Apologies for the Caol Ila glass in the picture but these things happen. The third whisky from the tasting was one which I believe is all sold out. 300 bottles were produced to raise money for the Hearts + Balls Charity in conjunction with Edinburgh Rugby. To find out more information on the charity you can go to www.heartsandballs.org.uk

The Dram

This is the first one at cask strength which clocks in at 52.8% after maturing for around 15 years being a 2004 vintage whisky. Some of the time was spent in ex-Chardonnay barrels to add a white wine influence at the end before bottling. Each bottle was priced at £100 and was sold from the distillery visitor centre which makes a nice sum for the charity.

Tasting Notes

Colour – pale yellow

Nose – creamy and some notes of white chocolate. There is a citric element of cooking apples and grape juice but actually its subtle (this is a good thing)

Palate – The subtle white wine influence continues on the palate to with a thick and mouth coating texture of spiced apples and baking.

Finish – a peppery finish completes the whisky with only an initial bite of sharp fruit.

Final Thoughts

There are two casks which I don’t tend to like one of which is white wine the other is Sauternes which is white as well. This whisky hasn’t changed my opinion on white wine finishes but it wasn’t bad to drink either. Actually, a long time again Glen Moray did a 10 year old Chardonnay whisky and I quite liked that one. There is a pattern developing here where the Glen Moray’s use cask influence gently and with care. There is no blunt usage of first fill barrels to thump you over the head which can sometimes mean the actual whisky is lost in translation somewhere