There's an optimal humidity level at this time of the year. One that make us and the flora perspire lightly and healthily. The whole feeling is relaxing, warming, heavy, spicy, and aromatic. The kind of day where you walk out of your AC'ed house, smile, your eyelids shut halfway, and a slight lassitude takes over.
Our dram tonight is fitting. Like the lemonade of scotches. Old Pulteney 15.
The nose is straightforward for Simon, sweet apples.
Scott gets a bit of cinnamon.
Kyle calls it red licorice, and everyone gets pretty excited about that. It does smell like red licorice. Kyle is somewhat of a red licorice connoisseur.
Trevor gets a tiny smoke.
We cheers.
There's a warming spice that Sean points to, and a mild fruity sweetness, but what stands out in a way no other scotches have for everyone is the tartness.
Scott says he's left with tarty warm finish. The oak comes out on the finish too.
We notice the nose changes a lot after a few sips to a clear butterscotch/caramel.
Scott gets a little salt.
We agree it's smooth, goes down easy.
Andy is patiently listening, drinking his Budweiser.
A reminder for those reading through, these reviews are by amateurs for amateurs, a more down to earth and relatable experience than the high flung expert tastings we commonly find online and on the back of bottles. Something you can rely on to make decisions about which scotch you want in your cabinet. We've also got 5 pallets here, so you can trust that where we overlap is what you will likely get out of the scotch as well.
Ratings time:
The Scotch & Ponder crew is pretty well in agreement tonight. On the low end we've got Simon with a 70, he had fun digging into it, and it offers something different, but not really the array of flavors he likes to have on his shelf, then Kyle with 74, Scott with 76, Sean with 78, and Trevor, who enjoys the dynamism of OP 15 crosses the chasm with a 80. Averages out to 75.6.
The sourness of this one is a tougher flavor to find, and this rated well for all of us. We got this for $130CAD online, and at that price most of us would pass, but it may be worth a try if you're curious.
Cheers!
The Scotch & Ponder crew
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