A 15 year old Mortlach that’s spent 14 years in a ex-Bourbon hogshead before being reracked into 1st fill Pedro Ximenez for an additional year of finishing. One of 223 bottles. Sweet, Fruity & Mellow profile.
Nose: Sweet and savoury. Sherbet zing, orange segments and an assortment of sugar-coated fruits meet an underlying meatiness – think prosciutto ham – sprinkled with the lightest touch of white pepper. Water reduces the definition of this whisky, but does add in some spicing in the form of cloves.
Taste: Sweet & savoury and 100% delivering the meaty ham favour as promised on the bottle label. Sharp fresh sugar-coated berries come together with citrus and some dusty dunnage warehouse like qualities – I’m not quite convinced that these marry up perfectly to the meatiness but the overall combination is certainly interesting. The addition of water makes for a much more syrupy mouthfeel and enhanced earthiness, but at the same time reduces the sharpness and zing of the fruit.
Finish: Long with an aspirin-like chalkiness.
A really interesting Mortlach that delivers both sweet fruit and umami flavours (mostly successfully), but has a strange mineral/calcium-tinged finish – if you’ve ever chewed an antacid tablet you’ll understand. Mortlach is often seemingly meaty, and this is no exception, though it’s lighter than some I’ve tasted. I did not find water to be particular kind to this whisky - it quickly drowned out the sweeter top end fruitiness.