Whisky : Blair Athol 24 Year, Douglas Laing’s Old Particular, K&L Wine Merchant Selection

Country/Region : Scotland/Highland

ABV : 55.6%

Cask : Sherry Butt

Age : 24 Years (Distilled Sept 1995, Bottled Aug. 2020)

Nose : Deep, rich dried fruits, shoyu umami, and subtle herbs.  Dried dates and figs leapt into view followed by subtle notes of leather and shisha smoke.  Rich umami laced notes of shoyu, bruised plums, and pickled stone fruits.  

Palate :  Thick, syrupy, and a bit dry on the finish with notes of dried fruit, nuts, and toffee.  Opened with dried figs, fig-nut cake, Brazil nuts, and dark brown sugar toffee-blondie bars.  Fruity almond extract appeared with time to breath along with a subtle, slightly salty-twangy, black vinegar and shoyu umami.  Dry on the finish along with oily fresh roasted coffee and herbal-fruit shisha.

Finish : Lingering black sugar and coffee.

Score : 8

Mental Image : Fruit Board at the Hooka Lounge 

Notes : This Blair Athol was absolutely delicious and I strongly regret not getting a bottle of this.  This was brimming with delicious dried fruits, a shoyu (fermented soy sauce) umami, as well as nutty and roasty notes.  I loved the syrupy mouthfeel and slightly dry finish, this had tons of depth and complexity that never became overbearing.  No single element overpowered and there were no off or odd notes to muddle the profile.  A little bit longer finish and this would have been divine.

Overall, this was an excellent well-aged sherry malt with tons of subtle flavors.  This had great coherency between the experience on the nose and the palate and nothing was really off or overbearing about it.  This was well balanced and dangerously easy to drink.

Image Credit : user markfeit on whiskybase