Mortlach 12 - 43.4%abv
The first picture isn't mine, it is from Master of Malt where the bottle is available for £49.95. I haven't bought a bottle but have been quite intrigued by this whisky. This is my 3rd dram of it, I have had two in bars and this one was given to me by a fellow caravaner in Speyside.
The spirit at Morlach is distilled 2.81 times, confused? (Google it, there are clever people who can explain it better than me) and is known for its "rich, robust, meaty" character.
The twelve year old has been double cask matured in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks.
There is no mention of chill filtering or colour however this is the entry level core range bottle, which is not at 40% which is a good start.
Colour
Dark golden
Nose
Vanilla, bitter sweet citrus barley, stewed apples and pears, some strawberry and raspberry jams, slightly perfumed. Upon first inspection it seems quite nice and sweet, but this is where it starts to intrigue me - salted caramel and lots of savory herbs.
Palate
The savory herbs are there straight away, chili chocolate, light cask char, salty sweet and sour notes, there are plenty of wood spices hanging around in the background.
Finish
Bitter dark chocolate, a bit of tobacco leaf, burnt BBQ meats.
Overall
I think the notes explain it really, this is not a peated whisky but has lots of savory aspects to it. The sweet casks don't seem to "tame" the savory notes at all, you get a savory whisky with sweet flavours chucked in now and then. I can see it being a love or hate whisky, I haven't really decided myself, but i'm enjoying it enough to want to try more stuff from Mortlach. I think trying their new make would be very interesting!
Score
Pointless score time folks:
B++ out of 7.75
Would I recommend you buy it.....I wouldn't buy a bottle with out trying it first if I were you. But I would encourage you to try it, such a unique and interesting dram.
:)
