Let’s start: looking at the happy smile of the sheep on the label, at Bladnoch there must be satisfaction over the recent re-packaging which followed an overall rearrangement of the core range. At the last Spirit of Scotland we were behind the stand of Davide Terziotti and Claudio Riva, and the first of them had the pleasure to present in Italy the new babies of this Lowlands distillery. We took the change to bring home a nice sample of this 11 yo in sherry bottled at 55%, and now we tell you if we liked it or not.
N: super sherried, with pungent alcoholic notes (nail polish remover) and a vague feeling of sulfur which slowly vanishes. Very creamy, but not exactly “round” (Crema catalana, Zuppa Inglese…), with very
interesting red and black fruits notes (blackberries, blueberries, strawberries); a caramel and toffee note, and an almond suggestion in crescendo. Toasted nuts? A bit of anise? Bitter chocolate (someone
said “grand Marnier chocolate”)? Tamarind? questions marks? There is some citrus, like orange dipped in chocolate, o candid cedar. Ok, we exaggerated: we close this part mentioning suggestions post-water add of ginger and red fruits Ikea candle…
P: without water, it needs it. Coherent with the nose, with lots of red berries (raspberry, currant). The sweetness is more round, with hazelnut, caramel, gianduja, butter and raisins. Tingles a bit, perhaps a big of ginger. Almond paste, in crescendo. The water, despite the expectations, doesn’t bring roundness: the citrus note is rather increasing (orange peel, bitter wood) together with hints of malt, vegetal and cereal-y.
F: long, intense, berries and raisings. Buttery (the butter biscuits o Aberlour, you know them? The famous ones…), with a hint of vegetal malt, slightly bitter.
Hard to evaluate, sometimes it’s open and buttery, some other the alcohol dominates too much the scene bringing solvent notes a bit off putting; altogether you feel it’s a fairly young malt, despite the heavily sherried profile which tends to hide the age. Our opinion summarized is 82/100 that, for us, it’s a promotion!
Recommended soundtrack: Skunk Anansie – Charlie big potato
