[46.0%・16 Years Old・Bottled in 2008・Official Bottling・Limited Release]
Nose:
The tone is set a bit low with the musk, some apple fragrances and pitted cherries. There is a vague incense note in the background, almost like smoke from paper burning. As time passes, the charred cask notes surface.
Palate & Finish:
Apple vinegar with an unexpected spike of sugary strawberry sweetness before being swept away by a generous and spontaneous splash of cinnamon dust. Green apple bubble gum with its rubbery note beginning to show on the mid-palate, followed by cough syrup like medicinal bitterness.
Soft but dry finish with a wee buttery note that stretches on a while, it grows toasty after a while.
Thoughts:
Mmm.. there are multiple elements in play here, the spirit characters, the bourbon cask notes from the initial maturation, the wine influence from the ACE’ing, and the input from French oak casks that held the wine.
The ACE’ing allowed for the fruits to come through in this dram but it also most likely shaped the bitterness unintentionally.
This dram illustrates why wine casks are tricky.. it’s a balancing act to present all these difference influences in a coherent manner.
-Nicholas
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