Origin: Speyside (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 40%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon
Chillfiltered: Yes
Added coloring: Yes
Owner: Diageo
Average price: € 40.00
Official website: www.malts.com
After trying the special version part of the series dedicated to Game of Thrones, here in the glass is the other basic bottling from the well-known Speyside distillery, which bears the figure of Elizabeth, the first woman to run a distillery in the second half of the 19th century, on the label.
Made from ‘hand-selected’ toasted casks (whatever that means), it joined the twelve year old from 2014, again at minimum alcohol content and with all the appropriate manipulations.
Tasting Notes
Fruit and pastry on the nose, predominantly white the former with peach, apricot, apple, pineapple and a zest of lemon, embraced by custard, wildflower honey, candyfloss and marzipan. A malt background is present, at times towards fresh bread. Slight alcoholic bite. Simple but not bad.
The much-vaunted hand-picked casks are clearly evident on the palate, planing the olfactory evocations on wood tones, between wood shavings and spices, throwing fruit and sweets into a faint background in which the sour and bitter parts emerge above all, between gooseberries, vegetable notes, pear juice and nuts (almonds, nuts). On the length, dryness and black pepper.
Short finish, dry and bitter, of black pepper, vegetable notes, nuts, cereal, wood.
All as expected, complexity is neither sought nor offered, going a little below the minimum standard. Cheap but not that much for what it offers.
Vote: 70/100