity way than before (where it had that yeasty note).

This is an interesting dram. The Oloroso note is surprisingly strong for a finish of just a couple of months. It happens with other whiskies too, but I expected there to be less sherry notes. It’s nice that it really has that Oloroso note (which I describe as yeasty and European oak, but that might as well be American), and is not generically fruity.

What I’m missing is some depth. I feel that the finishing cask has attributed a lot of flavor to the final whisky, but it also has overpowered the spirit a little bit. But, it’s still a good dram that I wouldn’t be disappointed with, had I bought it.

Anon. Batch 1, 13yo, 51.5%, Abbey Whisky’s Rare Casks. Available for £ 54

Full disclosure: I got this free sample from Abbey Whisky. Thanks guys!