Kininvie: 23 Year: Batch 3 (Scottish Speyside Single Malt Whisky: 23 Year: 42.6% ABV)
Visual: Very pale yellow. Some very small particles evident in the whisky. Fast and thick streaks come from the spirit.
Nose: Light. Some alcohol. Oak. Barley biscuits. Peppery. Dry fudge. Water adds light lime and kiwi. Shortbread. Light sulfur. More fudge.
Body: Smooth. Tingly. Vanilla. Fudge. Peppery. Oak. Honey. Vanilla toffee. Menthol touch. Water makes very smooth. Brings out grapes. Thicker feel and more honey. Toffee style ice cream syrup. Kiwi. More menthol. Light strawberry.
Finish: Peppery. Caramel. Dry fudge. Sour dough. Water adds toffee syrup. Light sage and onion. Menthol. Brown bread. Liquorice touch.
Conclusion: This is a gentle, subtle yet complex one. Neat it has just a touch of the alcohol showing, but nothing too heavy. Water both cleans that up and also somehow makes the whisky feel heavier and more doughy.
Neat it is generally sweet notes played in quite a clean fashion, though the sweet notes vary quite well from standard toffee to sweeter honey character. It uses a peppery base to savoury it up. So, smooth, tasty, variety to the sweetness and savoury underline – enjoyable but nothing too unusual or special.
Water, as mentioned, makes it feel thicker, darker and with slight sulfur notes giving a lot more weight and character to a still smooth whisky. Similarly a touch of green fruit comes out, low at first and increasing with time. There are the not uncommon green grape notes, but also a more unusual kiwi kind of savoury-sweet character. In fact the whole thing now feels more savoury and more stodgy. The sweetness is always there as a contrast against what is now a bready main character. It feels like it makes the brighter fruit notes have to work to push through, but they are even more enjoyable for that when they do show.
It is really good, slowly revealing a whole mix of notes beyond the main ones we have already discussed, the only thing it lacks is that inexplicable element that turns a good whisky into a favorite whisky. It feels like a toffee syrup covered dessert with a bready core and green fruit high notes and somehow pulls it off.
Definitely a worthwhile whisky.
Background: Another whisky from a distillery I have not tried before – if I remember rightly it is part of Monkey Shoulder blended malt, but that is probably the limit of my exposure. Anyway, had heard good things about this, being a half bottle it was expensive for what you get, but not bank breaking to try, so I did a quick google around and found it available at Whisky World so grabbed a bottle. From my research it looks like this distilleries’ bottles were originally only available through duty free, where I have seen them a couple of times, but they are now in the wider market. Wanted something atmospheric to back trying this whisky, so went with Ulver’s Flower’s of Evil. Probably their best album since Shadows Of The Sun in my opinion. Great stuff.
