Origin: Speyside (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 52%ABV
Ageing cask: Ex-Sauternes finishing
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: J & A Mitchell & Co Ltd.
Average price: € 150.00
Official website: www.cadenhead.scot
Vote: 87/100
The breadth of the offer from Cadenhead’s, the oldest IB in Scotland, is reflected fortunately for us, at least in part, in the availability of samples that allow us to range with absolute freedom between very different proposals. Today’s tasting, for example, comes from the Wine Cask Series which includes single casks with distinctive wine finishes.
Distilled in 1992 in Glen Moray and bottled in April 2016, in its natural colour and without chil filtration in 252 bottles, after a finishing period of unknown duration in an ex-Sauternes cask, this whisky is still available, albeit to a limited extent, from some specialised retailers.
Tasting Notes
The colour is amber.
The nose is a deluge of apricot in all its variations; ripe, dehydrated, jam, fruit juice. But there’s more beyond apricot! In this case, caramel, orange blossom, peach cream, berry yankee candle, berry gummy, jasmine, and a hint of crema catalana. Pepper over all the other spices.
In the mouth, the first impression is of polished light wood, then it is fruit that occupies (almost) the whole scene, with ripe apricot, nectarine, red apple and banana. A ‘dry’ touch of almonds pairs with orange juice, while the apricot fruit juice is accompanied without conflict by a voluptuous taste of wildflower honey. On the spicy side, pepper and chilli pepper further enliven an already rather dynamic profile.
The finish is long, warm and, needless to say, fruity, with apricot, peach and almond.
So far as we can tell, the Sauternes cask has imparted an important steering to a profile that is probably more docile than the current one. The result is a whisky that makes fruit, in all its components, its aromatic horizon of reference, and that never lacks grit, also thanks to a perfect alcohol content.