You know these ‘urban’ dictionaries on the internet these days, to look up slang words? I didn’t know the word Scallywag, so I looked it up and I found this:
A person who is known to be a treacherous lying son-of-a-bitch, and usually smells bad.
Funny! I’m quite sure the name wasn’t chosen based on the smell of the whisky…
Scallywag is the latest product from Douglas Laing. It’s a small batch vatted malt, created using only Speyside malts, including Mortlach, Macallan, Glenrothes and others. Kind of a Speyside version of the Big Peat concept.
The packaging (very well executed if you ask me!) was inspired by the long line of Douglas Laing family Fox Terriers, which are renowned for being sweet yet rather mischievous dogs. Sweet wee Scallywags indeed.
Scallywag
(46%, Douglas Laing 2013)
ScallywagNose: very malty, with Frosties and grain biscuits. Very heavy on sticky toffee notes. Some honey, icing sugar and dried grasses. Vanilla custard. Macadamia nut brittle ice cream. Spices like cinnamon, candied ginger. Some overripe orange in the back.
Mouth: sweet and spicy. Raisins, oranges again, revolving around a core that screams young malt. Sugared cereals and caramel. Abundant spices: pepper, ginger, as well as a vanilla woodiness. I think there’s quite some sherried Glenrothes in there – not everyone likes that.
Finish: medium long, grainy with a slightly harsh / bitter edge and a dry end.
A very decent vatting. I’m missing a bit of the bright fruity side here – to me that’s more typically Speyside than the caramelly, malty and spicy profile shown here. Sweet but slightly mischievous indeed. Around € 45 – on its way to stores as we speak.
Score: 81/100