Two curious 2006 Teaninich hoggies from Cadenhead

(Teaninich cluster homepage)

A parcel of 2006 Teaninich casks once called a Cadenhead dunnage its home until the bottler released them all(?) out into the world between 2016 and 2018, all at 10 or 11 years of age. I reviewed a sample of one of these casks, two-and-a-half years ago, and loved it. And now I have samples of two others, one exclusive to the US and the other to Poland. Apparently the Polish cask is magical:

BEHOLD, the first hogshead to have ever produced 480 bottles! Impressive, considering that hogsheads hold 250 liters at the start of the maturation process. I need to get me a magical hogshead to fill with my 401k balance.

The American cask is less magical, but it's another Teaninich hoggie with a serious Angel's Share, losing almost 30% of its contents in just 11 years:

Today, the two will face off! The Magical Polish Hog vs The Thirsty American Angels!

---

Teaninich 11 year old 2006 Cadenhead, for BestWhiskyMarket Poland, 55.7%abv

NEAT

The nose starts off very pretty, with floral apple skins, flower kiss candy, grapefruit gummy bears, Rainier cherries, and guava. It gains some fun edges, like Tapatio, fennel seed, and lemongrass, with time. The palate is very very hot and tight, with bitter citrus, serrano chile oil, nectarines, simple syrup, and a floral hint. It finishes hot as well, with bits of lemons, serrano chile oil, sugar, and some bitterness.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or 1¼ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Hmmm, different nose now. Light blue Mr. Sketch marker, cinnamon red hots, and roses, with hints of cocoa powder, vanilla, and orange candy in the background. The citrus gets sweeter and tarter in the palate, and the floral note remains. It gets bitterer and more mineral with time. That mineral note stays for the finish joining horseradish bitterness and lemon candy.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Yes, one shouldn't expect a normal whisky from a magical hogshead, and this one thus delivers. The neat nose is quite lovely, but the neat palate runs hot and bland. Dilution improves the palate, but scrambles up the nose. Because whisky is made for drinking, the diluted version works better, and perhaps more water may help it further. But still, it's falling into this cluster's pattern of B- whiskies.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - €60-ish
Rating - 82 (diluted)

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Teaninich 11 year old 2006 Cadenhead, exclusive to the US market, 56.4%abv

NEAT

This has the apple + guava combo on the nose too, then adds banana pudding, bubblegum, and toasted grain notes. Some coriander sneaks in later, as do some plasticky notes. The palate is less hot, but bitterer, and also rather tight. A similar chile oil is present but it meets up with charred beef, barley, and lemons well. Devoid of sweetness, the finish leans on chile oil and lemon oil.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or >1¼ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

More toasted oak spices appear in the nose, like cloves and fruity cinnamon. A hint of the guava merges with lemongrass, and a hint of cologne. Lots of toasty oak in the palate too. Vibrant ginger powder and tangy citrus meets up with herbal bitterness, and very little sweetness. It finishes with ginger, lemons, and a simple bitterness.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

This one works better for my nose and palate overall. Its lack of sweetness reads better than in the Polish cask, and the toasty oak notes (from this nearly clear whisky) play well with the other characteristics. As you may see from the notes, these two sibling hogsheads share a style, and one can really sense it when drinking them side by side, something I enjoy about Taste Offs like this. Between the two casks, I'd go back to this one a second or third time before returning to the Polish release.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - $80-ish
Rating - 83

Teaninich 11 year old 2007 Berry Bros & Rudd, cask 702605

(Teaninich cluster homepage)

Silly story with this one. Knowing I haven't reviewed many BB&R bottlings on this site (only four in the last eight years), I took a look at their whiskies that I did review, and noticed......I already reviewed today's Teaninich, two and a half years ago. And gave it the same score. That's spooky. I never blindly hit the target like that. Now are the actual whisky notes the same?

