Allt-A-Bhainne Signatory 1995 17YO

Another obscure distillery to cross off my checklist. This is probably the palest whisky I've ever seen - especially strange when thinking that it's aged 17 years.

The nose is of freshly sliced green apples with a toffee edge. I get heather, lavender, a touch of citrus and after several nosings a bit of spiciness and even cinnamon. Looks can be very deceptive - there's a lot to this.

It's a lightly sweet toffee flavour that is initially on the palate. This is followed by soft fruits, bananas and spiciness. Quite a gentle and thick mouthfeel. This must have been a weird cask as it has strongly affected the flavour and consistency/texture of the spirit whilst doing nothing to the colour.

The finish is reasonable - fairly short but pleasant enough.

I'm impressed as I only got this to tick off the distillery and wasn't expecting an awful lot from it. The score is to reflect value for money and expectations - it's obviously a long way from the best whisky ever.

Under £40, and a relatively unknown distillery. It just goes to show you don't need to pay mega-money to the whisky giants for a quality drink. With the colour being so pale they also resisted the temptation to add caramel, (although that may be Signatory's decision) - Bowmore and others, please take note!

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