Decent age on this. Filled in 1988 into a refill hogshead before being bottled at 50% ABV and with 211 bottles of well-matured goodness resulting.
Nose: Sunflower oil, church tapers and golden syrup (you just know this is going to be a textural whisky straight from the off). Comice pears, pink apples, nectarines and gooseberry fool tartness. Edges of limestone creep in whilst a tingle of white pepper enlivens. Highly appealing. Water expresses toasted cereals, rice pudding and mallow stuffed Rice Crispy squares.
Taste: Thickly composed with plenty of clingy syrup. Greener apples now alongside white grapes and lime peels. Almost fruit oil in character – and rather scalpel with the delivery.. Develops additional tropical notes of kiwi before heading into venousness with asides of menthol and a touch of hewn granite. Dilution offers banana Nesquik powder together with tinned apples. There’s less bite now – and consequently less sharpness and sourness in the mix.
Finish: Medium to long in length. Progressive dryness as the tannins stick to the gums – with plenty of fruit sugars to temper and a touch of cask pepper in the tail.
Crisp, concise and defined fruits are the order of the day – together with a really wonderful sense of weight and body throughout. A touch bite-y in places with tartness and acidity, but that’s starting to nippick. Really very good indeed.