A Speyside Distillery Blended Malt 27 Year (1994), Le Gus’t Cask 3522
Whisky: A Speyside Distillery Blended Malt 27 Year (1994), Le Gus’t Cask 3522
Country/Region: Scotland/Speyside
ABV: 46.9%
Cask: Bourbon Hogshead
Age: 27 Years (Distilled 14 July 1994, Bottled 27 Oct. 2021)
Nose: Big honey with passion fruit and melon, oranges and fruit punch, hints of bubble gum with tangerine and mint; occasionally spirited and almost feinty.
Palate: Medium-bodied with big tropical fruits and stone fruits, old pencils and hints of worn rubber erasures, minty and herbal, wispy smoke, dried grass.
Finish: Medium to long with minty jasmine tea and citrusy shortbread cookies
Score: 7 (84)
Mental Image: Tropical Traipsing in the Forest
Narrative & Notes: Fragrant, fruity, and fermented; loads of discarded lilikoi and melons, split and fermenting on the ground, beside a river of honey. An orange-forward fruit punch bubble gum with candy sweet tangerine and subtle mint lingered with a tingle of raw spirit. Medium-bodied with loads of tropical fruit punch as lilikoi, melons, guava, and longan offered up a curious mix of citrus and stone fruit. Herbal and earthy notes shifted in the background with woody number two pencils, worn erasures, and minty herbal tisanes leading to wispy smoke and a parched patch of dry grass. Medium to long with minty jasmine tea and citrusy shortbread cookies.
I initially tasted this blind and with its bright tropical fruits and grassy-minty elements, I guessed it was something along the lines of Glenburgie or Glenlossie. It was very much a summer whisky with a refreshing disposition. It felt mature and refined, something around 20 years in an ex-bourbon or refill cask with a bottling strength of 47%.
It turns out I was right on the money with the cask and abv, but undershot the age by almost a third— the whisky was a 27 year mystery blended malt from Le Gus’t. There seems to be broad agreement that the blended malt in question is Burnside, the trade name for Balvenie that has reputedly been anointed with a dash of Glenfiddich.
Overall, an excellent Balvenie malt— I had no idea that you could find such delightful tropical notes from the distillery.
Image Credit: Whiskybase
