Granny's cake trolley in a glass. A rich and satisfying blend for a great price.
The details
Distillery: Multiple/blended
Owner: N/a
Translation: N/a
Region: N/a
Bottler: Thompson Brothers
Age: 5 years
Distilled/bottled: Filled 22nd July 2016/Bottled March 2022
Bottle: 70cl. Good cork. Good fit. Artwork by Eleanor Paulin.
Number of bottles: 621
ABV: 46%
Cask type: Refill and first fill sherry hogsheads
Barley: Unstated
Yeast: Unstated
Filtered/coloured: Un-chill-filtered, natural colour.
Sample date: April 2023
Peated/unpeated: N/a
Cost: £32.50 from Whiskyfix.com
Availability: No longer available in the UK. Some still available for retail in the Europe market.
Barcode: None/QR code
More info: -
The Thompson Brothers have established themselves with a solid reputation as independent bottlers, and distillers in their own right. It's very difficult to get hands on a bottle of their own Dornoch single malt whisky. It's almost as difficult to get your hands on their independent bottlings. However, their recent blends are a bit easier to get hold of, being released in (slightly) larger batches. This is their 2016 blend, featuring Dornoch Castle on the label. It's been open for at least a month, so it's had plenty air.
Tasting notes
Eye
Deep, browny gold. Obvious sherry cask influence. Slender, unhurried legs. Remains crystal clear after water.
Nose
Instantly rich and absorbing nose. No prickle, and not remarkably sweet. In a single sentence: fruitcake topped with almonds and drizzled with a medium, young sherry (that's as deep as my knowledge of sherry goes). Right down the middle there's a column of Victoria sponge with buttercream. It's granny's cake trolley in a glass. The sherry comes and goes in waves - revealing dates, cherries, wet wood, menthol, and a little whiff of wet linen. There's some cinnamon and orange hiding underneath. It certainly seems older than five years. At least twenty minutes have now passed. I could carry on nosing this.
After water: Water shifts it down a gear, but this could have easily worked at 40% (but I'm glad it wasn't). The same notes are there, being only slightly muted. A bit more buttery. Now there's a hint of fresh lemon. The wood has almost disappeared. Still very, very nice to sniff.
SCORE: 23/25
Taste
Bang. A burst of dried-fruit flavour that quickly fills the mouth, giving way to sherry and buttercream. Warming, but not hot - again indicating that there's more mature whisky in here. It's a bit dryer and has more bitterness on the palate than the nose. It doesn't need water.
After water: Oddly, it seems slightly drier after a drop of water. A little sweeter, and a little lighter, which is to be expected. Cherries and other dark berries come out to play. Caramel makes an appearance. It's creamier, less intense, and more refreshing.
SCORE: 21/25
Finish
The finish is a fifty-fifty of dark fruit and wood spice, complemented by a bitter dark-chocolate tang. Medium length finish, dropping off into a long-tail of lingering pain au chocolat, coupled with a segment of blood orange. For some reason, the finish put me in mind of Cointreau, which I haven't had for years.
After water: The finish shortens. Dark chocolate gives way to white chocolate and the linen note found on the initial nosing becomes more noticeable on the palate. A more creamy finish. The wood spice has taken over from the sherry notes, which have been drowned-out a little by the water (this makes me think again that it has been in a young sherry cask).
SCORE: 20/25
Overall
I've spent about an hour with this; sniffing, tasting, and typing. It's been an enjoyable hour. There's about a drams-worth left in the bottle, which I'll pour into my 2023 bottle-ends blend. Many drams don't pass the bar for going in. This one certainly has something to add.
SCORE: 22/25
Final verdict
This is a great blended whisky, especially at this pricepoint. I've seen this blend auctioned for £65 (+fees), which isn't too much to pay for a blend of this quality. I was lucky enough to get my hands of two bottles of this, and I've enjoyed every sip of both. I'm sad to see it finished. If you're offered one, don't snub it because it's a blend. It beats plenty single malts in the same price range.
TOTAL: 86/100
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