It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
Yes, it’s that time of year where we chop down trees and display them in our houses and take delight in wearing garish jumpers! Not only that, it’s also that time when those clever chaps at Drinks by the Dram afford us the opportunity to sample a different dram every day for over three weeks in the form of an Advent calendar!
The first whisky Advent calendar was released a few years back, and since then the concept has really taken off, with a whole range of spirits and themes available.
This year I have been lucky enough to have received The Whisky Advent Calendar (courtesy of Mrs Share!), showcasing a range of whiskies including single malt Scotch, blends, single grains and drams from various distilleries throughout the world.
The following is a few notes on the whiskies lurking behind the doors.
1st: The Lost Distilleries Blend Batch 8
The Lost Distilleries series from The Blended Whisky Company are blends made up entirely of spirit from distilleries that have closed over the years. Not only does this make them sought after, it also provides the closed-distillery-geek an interesting challenge to try and tease out any characteristics present that were typical of the distilleries within. Today’s dram is batch 8, a fairly new release containing malt from Caperdonich, Rosebank, Imperial, Mosstowie, Glen Mhor, Glenisla, Glenlochy, Port Ellen and Brora, along with Port Dundas grain.
Nose: Initially fresh crisp fruit – crunchy pears – and a sweet marzipan nuttiness, with a touch of vanilla wood spice.
Taste: A well-rounded mouthfeel, spicier than the nose suggested with ginger and other baking spice, some “damp” earthy notes – tobacco leaf.
Finish: The marzipan from the nose lingers, alongside a faint wisp of smoke.