Distillery: Teaninich
Ownership: Diageo
Region: Northern-ish Highlands
Bottler: Berry Bros. & Rudd
Age: 11 years old (2007-2019)
Maturation: Hogshead?
Cask number: 702605
Outturn: ??? bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 55.9%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

I could just hug this nose. Barley, brine, Granny Smith apple peels, apple cider, mango juice, roses, green grapes, and wee bit of grassiness. The fruity palate offers all sorts of juices, like pineapple, mango, lemon, and blood orange. Toasted oak and Lucky Charms "marshmallows" float around in there. It finishes sweet and tart, think peaches and lemons, getting tarter with time.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or 1¼ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

There's more pepper and brine in the nose, but the mango and barley hold on. The leaner, tarter palate offers mostly lemon and pineapple juices. It finishes sweet, slightly rosy, with a hint of raw almonds.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Before I get into how this review compares to the one from March 2022, I'll declare that this is the first Teaninich cluster bottle that I would indeed purchase. Though there's no complexity to the whisky, the fruitiness tickles many of my fancies.

In my summary from that review (of possibly the same bottle) 30 months ago, I wrote, "Though it's not the most complex Highland single malt, this Teaninich could have taken on some undesirable tannins after a few more years in oak." Yes, this. I found more variety in the fruit, and less minerality, this time; also, a little more oak in the nose, and slightly more overall stamina once diluted. A real B-grade malt through and through, this BB&R takes the lead in this cluster.

Availability - Germany, I think
Pricing - €65-ish
Rating - 85

Teaninich 10 year old 2007 Signatory, cask 702710 for Binny's

(Teaninich cluster homepage)

I'm going to try to squeeze in two 2007 and two 2006 reviews this week. But worry not! That's the last of the 21st century Teaninichs for this cluster.

First up, a 2007 from Signatory's stash. They bottled at least six sibling casks from this vintage, all at 10-11 years old. This whisky, exclusive to Binny's pre-Covid, appears to be the only one served at full strength. Could there be a good reason for this?

Distillery: Teaninich
Ownership: Diageo
Region: Northern-ish Highlands
Bottler: Signatory Vintage
Age: 10 years old (22 Nov 2007 - 9 Aug 2018)
Maturation: Hogshead
Cask number: 702710
Outturn: 245 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 58.5%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

LOTS of caramel greets the nose, with rosewater and orange candy in the midground, white peach and toasted almonds in the back. Then the butter takes over, turning it into an aggressively oaked California chardonnay. The palate comes in hot, sweet, and tart. Cayenne pepper, cherry juice, and limes. It gets bitterer and pepperier with time. Vanilla joins the limes in the finish, with drying tannins and a hint of peach in the mix.

DILUTED to ~46%, or >1½ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Burnt lumber, coconut, and vanilla buries a barley hint in the nose. The palate is grassy and tart, with a slight sweetness. A Campari bitterness mixes with tinned peaches. It finishes with an odd cocktail of Campari, vanilla syrup, and peach syrup.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

The angels appear to have enjoyed this whisky more than I did, as the cask lost a bit of content (mostly water) in its first decade. There was also a tremendous amount of oak extraction during that time, so perhaps this was in a hot corner of a Signatory warehouse. As an oaky creature, it likely appeals to a different American palate than mine. It gets weirder once diluted as the nose sinks and the palate rises, though in both cases the oak and malt start to separate. Not sure why the good Binny's crew selected this one.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - $75ish back in 2018
Rating - 79

Teaninich 13 year old 2008 SMWS 59.69

(Teaninich cluster homepage)

The cluster clusters on today with the whisky that sparred with Wednesday's mediocre 12 year old. This 13 year old started out in an ex-bourbon hogshead, but was then finished in a second-fill red wine barrique by the SMWS folks. It'd be nice to know what that "red wine" was, but since it's a second fill, and the color is barely a light gold, perhaps the cask was a proper refill. In any case, it's nice to jostle the cluster with something different.

Distillery: Teaninich

Ownership: Diageo
Region: Northern-ish Highlands
Bottler: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 13 years old (26 Feb 2008 - 2021)
Maturation: first a refill hogshead for 11 years, then a 2nd fill red wine barrique for two years
Cask number: 59.69, "Exotic tantalisation"
Outturn: 268 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 54.5%
(thank you to the Doctors Springbank for the sample!)

