Earlier this year I got my hands on the 2022 edition of ‘Distilled in Sutherland‘, which is a blended malt of all three distilleries in Sutherland. That means it’s Clynelish, Brora and Dornoch. With it being 5 years old it also means that there’s a drop of 1983-or-before Brora in there. That’s kind of cool, although it might not mean a lot with it possibly being only a minuscule amount.

Having said that, Dornoch makes good spirit, and so does Clynelish, so in the end it all comes down to the blending of said whiskies.

The previous edition was a really good bottle of dangerously drinkable and complex whisky. A very old fashioned style, and with me only having a small sample (something something bottle-share something), I went through it really fast. Let’s see where this one ends up!

Sniff:
Very malty, with hints of wood, but also some smoke, heather, and some hints of ‘green’. Moss, tree bark, lichen. A certain crispness.

Sip:
The palate shows a huge amount of malt, dry barley and sharp notes of oak. Crisp, breezy coastal notes. Marram grass, straw, sand.

Swallow:
A long finish, grain forward with a certain old fashioned highland quality. Strangely, not unlike some 1960 blends, which must be Dornoch’s antiquated approach coming through.

This one feels a bit more complex than the previous one is in my memory. As in, the note of old blends is something I don’t remember from the earlier one. Having said that, it does remind me of the previous version with lots of layered flavors, the Clynelish and Dornoch spirits coming through very well. And once again, it’s a great bottle of whisky!

I had a larger sample than I had of the 2022 one and I still went through it rapidly. I might want to get a whole bottle for myself next time!

89/100