Wemyss Spice King 12 Year Old

Wemyss, as I recently discovered at a tasting, is quite an interesting independent bottler. They go about trying to create specific flavor profiles rather than accepting what ever it is that comes out of their casks. And they are ably helped by the great Charlie Maclean.

In this instance they decided to create a spicy spirit aptly named Spice King using mystery malts from the Highland and Islands.

True to their word out from the glass sprang a multitude of toasted spices with a charry edge. Lots of cinnamon, coriander, thyme and rosemary. Like literally crashing into a spice rack and sending it tumbling into a pot of bubbling meat stew.

The palate is sweeter with sticky toffee but the oaky spices come back to play quite strongly amidst a drop or two of lemon.

A lingering finish of licorice and anise make for quite an edgy malt.

I guess the reason a lot of us liked this expression was the use of Talisker as it's base malt and you know you can't go wrong with that.