Enigma 1998 Blended Scotch Whisky 25 yo

 

 

 

41,4°

Distilleries Officially Unknown - Scotland

Refill Sherry Butts

Independent Bottling

By William Cadenhead Limited 

Limited Edition 

Blended Malt Whisky

Bottled in 2023

Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured

Totally Unpeated 

Under the name of Enigma, Cadenhead intends to build a series of whiskies that are 'unusual, hard to quantify, perhaps even slightly contradictory', as it says on the bottle. It just doesn't fit into their usual line-up. Here we have a very mysterious bottling, no idea of the distilleries of origin, or even the regions, no indication of the number of bottles produced, we just know that it's 25 years old and that it's malted. One website claims it's Cask Strength, but Cadenhead doesn't confirm this.

Let's Taste It : 

First of all, iodine, with vanilla pastry, icing. more or less candied red fruits, undergrowth, cinnamon, almonds, sugar balls. White chocolate. On the palate, first and foremost well-balanced, it's smooth, surprising, still red fruits and a dash of vanilla, but this time accompanied by lemon. Measured spices, white pepper and nutmeg. Caramel and cashew nuts. Quite long but not exceptional finish, dried fruits, raisins, figs. Deep earth and chestnuts. Walnuts.

 

In Short, 

It's quite complex and interesting, you can taste the variety of flavours, but it's still well balanced. That said, it's not up to the level of a normal 25 year old, the palate is light. The gentlemen at Cadenhead have understood this, and the release price on their site is really low. However, elsewhere it is higher.

Score : 87

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                           To Be Listened While Sipping :

 

                                           Jacob Collier - Little Blue