Blair Athol – 22yo – IB (The Maltman) – Refill Sherry Cask – 49.1% NCF

Colour: Full golden.

Nose: Instantly an old dunnage / oak cask nose here that puts you in a relaxed state of mind. Some leather, a touch of polish, a bit of dry must, and after a short moment sweet winter fruits start to come through, stewed fruits in a bowl with a dollop of vanilla custard.

Palate: At first slightly hotter and more spicy on the palate than expected for something that’s fairly old, it almost acts like it’s younger (therefore one assumes it was matured in a Butt). It’s sweet, but not too much so, delicately fruity and malty with some nuttiness.

Finish: Long balanced sweet finish that keeps going for a fair while leaving fruits and malt on your palate.

Water: A reasonable drop of water helps tame this dram to smooth out the heat, that works wonders for it in my mind, it becomes much more easy drinking, but still sweet and tasty.

Thoughts: Being refill sherry there is a good amount of distillery character which is intact and not over run by the Sherry at this age, that’s a good thing. Great stuff. 90.

Overall Thoughts: Between this Blair Athol and the Ben Nevis in my previous review, I’d pick the Ben Nevis as it just pips the winning post for me.

Thanks to The Maltman for the samples.
Not entirely sure where this is available, mostly in Europe, not really in the UK.

Any comments? Find me on Twitter (@steveprentice).