Whisky : Tullibardine 11 Year SMWS 28.43 “Muscle-toned heft and punch”

Country/Region : Scotland/Highland

ABV : 59.6%

Cask : First Fill Ex-Oloroso Butt

Age : 11 Years (Distilled 20 May 2008)

Nose : Incredibly rich and complex— stewed plums, raisins, strawberries, apricots, and jammy sweetness.  Classic dessert notes of vanilla, caramelized sugars, molasses, and hot chocolate with a healthy shot of cinnamon liqueur.  Sweet herbal spice notes of ginger, rosemary, and pine emerge on the edges along with faintly sulfurous geothermal baths.

Palate : Big and rich with chocolate mint, caramelized fruits, and creamy milk chocolate.  Dates and dried figs dominate the palate— figgy cookie bars take over.  Hints of leather, toasted oats, and sulphur appear occasionally.  Chocolate covered raisins arrived near the end and gradually supplanted the figs.

Finish : Lingering dried fruits with a hint of toasted nuts.

Score : 6

Mental Image : Bald Bull’s Ridunkulous Figasaurus Rex

Something Similar : Glentauchers 15Y; Chieftain’s (similar fruits/pastries, more coffee)

Something Worse : Kirkland Signature Speyside 22Y (similar flavor profile, less intensity)

Notes : Absolutely bursting with deep oloroso influence and thick malty notes, this young and spirited Tullibarine was a huge hit during a local virtual tasting event.  The big oloroso influence just jammed this dram full of dried figs and dark chocolate, it had a wonderful sherry punch with a subtle sweetness and loads of depth.   I am not really drawn to sherry bombs, but if I am going to taste one, I definitely prefer oloroso over PX.  This was quite tasty and really walked the line between a balanced fruity malt accented with oloroso and a malt absolutely dominated by cask maturation.  We have enough local sherry bomb aficionados that they were going to be pleased as punch either way.  I enjoyed this quite a bit and have a feeling that anyone who loves a bold, almost meaty, sherry malt will really dig this as well.

The mental image on this one came from the tasting a couple months ago and rested on the idea that this was a massive punch of flavors— figs especially.  The group could not decide on whether the initial blast of bold flavors was like the roar of a dinosaur or a knock out punch by the character “Bald Bull” from the game Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out.  Why chose just one?  Though I am not sure if I should have you imagining Bald Bull leading around a purple dinosaur, or picturing Bald Bull making a career change into baking and the “Ridunkulous Figasaurus Rex” as his signature baked good.