Category: Highland Whiskies

Style: Spicy and Fruity

Nose:
Woah! Spice striking at a rather ferocious velocity and amplitude, well, that’s Rare Malts for you. A little bit of heathery up front, tropical fruits, honey mead and green leaves emerge as the heat wave subsides. White chocolate, soft hint of Jasmine flowers and sweet cranberries compote (perhaps a result of OBE) forming a waxy, luscious core. A pinch of five spices, white oak shavings, peppermint garnished on top of a gentle cereal malt. Pretty good, but perhaps some water might be needed to tame this dram.

Palate:
Powerful chilli spice cuts a searing path, with maximum flavours of apricots yoghurt, creamy white chocolate and steaming Sakura green tea flowing through the red-hot trails. Wood smoke plus a hint of vegetal peat (maybe?) gelled together by tropical fruits agar agar and paraffin wax. Lemon-orange citrus and Kensington mangoes slowly unravel as the spirit begins to shine. Fennel, asparagus and mint dressed on top of barley and malt.

Finish:
Sakura-matcha flavoured Kit-kat, dried apricots and red cranberries rolling around. Aloe vera jelly with minimal oak to finish.

Thoughts:
For whatever reason, it seems the Rare Malts selection tends to be very spicy regardless of its abv. When I turn the bottle around and look at the back label, it reads, “To enjoy this… at its best, measure one-part whisky to two parts still water at room temperature.” Ha! Guess I am doing it wrong all along. Back to this dram, once you adapt to its intensity, the handsome reward is an incredibly rich, creamy texture that you can almost die for. Together with the bountiful flavours and reasonably complex layerings, for a cask-strength drinker like me, it is a rather exquisite dram.

☆ [Recommended]

[57.1%| Original Bottling| 1973 Distilled| Limited Edition| Natural Cask Strength| Bottle Number: 552 *+]

-Esmond

Style: Fruity, Complex and Spicy

Nose:
Cutting through the ethanol mist, we have a tantalising lemon aloe vera across the board. Hints of rosemary and cucumber floating on top of the sharp chilli which is piercing from the back. Some dried apricots and more lemon-citrus confectionaries as the sweetness expands. Kumquat and ginger candy beaming positively, the tone reverts back to the vegetal side as undertone of linseed, fried Spanish onions and maybe even a little garlic gradually surfaces. The aroma is elegantly rounded up and decorated with white floral rims. Very nice.

Palate:
Lemon aloe vera makes a gentle touch down onto the palate. Paraffin oil giving a beautiful waxy texture. Intricate and delicate vegetal notes (artichokes, tsaoko, mint and fennels) weaving in and stitching the expression together. Citrus confectionaries infused sago pudding with just a teasing vegetal-meaty touch. Absolutely delicious. Chilli spice sewed between the lines. Under the coat of almond skins sits a soft, taro-flavoured, earthy malt. Subtle passionfruit tail to finish.

Finish:
Tropical fruits tapioca, sweet potato soup, lemon candy agar agar and a little bit of digestive biscuits. Very soft and sweet.

Thoughts:
From memory this is a 1983 Teaninich at higher power. Relatively spicy, but in return it gives you higher “concentration” which translates into more substances and complexity. Despite maturing in a Butt, the sherry influence feels extremely limited, or it has entirely melded with the distillate to give a silky-fruity element to the expression. Overall, especially technically, it is an incredibly complete, well-matured and classy performance from this workhorse make. Excellent drop.

☆☆ [Highly Recommended]

[57.5%| Independent Bottling| 1983 Distilled| 2018 Bottled| Single Cask| Non Coloured| Cask Strength| Matured in Refill Butt| Cask Number: 8070| Bottle Number: 135 of 575 **]

-Esmond

Style: Sherry sweet and Spicy

Nose:
Hmmmm, quite funky on the nose, liquorice roots, fennels, earthy potatoes, cereal and bacon strips are all immersed in dark fruits sauce. This sherry has a bit of everything in here, alas, they are pulling towards different directions. Not sure if that’s because of the cask or the spirit though… Growing a bit syrupy as we dig deeper, brown sugar and some resounding blackcurrants begin to emerge. Another teasing touch of bacon grease and camphor leading to a rather clean malt down at the bottom.

Palate:
The rhythm is more stable on the palate, sterilised sherry and malt unfolding carefully at a higher power, mostly in the form of spicy cereal and occasional peppermint spikes. Steaming taro and potato giving some starchy earthiness, while pork stew simmering very gently at the base. Black liquroice strikes back, cherry sauce and molasses spreading and funneling throughout the spirit. Black pepper, plenty of chocolate mint as well. Dry spice and alcohol heat pushing for a strong finish.

Finish:
Vegetal spice tails off and paves way for red fruit sherry notes to settle in. Ruby grapes and milk chocolate, all sweet and comfy.

Thoughts:
Adelphi has been dropping a lot of sherry bombs lately, and like most of them, it is dark and sweet, it punches hard, it might be a funky cask, but with this one it feels the distillate is provided a certain degree of freedom to maneuver, which imparted an extra level onto the expression. May it be a little bit clumsy, but it is definitely better than some sherry-alcohol hot mess that has been floating around the market these days. If anyone still remember the sub-10 years old dark-as-sin Glenrothes, personally I think this is a major upgrade on those.

✓ [Recommended if you like the style/ distillery]

[55.9% | Independent Bottling | 2007 Distilled | 2020 Bottled | 615 Bottles | Single Cask | Natural Cask Strength | Non-Chill Filtered | Cask Number: 301264 | T+]