NEAT

The nose arrives very sugary, with grape gummy bears, apricot jam, and cherry pie filling. It evolves into milk chocolate, caramel, and a hint of seaweed. A little bit of yesterday's potpourri shows up too. The palate is loaded with fruit, but is dry and tart, never sweet. Plums and blackberries mix with black grapes and blood oranges. It finishes with tangy grapes and bitter orange pith.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or >1 tsp of water per 30mL whisky

The nose calms down and ditches the potpourri. Some more peaches and orange peels arrive. Some salt gets into that caramel. Maybe some toffee too. Toasty oak spices drift through the background. The palate sweetens up, but also holds onto the tartness. Tart limes and tart cherries meet sweet oranges. Cinnamon and malt rumble beneath. The tart and sweet fruits stay through the finish, and a hint of winey tannin peeks through.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Yes, the wine cask finished Teaninich is my favorite of the first four. The cask did have a presence but dilution really straightened things out. They pulled it at the right time because the wine cask was on the verge of causing some real trouble. I still don't see it as a whisky I'd want to drink regularly, so the bottle would either remain open for a half decade, or I split it up amongst buddies. But this was a nice surprise.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - ???
Rating - 83 (diluted)

Teaninich 12 year old 2008 Single Malts of Scotland, cask 715786

(Teaninich cluster homepage)

I'm realizing now that at least 10 out of 16 of the whiskies in this Teaninich cluster are from ex-bourbon hogsheads, many of which are refills. That means more spirit-driven whisky, a good thing! But I hope the tastings don't get boring. Discovering a distillery's spirit character may be fun, but variety is the spice of whisky. Yeah, it's late over here.

Today's Teaninich comes from a hoggie, but its sparring partner, Friday's whisky, is not! Could this pairing offer some perspective???

Distillery: Teaninich

Ownership: Diageo
Region: Northern-ish Highlands

Independent Bottler: Elixir Drinks
Series: Single Malts of Scotland

Age: 12 years old (9 October 2008 - 17 December 2020)

Maturation: Hogshead
Cask #: 715786

Outturn: 296 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 57.7%

(from a bottle split)

NEAT

The nose is very grainy, as in toasted cereals, but also grain whisky with a dose of rye spirit too. Anise, cherry lollipops, mint extract, and citronella linger behind. It gets VERY floral as it opens, becoming all potpourri after 20 minutes. Raging with raw heat and aggressive sweetness, the palate needs a lot of time to open up, even the notes are parked in the background: cherry lollies, bitter carob, cassia, and white nectarine. It finishes hot and sweet as well, with cassia and cayenne pepper nipping here and there.

DILUTED to 46%abv, or 1½ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Water subdues much of the nose's graininess, but doesn't mask the potpourri, which almost masks some potentially nice notes of apple butter, tinned peaches, and brine. The palate gets weirder. There's something thin and grainy about it now. It has a dosed rum sweetness and rooty bitterness. Some tangy citrus and fresh cherries appear around the edges. It finishes dissonantly bitter, metallic, and sweet.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Had I tried it blindly, I could have been convinced that this was a single grain aged in a rye cask. It's odd and, frequently, not in a fun way. Though I'm not always a fan of secondary maturations, this 12yo could have used a rebooting in a different cask type, or maybe just a different cask. Clearly, not all spirit-forward pours are life affirming. Perspective!

Availability - Sold out, probably
Pricing - ???
Rating - 76

Teaninich 10 year old 2008 SMWS 59.56

(Teaninich cluster homepage)

Now that the peated outlier is out of the way, it's time for a younger Teanie (I dunno, I'm just making it up as I go along) from a refill hoggie. Hopefully it, or something from this cluster, gets close to the distillery's unpeated spirit. I don't have anything else for this intro because I didn't caffeinate properly this morning.

Distillery: Teaninich

Ownership: Diageo
Region: Northern-ish Highlands
Bottler: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 10 years old (26 Feb 2008 - 2018)
Maturation: refill hogshead
Cask number: 59.56, "Gardener's question time"
Outturn: 312 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 56.2%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

Spirit indeed! The nose is all grass, barley, and sugar at first. There's no raw heat, and just a whiff of possibly-yeast-driven florals. Hint of mango too! The palate is neither too sweet nor too hot. It's mostly tinned pears, some limes, and barley. And that's it. It finishes with pears, black pepper, and unripe plums.

