This Blended Scotch Whisky consists of Ben Nevis, Clynelish, Teaninich, Macduff, Dailuaine and Invergordon. Not the least interesting names in the business!

Also, while this states having had an Oloroso finish, what didn’t really fit the title, is that that finish took 20 years. If any sort of whisky has bragging rights to being ‘double matured’, it’s something like this!

My friend JPH got this bottle from an auction after reading some reviews on Whiskybase and taking the pretty stellar rating into account.

Sniff:
Lots of oak, with dry sherry. A note of almond flour, with a bit of bitterness. Dried fruit with dates and plums. More and more oak, with old barley, hessian, hazelnuts, a whiff of black pepper.

Sip:
The palate is pretty gentle, but dry. Black pepper, sawdust, mulch, dates with their stones. Almond flour, date stones, hazelnuts and pecans. An amazing amount of oak.

Swallow:
The finish is a bit more sweet, with some cherries. Quite long and oaky. Black pepper, sawdust, almond flour. Also, the brown crust of pound cake.

It’s not too surprising that there’s a lot of oak and sherry on this whisky’s nose and palate. However, while those are nice flavors, I felt it lacked a bit in other areas to make it as complex a dram as I’d hoped it would be. The cask has completely taken over from the parts that went into the blend, in my opinion.

Based on a quick scan of all the ratings on Whiskybase, I figure this was very popular in Germany, which fits the ‘national preference’ of dark, old and sherried whiskies. Nothing wrong with that, but not entirely in my wheelhouse.

87/100