63.95 Brimming with fruity booty (Malt of the Month)

Description

A long-aged, insanely balanced, absolute fruit-bomb of a whisky! Imagine, in a year of wild inflation, we can offer up to members a 19-year-old, single-cask, cask-strength Society whisky, for $249, down from $280, for Malt of the Month. Crazy value indeed. This Society cask hails from a substantial distillery on the outskirts of Keith in the Speyside region of Scotland. Rarely seen as a single malt, and heavily used in the creation of the Ballantine’s blend, to see this spirit as a single cask, with substantial age, and at cask strength, is a rare fruity and tropical treat indeed. Pour a dram, slice some of your fruit flan, and settle in.

The nose is brimming with fruity booty – pear drops, pineapple liqueur, apple sherbet and lemon peel – also some coconut oil, pine sap and wild flowers. The palate suggests foamy shrimps, toffee and plums, heather ale with a hoppy grapefruit zing, floral Armagnac, and Turkish delight with pistachio. The reduced nose still majors on fruit – poached pears, stone fruits, banana bread and orange Jaffa cakes – but includes polished wooden furniture and autumn leaves. Now the palate gives a waxy, chalky mouthfeel with flavours of rhubarb crumble, banana chips, honey, and pineapple – the finish brings hessian, charred wood, and mint to mind.