This bottle was labelled #3031 from Batch 0887 and bottled at 45.2% ABV. The nose was very nice, herbal tea with mint and sweet vanilla notes. The mouthfeel is fresh, light and oily, bittersweet on palate with more vanilla, candy, black coffee and dark chocolate. The finish has peppermint, wood and grassy rye notes. With water it gets sweeter, even honeyed, while heat builds in the finish with chilli spiced dark chocolate. Overall very delicious; a light and subtle of straight rye.
Read MoreThis was my original post: "I must admit to some mixed feelings on this one. I bought a bottle of this at Heathrow and it didn't last long. In fact I didnt even write any detailed notes. I remember thinking it was a very good single malt and something I thought I would come back to many times. Then I went to the Aberfeldy Distillery in March 2011 and tried some of the Dewar's blends that contain Aberfeldy and then felt like the $100+ I spent on the single malt might not have been the best investment. All the flavors I like in Aberfeldy I found in the Dewar's blends and I would probably go back to the Dewar's blends before I bought the single malt again, unless there was a change in the price point. I have tried it and I like it, but I may not buy it again."
However I saw Aberfeldy on sale for under $60 in the USA in April 2012 (so there was a change in the price point) and so I am changing score and adding some more detailed tasting notes. The nose is sweet and malty with some floral honey as well. The taste was toffee apple and honey, incredibly smooth, almost glassy. The finish had a bite of oak to nicely offset all the sweetness.
Seriously though is it just me or is the whisky world's interest with extinct distilleries and those that were extinct and have since been reborn a little misplaced? I find myself asking this question more and more and as I taste some of these whiskies I find the questions don't go away. Let's put aside the rarity question. I fully understand that extinct whiskies are going to be collector's items and that itself creates an interest. No I am talking about the simple fact, often ignored, that they were probably not always particularly good whiskies (not whether they are collectable).
In my mind a combination of free market economics and natural selection would suggest that in order for new and better whiskies to come along, less popular whiskies must improve or fall to wayside. As popular as whisky has become it is still a finite market and therefore only a finite number of whiskies can exist. If we want better whiskies shouldn't we want less popular or unsuccessful whiskies to perish? Instead we seem to mourn passing of whisky distilleries or celebrate the re-opening of old ones without asking the important question – why did it close to start with? Is the reborn distillery really remaking the old spirit and product, if so why? Or is it using the modern equipment, standards and techniques, and in effect it's a new distillery in an old building.
The emergence of new distilleries and new whisky making countries suggests to me that in balance we as whisky lovers should welcome the passing of some tired old production that was never successful or large enough to survive and welcome the next whisky that will inevitably follow in footsteps, almost certainly a better product given the high standards of distilling and maturation today. Simply put some of these whiskies weren't good enough or loved enough or viable for whatever reason at the time and for the good of the whole industry they had to die. My guess is that they weren't the best whiskies and therefore the fittest survived. If total whisky production or producing countries was falling I would understand, but clearly that isn't the case, so let's collectively move on.
If you do come across a rare bottling of single malt from a closed distillery enjoy by all means, but don't try and tell me it is a loss to the industry. My guess is it probably isn't, although I am sure from time to time some good production has been lost it has been more than outweighed by the good new whiskies added almost every day. I am sure almost any distillery can produce, from time to time, a one off single cask bottling of exceptional quality but it doesn't mean that everything produced there was of the same standard. Occasionally even a blind squirrel will find a nut.
So let's not mourn the passing of distilleries or worry about the rebirth of others, perhaps we should even encourage and welcome it, raising the standards of the global product for everyone, like a gardener pruning old tired flowers so healthy new growth can come through.
I first picked a bottle of this up in Oddbins in Cults, attracted by the rather unusual label and value price. It is a smooth and floral whisky and pleasant if a little oaky, and certainly nothing wrong with it (can you tell I wasn't taking detailed notes in 2009?). However the simple fact is, for all the times I went back in that shop (and it was a lot until the Great Odbbins Closure of 2011) I never felt compelled to buy another bottle again. There was always something more interesting and appealing to buy even at that lower price point. I like blends, I really do, and so I promise to revisit and do some more detailed tasting notes, but I feel the overall impression I was left with says more than any detailed notes can.
Update: Here are some more detailed notes that I took after buying a 5 cl miniature on www.whiskyexchange.com in April 2012. The nose has malt, fruity pear drops and a floral note, maybe even marzipan. The taste is very smooth, more malt, caramel and then builds into an oaky, bitter finish with some of the flowers and esters from the nose. With water the mouthfeel gets a little richer and it gets a little more peppery in the finish. Definately a little better than I remembered.