Origin: Highlands (Scotland)
Type: Single Scotch Malt Whisky
Strength: 48.5%ABV
Ageing cask: Ex-Bourbon
Chillfiltered: No
Added colouring: No
Owner: Phil & Simon Thompson
Average price: € 120.00
Official website: www.thompsonbrosdistillers.com
I return to the Dornoch brothers and their activity as independent bottlers, alongside that of distillers, with a bottling in its second edition and dedicated to a mysterious distillery in the Highlands, whose profile is reproduced in the illustration on the label.
800 bottles from three first-fill ex-Bourbon casks, matured between 2011 and 2023.
Tasting Notes
It’s not exactly how you would typically describe an aroma, but to the nose it is rich and unctuous, somewhere between melted butter, cooked honey and motor oil, which is a bit like a MasterChef Golden Mystery box. A mix of sweetness and dirt that combines pastries (caramel, sweet liquorice, cinnamon, Alpenliebe) and hydrocarbons with a few metallic hints of worn copper coins. Accompanied by fruit (peach, mango, dried apricot, ripe mandarins) and hay. And it all works very well, creating an old-fashioned agricultural aura.
On the palate, the alcohol is more pungent than expected, with a push of black pepper, ginger and aniseed that is somewhat surprising given the aroma. The fruit comes to the fore, with lime and citrus leading the way, imbued with vegetal and metallic notes that veer towards the bitter, relegating the pastry to the background, reduced to hints of liquorice, marzipan and caramel. Notes of coffee and incense also appear, lingering on the finish.
The finish is quite long, dry and vegetal, with spicy notes, metallic notes, hints of fruit and incense.
Review: The truly spectacular aroma suggested something quite different when tasted, which instead turns out to be banal and lacking in structure, flattening out into a few evocations that are not particularly (personally) pleasant. A real shame.
Vote: 83/100