53,9°
Distillery Officially Unknown - Highlands
Refill Bourbon Hogsheads and Refill Oloroso Sherry Butts
Independent Bottling
By William Cadenhead Limited
Limited Edition
Single Malt
Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured, Cask Strength
Slightly Peated
After a short foray into Speyside, here we are in the Highlands. This one is a Highlander aged in Refill casks for 14 years. As it was bottled in January 2024, there's an 11 in 12 chance that it was distilled in 2009. Someone told me which distillery it comes from but made me swear I wouldn't repeat it on line. So all I can do is giving a clue : it's a Highland distillery that is famous for using peat, and, despite what some people have written about that, it's not Loch Lomond, even if it fits the profile. It's not Ben Nevis either, and certainly not Clynelish. 1986 bottles are on sale.
Let's Taste It :
On the nose, there's a lovely slightly candied lemon, sponge cake, brioche, creamy vanilla, and a pulpy fruitiness, plums, juicy apples, bananas, lychees, pineapple. Salted butter caramel, cereals, a few forest notes, ferns, humus. On the palate, the cereals stand out, toasted wheat, malted barley, oats. Slight hint of peat, with a pinch of salt, spices rise, cumin, white pepper. Quite a long finish, still very cerealy, coal nuggets, smoked wood, hay. Crushed almonds.
In Short,
It's not bad, but nothing exceptional either. I barely smelled the peat, but I'm probably too used to Peat Bombs. I found that the cereals came back a little too often. That said, it does have a certain personality. The price seems a bit high to me, but within reasonable limits.
Score : 87
To Be Listened While Sipping :
Darwells - Little Pink Tree
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