Origin: Scotland
Type: Blended Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 45%ABV
Ageing caks: Ex-Sherry and ex-Bourbon
Chillfiltered: No
Added coloring: No
Owner: Samaroli
Average price: € 260.00
Official website: Samaroli.it
Vote: 92/100
Having a Samaroli whisky in your glass means finding yourself drinking an important piece of whisky history in Italy, a name that everyone has heard of at least once, with an almost legendary aura.
Silvano Samaroli, who died in 2017 at the age of 77, founded the Samaroli company in 1968 with the aim of bringing the culture of whisky (and rum) to Italy when blends were still the norm, pouring into each bottle the enormous wealth of knowledge he had gathered over years of passion and research among the distilleries across the Channel.
Today, Samaroli S.r.l. is led by Antonio Bleve, who has taken up the founder’s heavy baton, bringing all his passion and knowledge to the company.
Single cask bottlings but also blended (or vatting), such as this No Age Declared series, which contains whiskies of undisclosed provenance aged between ten and forty years, as described in their catalogue:
“It’s a harmonious vatting of whiskies, matured from 10 to over 40 years in special Sherry and oak casks, produced exclusively by Scotland’s last craft distilleries, which still use the same processes used a hundred years ago. No-Age is the only whisky that carries out the original alcohol reduction over a full twelve months, as was customary in the 19th century. Every two to three months, all batches are reassembled. A small percentage of water is added so that it is safely absorbed by the different organoleptic components of the whisky. This practice has been routinely abandoned by everyone
because it was too expensive. No-Age is neither artificially coloured nor subjected to chillfiltration which could remove its original components and natural aromas.”
Today, we drink History.
Tasting Notes
Mahogany in the glass.
The nose is elegantly warm and compact, with a compote of wild berries and figs that inebriates the nose and unfolds into a silky procession of fleshy fruit (dour cherries, strawberries, Royal Gala apple), accompanied by toasted almonds, candied orange peel and cloves. It demands and deserves time, with a slow but inexorable evolution, bringing out a vegetal soul of tea leaves and pine needles, alongside an impression of a Caribbean cigar humidor. You can get lost in the glass, almost forgetting to drink it. Almost.
Fondant and liquorice with a hint of pepper welcome the palate, always with that sober elegance that does not explode in the mouth but creeps in and slowly grows on the senses. Waxy and soft, it picks up on the fruity theme with a light roasted background (caramelised sugar, coffee beans), accompanied by blueberry jam, candied citrus fruits and cocoa. Notes of rhubarb. Very light salty patina along the length.
Long finish with salty tips on cooked fruit, liquorice, cocoa, rhubarb.
A masterly balance between sweet and bitter, which intersect and complement each other without ever overpowering each other, in a dram of rare elegance that expresses all the wisdom (and patience) of those who created and pampered it.
An experience that every fan should try, at least once.