Origin: Speyside (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 54.6%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon refill and ex-Cognac
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Diageo
Average price: € 135.00
Official website: www.thesingleton.com
Vote: 83/100
Deep in the waters of the Dullen River lived a mermaid: a golden maiden with a fish’s glistening tail, known to sing a song as sweet as honey, luring those who heard it to seek out its beautiful source. The song of this mermaid inspired The Singleton in the creation of this expression, or so says one of the Never Told Legends of this 2021 Special Release.
Second-fill ex-Bourbon casks in which the 2001 distillate rested before being aged in ex-Cognac casks. Cask strength and no chill filtration for a distillery that can sometimes surprise.
Tasting notes
Fruit and flowers glide through the nostrils, enveloping the nose in an elegant blanket that is both sweet and rough. Magnolia and almonds intertwine with pear, pineapple, dried apricot, strudel and brown sugar, with an underlying vein of varnish. Very mineral and taut on the length. Austere.
In the mouth it’s very peppery and effervescent, as unexpected as a dignified gentleman dancing the Macarena at a vernissage. But from this charge of energy emerges an even drier and more mineral spirit, where the fruit takes a back seat to more astringent and citric notes on which green apple, tea leaves, pencil shavings and almonds jump. There’s a light patina of honey and vanilla in the background.
The finish is quite long and very dry, with spices, wood, green apple, almonds and a touch of varnish.
The cognac casks may have had more of an impact than they should have, with the distillate seeming not to have borne their influence and ending up being crushed by them. Woody and dry in the extreme, which are distinctive signs and as such appreciable, but personally do not convince me much.