Speyside

The Balvenie DoubleWood 17 Year
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky

43% ABV
$160-$180
Website

What the Distillery Says

To craft The Balvenie DoubleWood 17 year old single malt whisky Malt Master David C. Stewart MBE returned to one of his most celebrated achievements – consecutive maturation in two different types of cask, a process often referred to as ‘cask finishing’.

This technique is at the heart of The Balvenie DoubleWood – it sees the whisky matured first in American oak barrels, which impart soft sweet vanilla notes, before being transferred to European oak sherry casks, where the second cask ageing adds rich spicy flavours and a depth and fullness of flavour.

The DoubleWood 17 year old is an elder sibling to DoubleWood 12 year old and shares its honeyed, spicy characteristics, but it is distinctly different, with deeper vanilla notes, hints of green apple, creamy toffee and a striking richness and complexity.

TASTING NOTES
NOSE: Elegant and complex oak, vanilla, honeyed sweetness and a hint of green apple.
TASTE: Sweet with dried fruits, sherbet spice, toasted almonds and cinnamon, layered with a richness of creamy toffee notes and traces of oak and deep vanilla.
FINISH:Vanilla oak, honey and spicy sweetness.

What Gary Says

Nose:  Green apples, cinnamon buns with raisins, heather, honey, a floral perfume, vanilla.
Palate:  Creamy mouthfeel with dried fruit notes of apple and pears, vanilla with soft spices, nutmeg, slightly nutty with a touch of oak, pepper and tamed cinnamon.
Finish:  Long with fading cinnamon dusted fruits.
Comments:  I’ve always found Balvenie to be an elegant whisky, and this is no exception. Really nice balance between the two casks where neither is dominating the other, and the combination is lovely. A bit of water tilts this toward more tropical fruit notes of papaya and mango, although wouldn’t blame anyone for sipping neat and never thinking to add water!

Rating: Stands Out/Must Try

Cadenhead’s Small Batch Mortlach 21 Yr
Single Malt Scotch Whisky

53.5% ABV
$150
Website

What the Producer Says

Distilled in 1994 at the Mortlach Distillery.
Matured in Bourbon Hogshead for 21 years.
Bottled in 2015.
One of only 492 bottles.

What Gary Says

Nose:  Vanilla sponge cake, raw almonds, subtle peat and vegetal notes, nectarines, tropical fruit, heather, tobacco, rice pudding, allspice and a hint of ginger.
Palate:  Spicy bite, fruity with apricots, nectarines, pears, pepper spice, honey, walnuts, allspice, chocolate, and cherries.
Finish:  Moderately long, drying with apricots and a nutty pepper spice.
Comments:  Really nice dram – sharp neat but a bit of water brings out more chocolate and cherries, and thickens nicely. Here in the United States, we see ‘small batch’ used commonly in the world of bourbon despite having zero legal meaning (could be as few as a single barrel, or as many barrels as you want – 50, 500, 5,000, limit is only your imagination). It is much less common in Scotch whisky. In this case, there being 492 bottles of this small batch, it is likely only 2 or 3 casks (a hogshead cask is 250 liters, which would be 357 750 mL bottles full; scotch whisky loses about 2% to evaporation each year, do some math and you land at 2 casks with slightly less than 2%, or 3 casks).

Rating: Stands Out/Must Try

Game of Thrones Six Kingdoms Mortlach 15 Yr Old
Single Malt Scotch Whisky

46% ABV
$95-$150
Website

What the Distillery Says

This Mortlach Single Malt Scotch Whisky that has been aged for 15 years, is presented in a metallic gold canister that features an intricate pen and ink drawing of the Three-Eyed Raven as seen throughout the eight seasons of the series. The Six Kingdoms packaging pays homage to the last Greenseer, whose ability to see beyond the constraints of time and unravel the intricate stories that held the tapestry of Westeros together proved to be his ultimate power.

The Mortlach Distillery is built on the site of a historic battle and is the first to legitimately rule over Dufftown’s whisky trade. Influenced by its own collection of historical figures, the Mortlach’s signature method to distil the liquid exactly 2.81 times is a complex process as unique as the Three-Eyed Raven character.

TASTING NOTES
NOSE: Opens with red apple and warming spice notes, before hints of toffee apple, wood spice, and ripe cranberry appear.
PALATE: Fresh fruit & creamy vanilla, woody, aromatic spice combining with hints of cinnamon and a warming woodiness.
FINISH: Lingering vanilla, spice, and dark chocolate.

What Gary Says

Nose:  Sherry bomb with dark fruits, blood orange, vanilla, hint of smoke, worn leather, sulfur with a subtle note of grapefruit.
Palate:  Thick mouthfeel, fruit dripping with caramel and honey, bananas, orange cream, subtle oak and spice with pepper, allspice and nutmeg.
Finish:  Moderately long with dark fruit and oak.
Comments:  Really lovely dram. I’ve enjoyed a few Mortlach offerings before Diageo decided to position them as a high-end (read high-priced) label. Don’t get me wrong – they’re delicious, and this one is too. I’ve seen this on-line for under $100, at which price I’d be a buyer for sure; at $150 I’m less sure..

Rating: Stands Out/Must Try