Black Bottle is a blended Scotch whisky brand which has been around for a long time and has undergone a bit of a downward trajectory in recent years. The first thing to point out though is that is 10 year old is not the bottle you see in the supermarket and I only say that because at first I didn’t realise the 10 year age statement is important.
The difference between the normal bottle and the 10 is about £8 a bottle or 33% more expensive. At £30 a bottle though its still a relatively affordable sipper to pick up.
The good thing about these advent calendars is you try samples of bottles you would never get around to trying and it forces me to spend a bit of time understanding the brands and products. Like for example there is a whole portfolio of Black Bottle special editions or limited editions:
- 10 year old
- Andean Oak
- Smoke
- Double Cask
- Smoke & Dagger
- Captain’s Cask
The 10 year old is bottled at 40% ABV the same as the usual bottle but all the others listed above are all bottled at 46.3% and are part of the “Alchemy Series”. The only one which is still available to buy is the Andean Cask and in many ways looks the most interesting with a finish in a species of Oak I have never heard of before.
The pitch on this whisky for Day 5 though is pretty simple. Take a blend which is probably similar in composition but use whiskies with a minimum age statement of 10 years. The question is does it make for a better product.
Tasting Notes
| Colour | fake colouring |
| Nose | confectionary sweet with just the slight secondary passive smoke on your jumper kind of smoke |
| Palate | watery and bland is my first thought here. A little vanilla and a touch of smoke and some biscuit crumb notes |
| Finish | a sweet and sour finish starting with meringues and ending with a cheek sucking bitter lemon |
Where Can I Buy?
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4qsnpuk
Master of Malt – Black Bottle 10
Final Thoughts
In all honestly I don’t see why you would spend the cost of a decent undisclosed distillery single malt for the same price as this when it doesn’t have much if anything over the normal bottle.
Alternatively, maybe the latest batches are so under matured now that this is the only way to get the old stuff in the primary retail market.
Malted 
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