DIUTLED to ~46%abv, or <1½ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

There's more outright yeast in the nose now, joining barley and wheat. Apricot skins up front, with a hint of cologne behind (apply jokes here). More notes appear in the diluted palate: those unripe plums, orange pith, some cracked pepper, and flowers. It finishes with more barley and flowers. The only fruit note is bitter orange pith.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

It's like mellow new make! A bit too mild on the palate, but right on the nose with......the nose. While I do wish more was going on with this whisky, that would require more cask time and probably more cask. Kudos to SMWS for bottling such an un-flashy whisky. And had I not consumed the entire sample, this would have been a great reference point going forward.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - around £55-£65 back in 2018
Rating - 81

Teaninich 12 year old 2011 SMWS 59.74

(Teaninich cluster homepage)

On Monday I stated "Teaninich uses unpeated malt", so here's a peated Teaninich. Really, there's no better way to start a cluster than by introducing a whisky unrepresentative of the distillery. It's possible that Teaninich distillery occasionally does peated runs depending on Diageo's blends' needs. There's also a chance that this single malt was aged in a cask that had previously held peated whisky. I just hope it's not a one-dimensional generic peaty beast. Here it goes!

Distillery: Teaninich

Ownership: Diageo
Region: Northern-ish Highlands
Bottler: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 12 years old (11 Jan 2011 - 2023)
Maturation: first-fill bourbon hogshead
Cask number: 59.74, "For Fawkes' sakes"
Outturn: 279 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 54.7%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

The nose's peat arrives quietly with minor notes of rubber tubing and charcoal. Dried apricots, peach skin, and sweaty socks are a bit louder, with vanilla and roses in the background. There are some sniffs that don't read peated at all. The palate is a different story. It's full of wood smoke, earthiness, and herbal bitterness. Rock candy, dried peach slices, and serrano chiles provide some depth. The wood smoke carries into the less-sweet finish, which also offers a few orange moments.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or 1½ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Some actual smoke sneaks into the nose, but doesn't interrupt the peaches, flowers, barley, and cherry lollipops. The herbal bitterness intensifies on the palate, while the earth and smoke ease back. The sweetness has vanished, and there's a little bit of eucalyptus in the background. It finishes with chipotle peppers and lemon bubblegum.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

I think this was fashioned with actual peated malt. This isn't Islay-esque, instead it seems like a different type of peat (from the Highlands?) was used to dry the barley. It offers an earthy, dry smoke which could be quite nice with the right amount of fruit. The palate works better when neat, but I enjoy the nose better once the whisky is diluted. It reads a bit young, and I'd be curious to try a cask like this with 5-10 more years on it, but I do appreciate that this whisky is not oak-focused at 12 years old. Hopefully more peaty Teaninichs find their way into indie bottlers' hands.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - 88€ was its original SMWS price
Rating - 82

THE Teaninich Cluster

Teaninich had been a vaguely familiar distillery name to me, but I took little interest in the whisky until 2013 when Diageo announced they were investing £50M in a facility upgrade. Clynelish, Caol Ila, Linkwood, and the rest of the known blend gems, I'd understand, but Teaninich? WTF is a Teaninich?

The "T" has a bit of a "ch-" sound to it, and there's an "-ick" at the end. The name is Gaelic of "The House on the Hill". The Munro brothers, a pair of military fellas, oversaw the distillery for its first 33 years (1817-1850) until they leased it to future crook Robert Pattison. Thankfully that lasted less than two decades. Distillers Company Limited (proto-Diageo) bought the distillery in 1933 and have never let it go since. It is The Big D's third largest malt distillery behind the Roseisle and Glen Ord horses, having quadrupled its annual capacity since MacLean's 2012 edition of Whiskypedia.

Until 1984, there was actually an "A" and "B" distillery on site, with the latter getting shuttered due to the big industry downturn. The "A" side was also shut down for six years (1985-1991) before starting back up again.

1970 called, it wants its architecture back.
(pic source)

Teaninich uses unpeated malt from Glen Ord Maltings, upon which it uses a hammer mill and mash filter (the first Scotch malt distillery to do so), and gives the juice (plus pressed yeast) 78 hours to ferment. Once casks are filled with the distillery's spirit, they're carted further inland to Diageo's warehouses.

A lot of Teaninich samples are hiding in my stash, in fact, I'm not sure how many. This occurred because I tried a bunch of the distillery's single malts and very much enjoyed them. It has been one year since I did a full-blown scotch cluster, so now it's time for me to bring forth all the samples for what will be my largest cluster in nearly three years.

While I'm not sure if anyone else has ever said, "I am thrilled to drink a lot of Teaninichs," I would be proud to be the first. I am thrilled to drink a lot of Teaninichs.

