Blair Athol 12 Year Old

From a 3cl sample bottle. Blair Athol is fairly unknown as a single malt as aside from this flora and fauna bottling most of the distillery output goes into Bell's blends. That's not really a glowing endorsement in my book and from my personal experience of Bell's, but actually I really enjoyed this.

Nose - Coffee first up, tiramisu, rich toffee, vanilla fudge, pine, conifers, a slight acetone note, dark chocolate, roasted hazelnuts, digestive biscuits, Christmas pudding, dried fruits, glace cherries, raisins, old leather.

Palate - Sweet initial arrival of brittle toffee and sweetened black coffee that becomes very nutty and biscuity in the mid palate development, with roasted hazelnuts, praline and dark chocolate bitterness, and finally some hints of spicy cloves, nutmeg and allspice.

Finish- Very dry with hazelnuts, praline and toffee, some pine and toasted oak flavours.

There seems to be a fair amount of sherry matured whisky making up this malt, with lovely biscuity, nutty, coffee and chocolate notes on the nose and palate. The finish is where it falls down a little, which is quite short and simple. Nevertheless a very tasting malt worth a try if you like this style.

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