Speyburn 18 YO Anniversary Edition
Category: Single Malt
Manufacturer and bottler: Speyburn Distillery (Inver House Distillers)
Region: Speyside
Fortress: 46%
Volume: 700 ml
Bottling date: 09/05/2019
Barrel type: American and Spanish Oak Casks
Min. age: 18 years old
Filtration: none
Dye: no
Nose. Harsh in the beginning, closed, generally not intense, but with a bit of work it opens up with many different flavors typical of a good double aging. Here you will find classic baked apples and pears, quite a bit of honey, and a wealth of berries (dried cherries and cranberries give wine sourness, plum jam and dried blueberries, on the contrary, give sweetness to the aroma), and dried fruits (figs, dried apricots, raisins) are also worth note citrus, pickle-marinade nuances, dark chocolate, toffee, almonds, pastries, herbaceous mixture tones. The nose is mobile, constantly changing from sweet to sour, but to a greater extent it is tangy and spicy, as it contains many spices (cinnamon, vanilla, cloves, nutmeg). It seems that it is the Spanish barrels from Oloroso that give this piquancy to the nose, because. American oak, in which sherry is seasoned, tends to be softer.
The taste is just as versatile, rich and perhaps even more balanced and easy to digest than the aroma. There is no too intense wood, the spices, although slightly dry, do not clog the entire flavor palette, everything is in moderation and all derivative flavors are well integrated with each other, so that the hand instinctively reaches for the additive. Light honey, fruit and caramel sweetness at the very beginning, then a slight berry-citrus sourness gives way to the pressure of spices, almond dryness, tones of tobacco leaf and medicinal herbs, dark chocolate, and then sweetness comes again in the form of dried fruits, pastries, apricots and plum jam.
Aftertaste. The average. Tobacco leaf, spices, minerality, echoes of dried fruit and chocolate.
Summary. This release is dedicated to the 18th anniversary of blender Bobby Anderson's service at the Speyburn distillery and has become a regular for her. Well, it is worth congratulating him - he created a very worthy whisky. This is the classic Speyside and the Oloroso cask certainly plays the first fiddle here, especially such European casks, which, in combination with mineral spirits, give a spicy spicy zest. However, bourbon casks have not gone away either - they smooth and soften the intense sherry pressure and add complexity to the final product. The only thing for which you can slightly reduce the final score is a not very pronounced and intensely pronounced nose, where spicy notes and minerality draw attention to themselves and a smooth, slightly flat finish. In general, the molt is of high quality, of a dessert nature, but in it the sweetness is not excessive, but is correctly shaded by sourness, sharpness and general minerality of spirits.
Rating: 87 out of 100.
