Origin: Highlands (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 46%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-bourbon and ex-Islay
Chillfiltered: No
Additional coloring: No
Owner: Wolfburn Distiller
Average price: € 60.00
Official website: wolfburn.com
We have already talked about this bottling in the words of the Great Otre a few years ago, but having received a sample of a more recent version, it seemed appropriate to try it again some time later.
Added to the core portfolio in 2017, this NAS (about four years old) is named after the highest peak in the county of Caithness, where the distillery is based.
Made from lightly peated malt, it was matured in equal parts between first-fill ex-bourbon casks and quarter casks from Islay, just to impart an extra peaty boost.
Tasting Notes
The nose takes on an arboreal spirit, with pine cones and roasted herbs, veined with impressions of fruit (peach, pineapple, red apple), citrus (orange, kumquat) and pastry (lemon cream, tart). In short, the smoke emerges more insistently, always declined to vegetal (burnt shrubs), accompanied by lactic notes and a slight iodine inflection. Terrigno.
Black pepper and ginger at the entrance, driven by a slightly mentholated freshness, picking up the thread of the nose with the aromatic herbs (marjoram, rosemary, lemongrass) and the smoke, more consistent and suspended between land and sea. A consistent vegetable side, of celery and black tea, stands out on a subdued bed of sweetness between fruit (more citrus than white) and a foray of malt tending towards Ovaltine. This is followed, in no particular order, by almonds, sugar paste, red apple.
Medium-long finish with black pepper, ginger, lemon, sweet liquorice, vegetal and balsamic notes, burnt bush, slightly saline.
The Islay contribution gets a little lost in the drink, but infuses an interesting variation between nose and finish. The whole is a little immature and messy, clearly due to age, but it remains an intriguing dram even in its flaws.
Vote: 84/100