Aultmore 25 Years Old

• Aultmore Distillery – Bacardi
• 46% ABV
• £295.42

What they say:

Reclined in damp shorn grass, vapours of lime and baked apples, each silken sip unveiling lush vanilla and buttery biscuits; dreich skies deserve a top-class dram.

Tasting Note by The Chaps at Master of Malt

Nose:

Sticky toffee pudding, top with sliced banana and apple. Earthy oak comes through after a minute.

Palate:

Crumbly fudge, buttered bread, more banana. Plum, orange and maybe some pineapple on the mid-palate, joined by leather and oak.

Finish:

Warm, stewed fruit lasts on the finish, with a prickle of oak spice right at the end.

What I say:

Sampled in the Bacardi Last Great Malts whisky snug at the Edinburgh Whisky Stramash 2015

Colour:

Dark golden umber (14/20), medium droplet tears with fine trails

Nose:

Rich crystalline ginger, brown /  Demerara sugar, toffee and caramel, oak wood and cigar boxes, deep vanilla essence, crème brulee, apple and cereal barley malt, a little over-caramelised or burnt sugar

Taste:

Smooth caramel and butterscotch sauce, cereal barley malt, toasted brown bread, vanilla essence, caramelised brown or cane sugar, some fruity notes, apple and orange zest, grapefruit, pineapple fritters in syrup, a little nutty hazelnut paste and almonds, praline and touches of cocoa powder and a light or creamy coffee, sticky toffee pudding with toffee and ginger sauce.

Finish:

Long, ginger and dark chocolate, sweet sugars and aged oak and new leather shoes

Overall:

Deep and delicious, a real pleasure to sample this 25 Years Old expression from Aultmore but a shame about the pricing of this malt as I expect I’ll never buy a bottle.

Score: 90/100