Whisky : AnCnoc 9 Year SMWS 115.15 “A solitary sausage”

Country/Region : Scotland/Speyside

ABV : 59.4%

Cask : Refill Ex-Bourbon Barrel

Age : 9 Years (Distilled 2 Sept. 2009)

Nose : Pears, green apple, sour apple, and honey dew rind.  Fruits are followed by black pepper spice, toasted crumpets, lemon biscuits, and English breakfast tea.  Aquarium brine, fish tank funk, and floral hand soap hide in the back ground.

Palate : Tart green apples, green Jolly ranchers, and perfume notes come through with a bit of mint.  It is hard to dodge the fact that this is young, hot, and in need of time to rest.  A bit of water brings out a more complex palate; sticky caramel green apple, lemon oil, fruit rinds, and sweet tea.  

Finish :  Medium length apple, mint, and cream along with some heat.

Score : 5

Mental Image : High Tea with Grandmama

Something Similar : SMWS Peat Faerie 3rd Ed. (similar green apple/light body, more vanilla, less fruit) 

Something Similar : Hakushu Distiller’s Reserve (similar green apple/mint/tea, less intensity/finish)

Notes :  There was no way this was ever going to live up to the awesome name.  A name that does not seem to make any sense given the flavor palate of the whisky… unless this is a cultural reference that I don’t get.  Considering that has been that case for a couple of the SMWS names, it’s certainly probable.

However, while this could never live up to the hilarity of the sausage jokes made at the tasting, this dram improved a lot between that night and when I sat down to write up a proper review.  The spirit forward quality of the palate had faded and a deeper array of flavor notes cam through.  The addition of a few drops of water opened it up beautifully— to the point that this went from ranked as one of the worst of the evening to quite possibly, in my retrospective opinion, one of the best we had.

While my opinion of this improved quite a bit, it is still not a bottle I would buy.  I would happily accept a pour of this and there are a lot of things I would pick this over, but it does not really manage to cross the boundary between the ‘just fine’ feeling of a C and the ‘I need this’ feeling of a B.  An enjoyable whisky, a great introduction to the distillery, a fine bottle to sip on in the evening, but not the kind of thing I am running out to stock up on.