Yet another archives bottling! Not overly surprising with this being one of my favorite bottlers at the moment. They seem to be hitting the sweet spot between price and quality quite often!

Surprisingly, I don’t really know what distillery this one is from. Generally there’s some way of finding out, but I haven’t done that yet, and nobody has told me outright. So, Speyside, but undisclosed. Could be anything but chances are it starts with Glen.

A decent age, at 21 years old, so I’m expecting fruit, oak and ‘maturity’, which more or less means that it’s not overly sharp and shows some complexity and layering.

Sniff:
I rarely start with a whisky having a ‘dry’ nose, but this one does. Apple seeds, grape seeds, that fruity bitterness. Lots of oak and dry barley dust too. Dried apricot and a whiff of Brazil nuts too.

Sip:
The palate continues the dryness and slight bitterness too. Brazil nuts again, and walnut shells. Apple and grape seeds, straw and oak. Tree bark. This is a study in the notes that give complexity. Generally, though, there’s some sweetness to go with it and that’s not here. The lack of sweetness makes it slightly more hot too.

Swallow:
The finish brings a bit more classical notes of warming dates, on top of the same things that came before. A darker fruitiness.

So yeah, fruits are ticked off, but I was surprised by the nutty dryness throughout this whisky. That brings a bit of bitterness which is something I quite love! Also, not a lot of sweetness, so more reason for this to score high again!

I wouldn’t even mind having a whole bottle of this! Unfortunately, for some reason I missed it back in the day and it’s currently going for twice the initial price. That’s a bit too steep.

89/100