Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Another mystery dram - Can you guess what it is?

mystery dramHere is the second in our occasional 'mystery dram' series. The idea is that we write tasting notes for a whisky and then ask you to try and guess what the whisky in question may be. This can be done by clicking on the 'comments' section at the bottom of this post once you have read the notes, following the instructions and leaving us your guess/answer. The first 'mystery dram' was seemingly too easy for some, so we have tried to make this one a bit more challenging!

The answer will be revealed on Thursday when we will post a full review. This will incorporate these tasting notes and also include our regular dose of distillery history and facts, as well as information about the whisky in question. There are no prizes for guessing correctly but correct answers will be mentioned in the final article, so please leave your name! We aim to set a new 'mystery dram' challenge roughly once a month in the future. Good luck ...

The colour of the 'mystery dram' is a gorgeous dark amber. The nose is fabulous and full of dried fruit (think of sultanas), caramel, sweet heather honey, some woody spice (imagine nutmeg) and soft peaty earthiness. On the palate, the fruit and honey are predominant and it is incredibly smooth. The smokiness is there but it does not overpower the whisky and is slightly floral (imagine heather), earthy (think of damp soil) and light. There is also a slight saltiness (think of brine or sea air), a distinct nuttiness and some warm spices (like ginger and cinnamon or nutmeg). The combination of all these elements gives a gloriously rich, well balanced and rounded whisky that is easy to drink. The finish is long and warm with mellow smokiness and those spices again. It is easy to see why this classic whisky has won multiple awards around the world.

So, what is the 'mystery dram'? Please post your answers in the 'comments' section below.

10 comments:

Gal Granov said...

oh. so hard to tell i bet many drams can be described this way.
is it some kind of bruichladich?
long shot. but hey, i have to taste it to really tell.

this e-tasting thing is kinda weird.

send a sample over ;)

Matt C said...

Dear Granov,
We had to make it harder than last time as most people guessed correctly! We will give a couple more clues tomorrow if nobody is getting close.
Regards

Jeff H. said...

This sounds a lot like HP 18 to me. Although I haven't really noticed the earthy peat like other people sometimes describe.

Red Hare said...

hi Matt, good to meet you last Friday.

Is it Yamazaki 18?

Joshua (Yossi) said...

I want to say the Springbank 18yr but that's a pretty new one... How about the Dalmore 15yr.

I agree with Granov. A sample would most assuredly help me to make a better guess. Let meknow know where to send my address ;)

Yossi

Gal Granov said...

dalmore 15? i had it recently. i wouldnt say it is dalmore. but hey, i am not a master.

Chandalf said...

Also a long-shot, but some of your notes suggest Macallan to me? Maybe the 12 year old distillery bottling?

kev said...

sounds like it is a bit of everything... "classic" tells me its not an exotic from japan.. hmm, yup, sounds pretty much like a highland park. HP21.

lockejn said...

I'm also thinking Dalmore 15 or maybe one of the expressions from Jura.

Tim F said...

Heather honey? Sherry influence? Hint of smoke? I agree with Jeff, that sounds exactly how I'd describe HP18.