Things are getting a bit embarrassing. The eighth dram in the Blind Tasting Competition was one I also had recently, I wrote tasting notes to it this summer. Admittedly, it’s been a bit longer than I thought it was, but the option of it being this Duchess bottling never even crossed my mind…
Tasting notes for the blind assessment are rather different to the initial ones. That might be because of the sample, my nose behaving differently or a plethora of other reasons. It goes to show that tasting notes as they appear on the internet are only a snapshot, and I don’t think they can be anything else.
Sniff:
A whiff of smoke and quite a bit of dry oak. After a short while a bit of a bacon like scent pops up. Barley, and a bit of coastal note. Some dried apples.
Sip:
The palate is fierce with chili heat, leather and barley. And bacon. There definitely is a smoky meat thing going on here, but not hugely smoky.
Swallow:
A warming finish that goes a bit dry towards the end. More bacon and smoke, some caramelized brown sugar.
The barbecue-y notes are quite nice, but quite unexpected for both this whisky and this distillery in general. I do like it, but somehow I liked it quite a bit better when I tasted it a couple of months ago!
Still a highly recommended bottle, though!
86/100
Malt Fascination 