Origin: Highlands (Scotland)
Tyoe: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 51.4%ABV
Ageing cask: Ex-Moscatel finish
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Alistair Walker Whisky Company
Average price: € 99.00
Official website: www.alistairwalkerwhisky.com
Vote: 89/100
After some time, the blog is once again turning into a runway for Alistair Walker’s Infrequent Flyers: the first two ‘flights’ were a huge success, let’s see if the same happens with the third.
We are particularly curious, because in the glass we have a whisky from Blair Athol, one of Scotland’s oldest distilleries, from whose stills comes out a “robust” spirit that, in common parlance, is best expressed after long maturation in sherry, while today’s single cask, distilled on 2 August 2006 and bottled in September 2021, was matured in a hogshead ex-moscatel.
From cask no. 6133, 281 bottles were obtained, still available in Italy. Natural colour and no cold filtration, as always, for the sixty-second release signed Infrequent Flyers, proposed at 51.4% ABV.
Tasting notes
The colour is bright amber.
On the nose, the first impression is of passito, but it’s really fleeting, supplanted by a riot of apricot in three different variants (ripe, jam and cheesecake), with a garnish of dried figs and walnuts and a dusting of cloves. A hint of hay pairs with a trace of lavender, while a light spice of white pepper accompanies a note of yellow orange.
The mouthfeel is moderately spicy before the fruit dimension takes over, with apricot, of course, peach in syrup, a hint of blood orange zest and ripe banana.
The finish is long, spicy and still generously fruity with apricot, peach and a peculiar sensation of tree bark.
The finishing, of unspecified length, almost certainly determined the triumph of fruit in a whisky as smooth and enveloping as desire and as enjoyable as sin. Would we have said in the blind that this was a Blair Athol single malt? Probably not, but we’ll leave it to the experts to decide whether this is a good sign or not, and we’ll hold on to all the pleasure the drink gave us.