THE TEANININININICHS:

1. Teaninich 12 year old 2011 SMWS 59.74 (Peated!) - "It offers an earthy, dry smoke which could be quite nice with the right amount of fruit."

2. Teaninich 10 year old 2008 SMWS 59.56 - "It's like mellow new make!"

3. Teaninich 12 year old 2008 Single Malts of Scotland, cask 715786 - "I could have been convinced that this was a single grain aged in a rye cask."

4. Teaninich 13 year old 2008 SMWS 59.69 - "The cask did have a presence but dilution really straightened things out."

5. Teaninich 10 year old 2007 Signatory, cask 702710 for Binny's - "Not sure why the good Binny's crew selected this one."

6. Teaninich 11 year old 2007 Berry Bros & Rudd, cask 702605 - "...the fruitiness tickles many of my fancies."

7. Teaninich 11 year old 2006 Cadenhead, for BestWhiskyMarket Poland - "BEHOLD, the first hogshead to have ever produced 480 bottles!"

8. Teaninich 11 year old 2006 Cadenhead, exclusive to the US market - "...the toasty oak notes (from this nearly clear whisky) play well with the other characteristics."

9. Teaninich 17 year old 1999 Diageo Special Releases 2017 - "It's darker, less perky. It fights a little bit, then offers depth.......a bottle I would happily buy, at half its price..."

10. Teaninich 19 year old 1999 Old Malt Cask 20th Anniversary - "A sweetie-pie of a whisky, this Teaninich could be quite the crowdpleaser when neat, where the malt stands tall."

11. Teaninich 16 year old 1993 SMWS 59.39 - "No more pretty flowers, darkness is creeping in."

12. Teaninich 29 year old 1983 SMWS 59.46 - "Dropping the ABV down to 46% awakens the fruits, and brings some depth to the oak notes, lifting a C-grade gremlin to a B-grade sipper."

13. Teaninich 35 year old 1983 Signatory, cask 8070 - "It's lit up with fruits, but something sort of smoky lingers beneath......providing some welcome angles and depth."

14. Teaninich 23 year old 1972 Rare Malts - "...the hardy vibrant barley notes are lovely after 23 years."

15. Teaninich 27 year old 1972 Rare Malts - "The nose works with or without water, but the palate needs some dilution to reveal its best sides."

16. Teaninich 40 year old 1973 Old & Rare, Platinum Selection - "...a comfy old critter, especially once the tobacco and smoke notes appear..."

Birthday Booze: Miltonduff 26 year old 1990 AD Rattray

After I paid for my part of a bottle split of this 26 year old Miltonduff, the honorable bottle owner reached out to me saying that he'd opened the bottle and tried the whisky, finding it to be "Just straight SOAP", and offered me a replacement pour of something else. As much as I appreciated the replacement whisky, I also requested a sample of The Soap anyway. I received it and (two years later) drank it along with Wednesday's '80s Bowmore to determine which of the two was the bubbliest, saponific single malt. Yes, I do these things to myself.

Distillery: Miltonduff
Ownership during distillation: Allied Lyons
Current Owner: Pernod Ricard
Region: Speyside (Moray)
Independent Bottler: A.D. Rattray
Age: 29 years (16 Sept 1990 - 23 February 2007)
Maturation: bourbon barrel
Alcohol by Volume: 49.1%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

The nose has so much vanilla, caramel, pound cake, and whipped cream that it reminds me more of a Canadian blend than single malt scotch. It takes at least 45 minutes before other notes, like orange peel, lemon juice, apricot jam, and baby powder, to appear.

The palate starts off like a mouthful of Werther's Originals. Beneath that caramel candy are tangy lemons, jasmine, and tree bark, with a little bit of soap in the background. With time, the soap note expands but never breaches the background, because the citrus character also grows, and silky sticky toffee appears.

Sweet caramel, lemons, sea salt, and that hint o' soap finish things off.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

I've sworn off AD Rattray on two previous blog occasions due to my experiences with too many of their wonky casks. Third time's the charm?

The good news: This is less soapy than Wednesday's Bowmore. The nose isn't bad, and it improves with time.

The bad news: Why does a 26-year-old scotch smell like an 8-year-old Canadian blend? Soap + tree bark on the palate? Not great, Bob. Soooooooo much caramel everywhere.

