Imperial 17 Year Old 1998 Gordon & Macphail for The Whisky Mercenary

The Whisky Mercenary - aka Jürgen Vromans – surprises us with his 20th bottling already. This time he selected an Imperial, bottled by Gordon & Macphail in their Exclusive range, meaning it comes at 50% ABV. It is quite pale, having matured on a refill sherry hogshead. The spirit left the stills on 9th September 1998 and was bottled on 28th September 2015.

I get a fresh nose that bursts with white fruit, vanilla and soft spices. Translate that white fruit into pears, lime and apples. Pineapple? In the background. Add some cavaillon melon, please. Some eucalyptus even? It is wonderfully fresh.

Yes, this is nice. Creamy and round, with a prickly spiciness on the palate. Again the white fruit, but it is immediately joined by some orange zest and onripe strawberries. The spices are actually quite loud. Pepper, nutmeg and a pinch of cinnamon. Some quinine too. Quite clean.

The finish is medium to long and rather sweet. The fruit lingers while the vanilla and spices fade gently.

This is one of the best Imperial I have tried so far. Jürgen proves again that he has a very good nose for selecting casks. So where is that Auchentoshan? A bottle is around 109 EUR.

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