Whisky: Aultmore 17 Year (2001), SMWS 73.114 “Total eclipse of oloroso”

Country/Region: Scotland/Speyside

ABV: 56%

Cask: Oloroso Butt (15Y), First Fill PX Sherry Butt

Age: 17 Years (Distilled 24 Sept. 2001)

Nose: Brown sugar and baking spices loaded with creamy hazelnuts, milk chocolate, and malty digestive biscuits; powerful undercurrents of cask-driven fig pastries, leather, and aromatic woods.

Palate: Full-bodied, date syrup with baking spices, black pepper, licorice, figs, and dark molasses cake; leather and earthier notions developed around lacquered wood and burnt-down incense on the mid-palate, while hazelnut spread and a touch of rubber stamps lingered at the end.

Finish: Medium to long with molasses cake, figs, and new rubber boots.

Score: 6 (78)

Mental Image: Rain Boots for the Pastry Chef

Narrative & Notes: There was no mistaking this big old cask bomb which spent nearly a decade and a half in an oloroso butt before it was recasked into a first-fill PX butt. I typically love how large format casks produce more subtle flavors— though there were few subtleties here.  This was big and loud, and the cask influence took center stage with big fruit, chocolate, caramel, and even some funky leather and rubber to keep things interesting— more on the palate and finish than nose, though there were hints even there.

This big cask-driven style is not always to my taste, and while I thought the aroma was delightful with a good evolution and clear notes, the palate was wild and untamed. The mouthfeel was luxuriously thick and syrupy, the finish nice and long, but the flavors were also less distinct and well-rounded.  Water helped to an extent, especially bringing clarity to the fruit and pushing some of the nuttiness to the fore, but left some of the rubbery elements more prevalent on the finish.

Overall, sure to please sherry-heads and definitely not a boring whisky, but it was not entirely to my taste.