Though this whisky isn't broken, there was something unusual going on with the cask and not in a fun way. Again. So, yes, third time's the charm. No more AD Rattray casks for me.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - ???
Rating - 75

Birthday Booze: Peat's Beast 34 year old 1985 (Bowmore)

Yes, I am including one '80s Bowmore among my Birthday Booze, because what the hell. Though I am a bit startled by the new generation of whisky fans who unironically find perfumed soap and artificial violet notes as features, not bugs, of the whisky production process. (Yes, and Troll 2 is peak cinema.) Or are the newest moneyed whisky drinkers unable to discern when old and/or expensive whiskies are crapola?

I don't know. But indie bottler Fox Fitzgerald thought it wise to finish a half dozen or more '80s Bowmore casks in Cognac-seasoned vessels. Maybe this is just crazy enough to work. At some point in the past, I thought it was a good idea to engage in a bottle split of this whisky. For science.

Distillery: Bowmore
Owner: Beam Suntory
Region: Islay
Independent Bottler: Fox Fitzgerald

Range: Peat's Beast
Age: 34 years old (1985 - 2020)
Maturation: ?????, then Cognac casks
Outturn: 1800 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 47.1%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

The nose is unique and......kinda great. First, wrap flower kiss candy in maple candy, then smoke it. Then do the same with seaweed-wrapped sour apple candy. And how about a slice of cinnamon cake next to a blob of pine sap and a few band-aids, in a fish market.

On the other hand, the palate. Burnt hay, burnt moss, burnt Crème de Violette, burnt floral soap. Now I'm sipping shampoo with a flower kiss candy chaser. Some curiously clean peat smoke floats up from the background.

Lemons, black pepper, Crème de Violette, shampoo, and burnt hay finishes it off.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Yes, we all have our kinks. You like to pay $400+ to drink violet shampoo. I like Jess Franco films. I also love this whisky's nose, fashioned by the insane idea of bringing cognac into the mix, and it keeps me from failing the entire thing. This is it for my '80s Bowmore samples, but it's not the only possibly-soapy sample in the stash. For my next review...

Availability - Maybe the primary market, probably the secondary
Pricing - ???
Rating - 71

Birthday Booze: Speyburn 37 year old 1975 Clan Cask 3413

The Birthday Booze posts are going to go on for a while because that's the mood I'm in.

In 2012, Speyburn Distillery bottled a single cask for their official fan club, and it wasn't something like a 7 year old Virgin Oak creature, but rather a 37 year old PX cask! As far as I can tell, they never did such a thing again. Luckily for me my good friends, the Doctors Springbank, purchased a bottle back then. I didn't meet the Docs for another six or seven years, but apparently it was just in time for them to share a pour with me. Thank you, folks!

pic source

Distillery: Speyburn
Ownership: Inver House (via Thai Beverages plc via International Beverage Holdings Ltd.)
Region: Speyside (Rothes)
Age: 37 years old (1975 - 2012)
Maturation: Pedro Ximenez cask

Cask #: 3413
Exclusive to: Clan Speyburn
Alcohol by Volume: 55.4%
Chillfiltered? No
e150a? No

(courtesy of Doctors Springbank)

NEAT

The nose begins with a mix of dark chocolate, dried blueberries, dried currants, and brine. After ~40 minutes, Fig Newtons join in, as does a subtle farmy note. After an hour, there's cinnamon sprinkled on baked peaches and walnuts. A nice musty dunnage note hits the palate first, followed by limes, wet stones, and tannins. Nutmeg and an earthy molasses fill the background. Lime pith and pulp, honeydew, nutmeg, and baking chocolate finish it off.

DILUTED to 50%abv, or ⅔ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Due to the whisky's age, I'm being cautious with the dilution. Date rolls and old Calvados float up to meet the nose, followed by raw almonds, maple syrup, and a hint of anise. The palate gets mustier, tarter, sweeter, and figgier. The sweetness merges well with oak spice and bitter citrus in the finish.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

I don't know how many, if any, such gems remain in Speyburn's Rothes warehouses. In fact this may have been their oldest official release, with a 1973 single cask being the only one from an earlier vintage. The whisky feels its age, but in the best way, with a mustiness and earthiness which meld perfectly with figs and dates, so you know it won me over. The whisky carries a steep price on the secondary market, perhaps the highest of any Speyburns I've seen, so you should surreptitiously seek out Clan Speyburn members and drink their whisky.

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - ????
Rating - 90