Mortlach 18 Year Old | Single Malt Scotch Whisky

NOSE: Light, well balanced and nuanced throughout. Delicate at first with the light fruity aroma of fresh green apples, or is it a hard goat’s cheese with a light hay note behind? This soon disappears in a well-paced development to reveal a supple and savoury Mortlach core suffused with candied sweetness: a heady mix of blackcurrant, roast chestnut and treacle toffee. Suggestions of peat with a slightly citric tang meld into oaky notes, then spent match and polished furniture with a cooling hint of peppermint. With water, it opens slowly with spicy notes of cedar and pencil shavings, then caramelised fruit sugars and wood ash.
TASTE: Cooling, thick and smooth overall. Cautious and creamy at first, with flashes of intense sweetness before an espresso coffee note develops. This is Mortlach at its most robust; rich and muscular, with a mid-palate in which tannins bring out cocoa, damson and a real earthiness to compete with a rich honey sweetness. Later, faint notes of balsam introduce a growing sandalwood spiciness.
FINISH: Coating, with a sparkling bitter-sweetness as found in a traditional cloudy lemonade or perfectly ripe raspberries. Ultimately drying and warming, with wood smoke or dried lavender and re-emerging cocoa nibs.
OVERALL: A superbly structured and well balanced whisky in which stylish fruit and floral notes on the Nose introduce a rich, complex, energetic palate and a pleasantly drying Finish.