Origin: Highlands (Scotland)
Type: Single Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 52.1%ABV
Ageing cask: Ex-Bourbon hogshead finished in ex-PX hogshead
Chillfiltered: No
Added coloring: No
Owner: Dream Whisky
Average price: € 80.00
Official website: dreamwhisky.com
Vote: 90/100
On 16 November, Dream Whisky, the (now former) Milanese start-up resulting from the immense passion of Marco Maltagliati and Federico Mazzieri, returned to offer its bottlings in a new collection, Metamorfosi (Metamorphosis).
An ambitious but not elitist project which, with five different expressions of Highland Scotch whisky, proposes a journey through the distillate and its process of growth, mutation (metamorphosis), from the raw material to the time spent in the cask.
I start with the youngest of the quintet, from Teaninich, a distillery founded in 1817 whose whisky ends up entirely in the well-known Johnnie Walker blended. This is a single malt that spent ten years in an ex-Bourbon cask followed by another two in an ex-Sherry Pedro Ximénez cask.
Single cask then, not cask strength, offered in 50cl bottles in an obviously limited edition.
Tastint notes
Garnet in the glass.
The nose is soft and cuddly, perhaps more winter than autumn (but it is cold in early December, too), with warm notes of mulled wine together with candied orange, dried figs with almonds, chocolate, and the roughness of leather in the background. Licorice root. Pedro has worked a lot on the whisky, leaving a clear but not overpowering impression. Welcoming.
With a vinous and spicy opening, sprinkled with chilli pepper, it confirms the firm Spanish influence on the palate, modulating the sweet and sour tones so as not to slip into pushy pandering, surrounding the fruit (black cherry, dried apricot, blueberry) with candied citrus and scents of toasted caramel, bitter cacao and rhubarb. The dryness of leather is always in the background, while the length expresses tones of a lit fireplace. The alcohol is so well integrated that it has vanished completely.
The finish is long and spicy with cloves, sparkling citrus, a hint of salt and toasted wood.
Enveloping and warming, a comforting dram that knows how to renew itself continually, with slightly bitter and rough tones that cleanse the mouth, restarting the tour of sweeter flavours in an endless merry-go-round that would be drunk endlessly. Excellent.