Dalwhinnie – 15 Year Old (75cl, 43%)

Dalwhinnie 15 Year Old is a Highland single malt Scotch whisky, matured for fifteen years in ex-bourbon oak casks and bottled at 43% in a 75cl bottle. It comes from Dalwhinnie Distillery, established in 1897. The spirit is made from very lightly peated malted barley, twice distilled in copper pot stills and condensed through wooden worm tubs. The distillery briefly replaced these with shell-and-tube condensers in the 1990s, then reinstalled them after the character of the whisky changed. The nose is crisp and dry with heather, honey, oak, vanilla and a faint trace of peat smoke. The palate is clean, with heather-honey sweetness, vanilla, citrus fruit and malted bread. The finish starts sweet, then turns to smoke, peat and dry malt.