Always fun to try a new distillery. The list is dwindling down! I think I say this every year but then you get deeper into whisky and you keep finding new distilleries so the list of untasted distillates is growing as fast as it's getting crossed off.
Speyburn 15: Speyside Single Malt, 46% abv, $130 CAD, matured in ex-American and ex-Spanish oak for 15 years. Not chill filtered or colored.
Sniffing around:
Nice smell Kyle says. There's some debate about that within the crew.
Simon says this is what he expects, stewed apples, apple pie.
Trevor is not sure, he's not loving it. Rotten apples. A few minutes later he comes around a bit. Vanilla.
Scott is going for overripe very sweet apple. Smooth nose. Butterscotch.
Simon likes the butterscotch note. He find a citronella note too.
Citrus, lemon, grapefruit, and vanilla on the nose for Sean.
We cheers.
Scott pulls chocolate, might even call it a Macallan blind. Vanilla butterscotch. Not what he was expecting. Still very smooth.
Trevor gets the tootsie roll. Chewy.
Nice fizzy feel at 46% Simon says. Apple finish that sticks around for a bit.
Everyone agrees this has a good body and mouthfeel to it, nice lasting finish.
Nice woody/oaky note that shines halfway through the glass.
Sean adds raisins, vanilla, creamy mouthfeel, bready apples, ginger, and milk chocolate.
Reviews: Scott starts us off with 88. He loves it, he's a big mouthfeel guy. The nose and palate are copy paste. Dangerously well done. Kyle follows up with 86, $130 is a bit steep but he'd like to have more. Nothing to complain about. Simon thinks this is good, he started around 76 but every couple sip he's adding a point. Lands on 81. He would never spend $100 on this let alone $130, but it's tasty and well done. He appreciates that this is a solid Speyside that tastes like a Speyside. Trevor goes 74. The nose was a bit offputting, he's enjoying it but it's a bit boring for him. Sean wraps it up with an 80, solid easy sipper. Averages out to 81.8.
Overall: Our only complaint here is the cost of the bottle. This is a well done, tasty, easy drinking, crowd pleaser scotch, but there are many equally solid options in the $70-$100 price range. We're thinking Aultmore 12, Craigellachie 13, and Cragganmore 12 are all very comparable classics for a fraction of the cost.
Cheers!
The S&P Crew.
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