Whisky Discovery #103

SMWS 1.162 18 Year Old (58.8% abv, Single Cask)
Speyside Single Malt Whisky
Club bottling, not for general sale

SMWS 1.162 18 Year Old Speyside

'Perfumed and mouth-watering, eventually'

The intensely inviting nose was slightly chimerical, combining vanilla ice-cream, apple crumble, custard, chocolate, honey and toffee with sweet tobacco, leather, hay, rosewater, glossy mags, forest floors and polished wood; perfumed fruits emerged eventually.

Water made it much more consistent and approachable; millionaire shortbread, pecan toffee and rhubarb crumble faced up to geraniums, ginger and fresh laundry.

The palate delivered an explosion of oak and spice (clove, cinnamon, pencil shavings, gingerbread) but later, green apple, grassy notes and Cadbury’s Whole Nut, turned it much more mouth-watering. It changed little with water, becoming milder.

From the ‘valley of green grass’

A hip flask dram for the hills or at an autumn barbecue, Well that's what the label said! 

So what did I think?

This was a 'Brucie bonus' bottle that I was kindly given at the very end of the recent Whisky Lounge London Fest. I think I'm almost obliged to join the club now.......we'll see!

I spent an age trying to get something out of the nose when neat, I couldn't get any of what was written on the label. I wasn't too sure of the meaning of 'chimerical' and had to look it up, then I got it!

It needed a while in the glass to tease the nose out, initially dusty citrus notes and eventually the perfumed nose, as it says on the labels. With water it was more scented and some vanilla notes started to come through, but the sharp citrus was still there, and then I got some green mango.

I tried drinking this neat, but after a couple of drams was starting to feel the anaesthetising effect at the back of my mouth! It definitely needs some water to tame it which immediately brings on the creamy mouth feel, with rich oak and sweet vanilla. The finish is long and peppery.

This whisky was distilled at the Glenfarclas Distillery on the 23rd September 1993 and laid down to sleep in a refill ex-bourbon hogshead. (a hogshead is circa 225 litres) Yielding just 234 bottles when bottled in January 2012 and was one of the SMWS January releases, and checking the SMWS website there are no more available.