Ballantine's – 17 Year Old 60th Anniversary Ceramic (75cl, 43%)

A 17 year old Ballantine's blended Scotch whisky in a black two-handled ceramic decanter of 75cl. It most likely dates from the 1980s or very early 1990s, when bottling whisky in pottery was at its height, and decanters like this came in several colours, mainly for export markets. The whisky was bottled at 43%. The colour is golden amber. The nose has sherry sweetness, pineapple and banana, with hints of oak and cereal. The palate is creamy with oak and spice, vanilla sweetness and subtle smoke, and the finish is long, with fruit, sweetness, oak and spice.