If you want older scotch malt whisky these days, you either have to go for undisclosed distilleries or blended malts. Or teaspooned as they like to call it. That is, if you want to keep things at least a little bit affordable.

In this case, affordable still sets you back just shy of € 200 in Germany, and the more ‘exclusive’ sellers (the ones who buy things to flip immediately after they sell out) are starting at € 250 by now. Luckily, I was able to bottle-share this one at the original price through Dramtime.

Often there’s some inkling of an idea to what distillery hides behind the undisclosure, but in this case I have no idea where this whisky comes from. Except for the Speyside region, obviously.

Sniff:
Soft, old oak. Very wood forward, but with some gentle fruity notes. A slightly bitter whiff of almond flour, with a hint of apple pie. Dark cake crust, cinnamon and baked apples.

Sip:
Again, a slightly bitter note of almonds and pie crust. There’s also some black pepper corns, sawdust and a hint of grilled apple peels.

Swallow:
The finish continues down the ‘this is quite a mature whisky’ trail. A long finish with apple pie crust, a hint of leather in the background, less spices than before and quite some oak.

Very mature and a very typical example of older Speyside whisky. Maybe not so unique, but very tasty nonetheless.

This is one of those weird situations where this is technically the more tasty whisky, compared to the Sutherland (a weird comparison, but those were the two Thompson bottles I got from the last batch), but the Sutherland is more interesting, more unique, in my book.

89/100