Last year saw a new bottler appear on the market. The Whisky Works is an in-house brand for Whyte & Mackay which also own distilleries like Jura and Dalmore. These looks to be interesting bottles with the focus on experimentation, craft and quality. These are all positive notes to me so I was keen to try one.

I managed to try one of the first releases from the brand this blended malt King of Trees. The name is used because of the additional finishing using virgin oak grown in Scotland but while this sounds cool does it add anything to the finished product?

The Dram

Bottled in 2019 this is a blended malt containing malts from the Highland region. There is a portion of the components finished in those Scottish oak barrels for extra Scottishness of course and the whole thing is at least 10 years old. The bottling strength is 46.5% and the colour is natural.

The bottles are pretty neat looking as well which is a nice touch. The only thing is the price…its over £70 a bottle. Now someone might be able to help me here I am sure it was originally £20 cheaper? Has a new batch been done and the price been knocked up a bit?

Tasting Notes

Colour – quite clear

Nose – A green and spirit led nose with some sharp citric notes of cooking apples. Oak wood spices there of course to but it feels young.

Palate – The texture is good though with lemon zest prickles of spice and an earthy nutty aspect.

Finish – Ok yes the finish is spicy yup but also herbal and minty to.

Final Thoughts

I think this has the potential to end up in the 2020 disappointments list. It does what it says on the tin and contains a lot of sappy oaky spiciness. It also requires a lot of money from you which is not so cool. In all honestly I preferred The Compass Box Spice Tree which is around £45 and has French oak heads rather than Scottish oak staves and well just works better. Do I have to leave Scotland now?