Origin: Highlands (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 56.2%ABV
Ageing cask: Ex-Bourbon refill
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Whisky Facile
Price: € 150.00 on Atlas Company
Official website: Whisky Facile
Vote: 87/100
Fourth of the black cats that stand out in these new bottlings by the well-known Italian bloggers, who have now also landed in Germany at a recent whisky event, and we close the Scotch tour with a distillery under a pseudonym that has its own ‘familiar’ in a cat, finding in this bottle its almost ideal form.
A single cask from 2011 that produced 102 bottles, for which I again thank Davide Ansalone and associates.
Tasting notes
The nose is very delicate, with a plush and elegant subtlety that combines floral and vegetable scents, of dew-soaked meadow, with those of vanilla, honey, macaroon, apple, a drop of orange blossom and the ever-present, persuasive waxy note. Along the length, a mineral vein infiltrates, as if to show the warp of aromas: a linen shirt of simple elegance.
On the palate, the claws come out (after all, it’s still a cat) but they are alcoholic and only last for a flash, just enough time to graft a handful of white pepper onto the much more evident and fresh vegetal notes, where the mineral part grows in intensity and embraces crunchy fruit (apple, unripe nectarine), cereals, almonds, liquorice root and a slight saline hint, especially along the length: returning to the sartorial metaphor, a fluttering summer dress with generous cleavage.
The finish is quite long and dry, in which the intertwining of vegetal, mineral and sweet tones continues, where the salinity leads you to look lasciviously at the glass ready to be refilled.
For year-round drinkers, to speak of ‘summer whisky’ may be somewhat sterile, but that is what I’d say about this bottle: a very pleasant and elegant dram, at once sober and tantalizing, which can be drunk without qualms about the not-so-gentle alcohol content.