Whisky : Black Oak 8 Year Single Malt, SMWS Small Batch

Country/Region : Scotland/Speyside

ABV : 50%

Cask : Ex-Armagnac Gascon Black Oak

Age : 8 Years (Distilled Oct. 2011)

Nose : Floral candies, dried apricots, and pears.  Fruity opening with notes of candies, florals— especially lavender, and champagne jellies.  Pears, old fashioned donuts, and vanilla pastries.  

Palate :  Medium to light body with dry crisp fruits, pastries, and confectionary delights.  Sweet impression of going on a Sugarfine story sampling binge: root beer gummies and champagne jellies especially.  Crisp apples and pears along with vanilla pastries.  Grassy notes emerged at the end with dandelions and clovers.

Finish :  Lingering musk and floral candies.

Score : 4

Mental Image :  Sugarfina Binge

Notes :  Every so often SMWS releases something that is not a single cask scotch— sometimes they do other spirits, sometimes they do blends, and sometimes they do single malts that are not single casks.  This was a single malt as it came from a single Speyside distillery produced by vatting together two casks.  SMWS had previously used the black oak casks used to finish this whisky to age Armagnac.  I imagine the distillery was left anonymous so that more attention would be given to the casks used, A6.1 and A7.1 which held Armangac from Domain Lasalle and Domain le Parre.

This dram was welcoming and mild, an ideal daily sipper for someone who likes something mellow and fruity but with a nice body.  That is not really my style and I tend to prefer earthy or waxy notes to counter balance some of the sweet fruits and florals.  This had too much candy shop for my taste and it was a bit too light across the palate.

Overall, a pleasant sipper that highlighted a unique cask influence.  I would have loved to know which distillery’s malt was used for this small batch so I could compare it to other bottles from the distillery.  If I had to guess the source of the malt, I thought some of the grassy notes that came through, especially at the end, reminded me of Aberlour, but the Speyside is a huge region so there are a lot of other options.